Digital Audio Hi-Fi

Music Without Wires

Creative's Sound Blaster Wireless Music--a $230 device about the size of a cable modem--connects to your receiver and pulls digital audio from your computer over an 802.11b wireless network. The included remote control has a small, integrated LCD panel--an inspired design decision that means the receiver itself doesn't need one. The Creative's remote is the only one to use Radio Frequency control; the other products in this review use infrared, which depends on a direct line of sight to the device for reliable operation. The setup wizard, while straightforward, did not offer helpful hints to ease configuration problems. Though it was my own fault for forgetting that I had Windows XP's built-in firewall activated, the software should have been able to detect that fact and offer something a little more useful than simply telling me that the setup had failed.

Nevertheless, the software that converted my PC into a wireless music server worked flawlessly, except that the music skipped occasionally owing to interruptions in the wireless signal. I appreciated the ability to program the software to scan the PC regularly for recently added music. Unfortunately, the device does not support Internet radio; Creative says it may add that as a downloadable upgrade in the future.

With minimal instructions and software that's not the most intuitive, the Slim Devices Squeezebox is definitely for the enthusiast crowd--it's based on open-source code and is supported on the Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD, and Solaris operating systems. Getting the connection up and running is pretty easy, though using the remote control to enter a WEP (Wireless Encryption Protocol) password and, on some networks, an IP number is a bit clunky.

The hardware is a simple black box that looks rather like a radar detector. And though its vacuum fluorescent display is a touch brighter than a standard LED screen, it's still not viewable from a distance--say, if you're sitting on your couch. As with the Creative device, I heard some hiccups when using the device wirelessly, but they cleared up when I used the ethernet port.

Turtle Beach's AudioTron was one of the first network audio players. I tried out a preproduction version of its successor, the MediaTron, which will access photos as well as music files from your host computer: Just plug the device into a TV, and you can view photo slide shows and browse cover art from your albums. The unit will come with three networking options: ethernet, 802.11b, and HomePlug. Turtle Beach says the MediaTron will be available in March.