Tips?: hardware... media playback device

[David]

Hi,

I don't know much about hardware. I'd be grateful for some advice on
what device to buy with which I can play back digital music files
through a conventional hifi amplifier, a device that either has a hard
drive or can be connected to an external hard drive. I hope to find a
solution that'll play FLAC files as well as MP3 or WMA. I've think I
once saw some device advertised on the Internet by Netgear maybe,
costing a few hundred dollars.

In JB-HiFi I see small units that you connect a hard drive to and which
play the FLAC format, but the units are designed to be connected to a
TV, and it doesn't make much sense to me to have to run the telly in
order to choose and play back music through a hifi system. I was hoping
that there'd be a device that has a basic digital display on the front
allowing you to navigate through folders on the hard drive and choose
files to play.

Today in a computer store a salesman suggested I get a small netbook
computer and plug its output into the amp. He suggested this one they
had on special at $399:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ASUS EEE PC
Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache
Chipset: Intel 945GSE / ICH7-M
Memory: 1GB DDR2 SO-DIMM (2GB max)
Hard Drive: 160GB (160GB + 10GB Eee Storage)
Display: 10" 1024x600 (WSVGA) LED Backlight display
Graphics: Intel UMA
Web Camera: 1.3M Pixel
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
Comms: 10/100 Ethernet, Integrated Wireless 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth
Expansion Ports:
1 x VGA (D-sub 15-pin for ext monitor)
3 x USB 2.0
1 x RJ-45 Ethernet
1 x Headphones / Speakers 
1 x Mic-in
Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC)
Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC, Digital Array Mic, Built-in stereo
speaker (1W for each)
Battery: 6-cell 6600mAh; Battery Life: XP: 7 hrs* (subject to model,
normal usage conditions & config)
Dimensions & Weight: 266mm(W) x 191.2mm(D) x 28.5mm~ 38mm(H), from 1450g
Warranty: 12 Months warranty provided by Asus or appointed service
agents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I were to use a small laptop for this purpose I'd want it to start up
almost as fast as the time needed to start up a hard drive. Maybe
replacing WinXP with a suitable variant of Ubuntu (which??) would boot a
lot faster. However, I imagine I would get poorer audio quality taking
the headphone socket output of a netbook to feed into my hifi amplifier
(as it's regulated by a volume control?). I s'pose they have no better
output option?

Does anyone know of a device designed for audio playback of stored music
files without a TV being necessary such as I've described, or is a
laptop computer the only way to do it?? If the latter, can you get a
better quality output than the headphone socket?

Thank you,

Dave