Happy New Year!
Well the Squeezebox concept is quite a bit more than a glorified remote control!
On my setup, I have a Logitech Touch which is connected via a coaxial cable to the digital input of my Onkyo receiver.
It's communicating with my NAS box (where all the music lives) using WiFi, so when I select a song, the Touch gets the music track wirelessly then sends it down the cable to the Onkyo, simple as that.
So in reality the Touch acts as a control centre for the NAS music, DAC, internet radio and can access any music files on any wireless device that you give it permission for.
All the album artwork appears on the Touch's screen as well.
Here in Norway it also accesses a music service called WIMP, a "Spotify" like service, so nearly all music is on demand.
You can even log in from your laptop or iPad/iPhone and control everything from there as well, wherever you are.
If I'm at work and hear a great song, or my wife can't find a specific song title, I can "wake up" the Touch by logging in to
www.mysqueezebox.com and then controlling everything as if I was sitting next to it. (the Touch, not my wife!)
Installing multiple SqueezeBox units in different parts of the house will enable you to decide what music streams to what location, simple as that.
As a collector of DTS surround albums, I found it super convenient as it also outputs a pure DTS signal to the receiver so no more messing about with 100's of DTS CDs.
So technically speaking, it accesses your music files and streams them digitally to your HiFi and it's really excellent quality.
If someone comes to the party with a flash drive or USB HD with music on it, I just stick it in the back of the Touch and it reads the drives.
Simples!