A lot to think about, but hey this is music we're talking about
![Cheesy :D](/Smileys/throwback/cheesy.gif)
Might be able to just plug the USB drive to my TV and if it supports playlists (eg, grateful Dead 1973-05-20), with optical out to the receiver, it might work... the UI would be the TV.
If I can mount USB drive to an Amazon Fire tablet, depending on the outputs, this might work too.
Definitely tired of my Yamaha receiver though; really don't need the 7.1 stuff!
Thanks for the advice...