DVD hard Drive players for play audio?

Does anybody use a PVR, Video DVD and Hard drive recorder / player to store and play music?
These devices are quite common now and coming down in price. $500 for a mid quality unit?
I noticed that some audio players now have hard drives in them, Yamaha makes one. It plays CDs and records music to Hard Drive for playback. It is VERY expensive at $1700.
So i wonder if a $500 Sony PVR would do the same thing? Could it rip a CD and store and organize all the audio?
It would be more convenient than booting up a PC in my opinion.
Any thoughts?

kev