So I have the new stereo, and it's got a USB input - which means that I can run a USB cable from my Mac over to the stereo, and play iTunes straight to the nice sounding equipment.

Well, in theory. I plugged it in, started iTunes - and got a vast well of silence. Hmm. Plugged the cable into my PC instead, and it recognized the device right off, and piped sound to it automatically. If I unplugged it, sound went back to the speakers. Pretty nice, and very simple.

Back to the Mac (I didn't really want the cable draped across the middle of my office). It turns out that the Mac can play out the USB port, but you have to manually toggle it to the output device you want. That works, but it was less obvious than I would have liked. The Mac is better at some things, but not at everything.