Given the way the new shuffle remote works, it could just be a way to make it so the remote has the smarts, and have it so remotes can be more flexible...
32gb is like over 50 cds in wav, 100 in alac, many thousand in high bitrate aac. That'd be one hell of a bikeride to run out on that ride .
And once you're on a network, you stream from your server.
Both. Download simplify media. There are also lots of web radio type ads. Pandora is free on ipo
I haven't had any problems. I don't use it very often, because the iphone is the wife's, but I use the mac client occassionally, and it works pretty well.
The nice thing about the iphone/ipod touch is there are streaming apps that make it so you don't have to have your library with you when you have network access. Keep the 8 16 or 32gb of music you want in highest fidelity with you, and stream the rest.
If you load it with itunes on your computer, it's locked to your computer. If you use it like a media storage device, it won't play the music. If she syncs it, it'll overwrite anything you put on it.
Given the dearth of source material at 192, I would just use the optical out on the mini or macbook. Eventually, you'll be able to use the hdmi for it.
The optical on the macs will do 24/96. As to the 16 channel part, unless you're doing more than 2 channel out, that doesn't really help you .
An alternative would be a firewire sound card. There are several that should fit your needs without requiring a mac pro.