If you want a simple player for your iMusic, sure, any form of an ipod dock can be used. If you want any form of zone linking, or if you're eventually going to expand to a whole-house music system (shill alert!) I'll recommend the Sonos music system. Be it background music, or in the forefront for active listening, I enjoy having music on. A few years ago I spent quite some time trying to figure out what would fit my needs. I eventually settled on Sonos. I started with a couple of zones and expanded. You can start with a single zone. Sonos can access your iTunes library, your iPod music, and music you have stored on your computer or a NAS. You can access internet radio, Pandora, Rhapsody...if there's something you want to listen to, you can easily access it through Sonos. There are others out there with similar capabilities, but Sonos has a ridiculously easy interface. Guests in my house can figure out the remote with no assistance. You can also use an iPod, iTouch, iPad, a laptop, or a smart phone as a Sonos remote. You can also access it through a desktop computer. The interface is quite simple. For a bathroom, if you want a stand-alone setup, Sonos has a couple of self-contained "boom box" types of players. They have other zone amplifiers that can be hardwired to speakers. The actual components themselves are wireless, which makes setting up a system quite simple. I've gone on too long about Sonos. If you have any Sonos questions ask and I'll do my best to answer. One other nice thing about Sonos though...if you ever move, you can take the system with you. Back to your basic question, if you're not sure what you want to do but think you want to do something some day, sure, run speaker wire to where you think you might want speakers. If in the ceiling, run speaker wire up into the ceiling bay, coil up a few extra feet of wire, lightly tape it in place and drywall over it. If a wall, staple it to a stud. Later you can cut into the drywall, access the wire and use it to add speakers...or leave it forever unused should you go another route. The other end of the speaker can be home run (if you have access) to where your main music amplifier is, or the wire can be terminated in an accessible spot in the bathroom should you think you'll connect it to some sort of amplifier in the bathroom. In a closet, a cabinet, under the tub apron, etc. It depends on how you think you might proceed in the future. People add music in the bathroom all the time. Just decide if you want a stand-alone system, or if you think you might want to incorporate it into a whole-house system. The easiest and least expensive would be a stand-alone alone iPod dock. decent docks can be had for $100-$150. For a couple hundred dollars more you can start a whole-house Sonos system where you can have the same music playing everywhere in your house, or different music in each room. With access to pretty much any song or any type of music you could ever imagine. Best of luck with your decision.

The iPod is the most popular of all the players. The Nano with a 2GB drive is the smallest of the iPod series, costs $149.00 (cheaper in some places), and holds hundreds of songs. All iPods come with iTunes installed, and you can set it to automatically transfer songs from your computer into the iPod, or you can do that manually. You can also upload songs from your CD's into the computer, and download them to the iPod. Or you can set iTunes in your computer to automatically connect to the Apple Store, when you can buy and automatically download/install songs into the iPod. iTunes works with both PC and Macintosh computers. When you connect the iPod to your computer for the first time, iTunes automatically launches and makes some changes to match itself to your computer (PC version, or Mac version). There are smaller units that cost under $100.00. For example the iPod Shuffle. However, the you can do a lot more with an iPod Nano, either in 2GB or 4GB. You can also have photos to look at in your iPod, and even movies in the larger iPod's. (Movies are sold at the Apple Store), but you can download a movie from your computer into your iPod. Also, if you are into radio transmissions, you can have a session of songs and voice, and the little iPod can take care of the rest (play the songs from your playlist on the air.-------- Something else about the iPod: Most receiver, radio, etc. manufacturers are incorporating iPod docking stations. Even car audio units are being produced to be fully compatible with the iPod. So if you connect your iPod to your car's stereo, you can control the iPod with your radio's controls, and the songs names (or bands, etc.) are displayed on the radio's screen. If you don't have an iPod compatible radio, you still can listen to whatever songs you have in your iPod via one of the numerous low-cost FM transmitters sold at Wall-Mart and electronic stores. You can do the same at home on your stereo system, or on a radio. Finally, no other MP3 player on the market has as numerous after-market items available to the public than the iPod.

Check out AVS forums. http://www.avsforum.com/ It is a great resource for any kind of home theater, A/V questions. Gary

Happy New Year to you! Your party sounds lovely, we are having a similar sounding party at our house tonight. The backyard rink is just about frozen, so with any lucky the kids will be skating for much of the night and the dads will stand around the fire pit drinking. I haven't decided what's going in the large glass drink dispenser yet, but it's usually a variation on a paloma, since tequila and grapefruit soda is my personal fave. I like to take one strong drink, then keep refilling with fresca, since I'm kind of a lightweight! We have loads of champagne too, so I'm sure I'll switch to that at some point. That does seem a lot of meat on your menu. Maybe california rolls instead of sushi? I'm planning on a french fry bar (I know, I'm obsessed with my new Actify!). I have potato, sweet potato, and butternut squash fries and a bunch of toppings. Since the fryer only makes about 3 potatoes worth of fries at a time, at 30 min a bunch, I'm making them all ahead of time and will put them back in for 5 minutes to re-crisp and heat up. I have a load of toppings and dips. We also have puff pastries with different veggie fillings, veggie trays, and a chocolate fountain with way too much junk to dip. We are not a meat-eating crowd, and I always tend to go overboard with vegetables. I like always having a vegetable within arms reach. I might be the only one that eats them, but it's my house! For the skating crowd, I have popcorn, pretzels, hot chocolate, and chocolate chip cookies. I've learned from past years with the rink to always have those four things on hand so that I can feed a large group without going broke. Have a wonderful party and a very Happy New Year! AM