OK, here's my take. I use the 45a and am quite satisfied. Even though I can appreciate cutting edge, I'm more excited by the convenience of throwing any cd in the machine and having it automatically read it, regardless of format. I used to be a vinyl purist but the idea of washing both sides of the lp, then de-static-ing it w/ the Zerostat, then carefully cleaning the stylus to listen to 20 minutes of music is anathema to me now. I guess I'm just lazy but, I notice that the software is generally more variable in quality than the machine hides with it's own supposed lack of quality. I'll take the relatively high quality convenience of the 45a.
BTW, what's the opinion of the new Pioneer all in one being sold by Best Buy?

Jay