Will the xbox be able to independently stream music files eg:shoutcast
with out the use of a computer or relax.

Same thing goes for xbconnect, will we be able to use it like live and not have to hook it up to a computer.

In theory, so long as someone designed the right client software for the Xbox then yes, it could.

I'm no expert on it, but I don't know if there is any room left in the Xbox resources to acomidate such software.

The XBConnect software would be especially difficult as it would need to run in the kernel to allow it to route network traffic through an internet server rather than over a normal network.

It's not impossible, but difficult.

Lets give it some more time and see what happens