WM. said:
The G5 DOES have an optical input.
WM
Sorry, my bad. If I actually *had* a G5, I would have known about that.

My DP500 and 1G TiBook will have to last another year before I will be ready for dropping another $3000.
Still, FCP people would probably use FireWire/mLan, so I agree, it doesn't seem like an optical only box would be what they want.
My main point was that optical is not a good solution for desktop speakers. I stand by that assertion.
Even for GarageBand users, I still think that a USB interface is adequate. Most of them only need stereo in/out, no sync to video, no wall wart etc. But there are already plenty of $99 devices available there, and they already integrate fine for simple systems, so I don't see how Apple could make something innovative enough to charge a premium there and therefore make much money on something in that market. It's practically a commodity market item already. It might be nice to have a total solution from Apple, but I still don't see it as a big money maker. It's no iPod or Cinema Display.
I could still see a semi-pro piece from Apple. There seems to be plenty of room to innovate in the mLan world. The possibility for a unique and tight integration with FCP is good. I think a piece in the under $300 range might have some opportunity.