Why didn't I use a pc option and a large hard disk in the first place?
Well that was due to cost. Storage is relatively cheap, but a 'decent'
sound card is expensive and so is the touch screen flat monitor that I
want in my setup. Would probably put it on a new server and network
into my exsisting pc. The idea was the have the flat screen in the
living room and the rest of the hardware upstairs in an office, well
away from everything. You must be looking at 1500 quid for a really
good setup like that perhaps a bit less.

So as an interim measure it was to use the Sony solution, where it
could be kept for now in the living room and to rip all the cd's onto
that. When I had the money I could then use the Sony as a slave drive
on the pc solution above...remember, Sony, said I could do this. I was
just not aware that:

a) There was no visible drive when connected to a pc..so no browsing.
b) I would be forced to use their own software which I had not
evaluated when I knew of other software that I prefered to use and
would do the thinbgs that I wanted it to do.
c) There was no backup solution available. At least on a pc setup I
could ghost or just copy onto more storage. This is a 'real' flaw in
my opinion. Tell me of a person that has not had a computer glitch and
lost everything. It does not happen often but it damn well happens
sometime. Hard disks are durable but not flawless.

I suppose I just feel a bit let down that the Sony solution is not as
flexible as I was led to believe, nor as 'easy to use'.

My ideal 'want' was to be able to create a playlist from my hard disk
recorder, be able to burn onto a cd when connected to a pc and then
play in the car (or that type of thing)...now thats what I call
flexibility!

Max