<font color='#000000'>jdp
if your friend is interested in music at all, he might want to invest in a universal player - as hawke says, its far beyond unproven - there are a number of titles being released quite regularly and best of all multichannel (m/c) audio is a revelation!
(when you get your 2200, get a copy of Roxy Music
Avalon SACD and Blue Man Group
Audio DVD-A)
For now (unless you get a matching player + receiver) you can only connect through m/c 5.1 analog connections. This sort of restricts the number of m/c players you can have in your system (very few high end receivers have 2 sets of 5.1 inputs) so a universal player is the best option as far as entry level m/c audio is concerned.
Start off with a Pioneer 563A (US$180 street I think, and you also get Progressive Scan video) which is a good entry-level uni player. For the whole list you might want to visit
DVD-A.DK</font>