Thread: Front-end in the planning, need background-operable support software

I'm going to be blunt and just post this, since I either have no imagination or my vocabulary is too small to come up with anything to search for.
I know there is a sticky list of software at the top of this forum, but at a glance there weren't any of the kind I'm looking for.

The thing is, I see almost all the current front-ends too limited to my taste. There are great software, there isn't a single one that combines everything I would like to see in a front-end.
In my opinion the software should look as professional as possible. To me that means decent graphics, ease of use and everything in the same package, which means no switching programs with the exception if the switching can be done in a way that doesn't disturb the overall unified feel of the front-end. I don't want even a thought of that there's windows beneath all that cross the user's mind.

I'd like to give it a try at making something different, but since I can only do the GUI and music player part, I really need some info on programs that can be run completely on background by using command-line parameters or sockets.
Additionally it would be good to know useful software that can be embedded in other software so it looks as seamless as possible, in other words software that's gui can be configured pretty freely.

I plan to use mysql and maybe php as support for music database and other things they're good at.

At the moment I have several things planned already:
-Music database that also holds detailed information on the mood and feeling of songs and artists and therefore allows the program generate a playlist with songs matching the wanted mood
-Music player that support most of the popular formats
-Embedded IE(If possible, I'd prefer FF. Nothing's decided yet
-Embedded navigation program(I have almost no information about this, but as far as I know, there are some programs that can be embedded quite neatly)
-Communication with server software to allow intelligent music database updates thru p2p or a defined ftp and other useful things that require either network or internet access.

What I'd like to add is a possibility to manage WLAN without any other visible programs. As far as I know, there isn't any WLAN managers with such capabilities. I'm still searching though

So, if you know any even remotely useful software that can be used as a background service, please let me know

Thanks