Uh, since the D-link guys are on holiday, i'll tell you, you're not allowed to talk about acquiring releases that aren't officially released, on the 'official forum'.
There are several methods by fiddling with fun_plug to get the dns-323 to work as a media server. A simple google of fun_plug dns-323 will get you all you need to know.
I'm not sure if this voids the warranty since it doesn't permanently change anything..(you can still do a reset to default and it'll be gone). The only thing 1.04 will provide is native support. Now, that may seem really awesome to most, but to those who use linux frequently we already know that a LOT is possible with this device because it's based on linux.
Also, there is no 1.4 beta, next version is 1.04

Also-also, if it was close before Christmas, then as long as nobody at D-link is working overtime to get it done before new years, i'd expect it mid-january. :-/