gary_hendricks
05-02-2005, 06:22 AM
Here is an article I published on my website about streaming digital music throughout your home. I hope it'll be useful to some of you in this forum.
A Guide to Streaming Digital Music in Your Home
by Gary Hendricks
Have you ever wanted to stream digital music files throughout your home? It’s frustrating to have to sit down at your desktop or laptop computer just to listen to music. Wouldn’ it be great to slouch in the living room and enjoy the strains of your MP3 tunes?
Well, the good news is that the technology for doing this – wireless media receivers – have been around for some time. The bad news is that they’re not cheap. However, prices are falling very rapidly.
This article will show you how to stream digital music wirelessly in your home. Here’s a list of what you need:
Netgear Wireless MP101 or Linksys Wireless-B Music SystemWireless network (a desktop or laptop computer and a wireless router)
We’ll assume you have the Netgear Wireless MP101 device, which happens to be one of the best selling digital media receivers out there.
http://www.digital-music-guide.com/image-files/stream-digital-music-at-home-1.jpg
The Netgear Wireless MP101 digital media receiver
Your wireless network can be a 802.11b or 802.11g network. Don’t be confused by the techno-babble. A 802.11b network simply has transfer speeds of 10Mbps – slower than 802.11g, which has speeds of 54 Mbps.
http://www.digital-music-guide.com/image-files/stream-digital-music-at-home-2.jpg
The Linksys WRT54G wireless router
If you don’t have a wireless network, I recommend that you get a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. Targetted at newbies, this router allows you to quickly and easily set up a 802.11g network. (I had my network running out-of-the-box in 30 minutes).
Getting Started
The first thing to do, before setting up anything, is to ensure that your existing wireless network is already running and working. The next step is to connect your PC to the network and plug in the power to the Netgear Wireless MP101 out of the box.
Wiring Up to Your Hi-Fi
If you look at the Netgear Wireless MP101, you’ll notice that there are two phono connections to allow you to connect it to a home stereo. There’s also a RJ-45 Ethernet socket.
Right, here’s what you need to do:
Plug one end of the supplied phono lead to the MP101 box, and the other end to the audio input of your home stereo.
If you’re using a wired network, plug a RJ-45 Ethernet cable to the RJ-45 Ethernet socket on the MP101. Plug the other end of the cable to the Ethernet port on your PC. Of course, this means your PC must be next to your MP101 which kind of defeats the purpose of streaming your music.
If you’re using a wireless network, there’s nothing to do in this step!
Install the Software
The next thing to do is to install the supplied software from the Netgear CD-ROM. The Netgear software is pretty neat. What it does, upon installation, is to scan your entire PC’s hard drive for WMA and MP3 files. These can then be accessed using your MP101 receiver. If you have your music files stored in an external hard drive, you can also instruct the software to scan that location.
Locate Your Network
Once the Netgear MP101 is setup and its software installed, the next step is to locate your network. For a wireless network, you need to go to Setup – Network Setup – Wireless. Then highlight Available Networks and press OK on the MP101 remote.
If everything has been done correctly, you should be able to select your PC as the server and access your music (see the next step). If there are problems, 90% of the time it’s due to a wireless network encryption problem. Refer to the manual of your wireless router to see how to overcome the problem.
Play Your Music
Ok, if you’ve managed to locate your network, you can now select your PC as the server.
Go to Setup – Available Servers and select your PC from the list. From there, you can play your music as though the Netgear MP101 was a stereo. Just navigate through your tracks using the buttons on the remote.
Troubleshooting
If you fail to get your digital music to work wirelessly as above, then the problem is very likely due to a network connection. Just try to ensure your PC is well connected to the network first, then attempt to connect the MP101 to the network.
One personal gripe I have about the Netgear Wireless MP101 is that it doesn’t have an internet radio function. So you will need to listen to only your WMA or MP3 files. If you want an internet radio capability, the Linksys Wireless-B Music System is a better choice.
Conclusion
As you can see, streaming digital music in your home is not a difficult task. The important thing is to ensure you have your wireless network already running, and get a good wireless media receiver like the Netgear Wireless MP101 or Linksys Wireless-B Music System.
To me, streaming digital music in your home is a worthwhile investment –the freedom to enjoy your music files anywhere in the home is too great a benefit to pass up. Good luck in streaming your music files!
A Guide to Streaming Digital Music in Your Home
by Gary Hendricks
Have you ever wanted to stream digital music files throughout your home? It’s frustrating to have to sit down at your desktop or laptop computer just to listen to music. Wouldn’ it be great to slouch in the living room and enjoy the strains of your MP3 tunes?
Well, the good news is that the technology for doing this – wireless media receivers – have been around for some time. The bad news is that they’re not cheap. However, prices are falling very rapidly.
This article will show you how to stream digital music wirelessly in your home. Here’s a list of what you need:
Netgear Wireless MP101 or Linksys Wireless-B Music SystemWireless network (a desktop or laptop computer and a wireless router)
We’ll assume you have the Netgear Wireless MP101 device, which happens to be one of the best selling digital media receivers out there.
http://www.digital-music-guide.com/image-files/stream-digital-music-at-home-1.jpg
The Netgear Wireless MP101 digital media receiver
Your wireless network can be a 802.11b or 802.11g network. Don’t be confused by the techno-babble. A 802.11b network simply has transfer speeds of 10Mbps – slower than 802.11g, which has speeds of 54 Mbps.
http://www.digital-music-guide.com/image-files/stream-digital-music-at-home-2.jpg
The Linksys WRT54G wireless router
If you don’t have a wireless network, I recommend that you get a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. Targetted at newbies, this router allows you to quickly and easily set up a 802.11g network. (I had my network running out-of-the-box in 30 minutes).
Getting Started
The first thing to do, before setting up anything, is to ensure that your existing wireless network is already running and working. The next step is to connect your PC to the network and plug in the power to the Netgear Wireless MP101 out of the box.
Wiring Up to Your Hi-Fi
If you look at the Netgear Wireless MP101, you’ll notice that there are two phono connections to allow you to connect it to a home stereo. There’s also a RJ-45 Ethernet socket.
Right, here’s what you need to do:
Plug one end of the supplied phono lead to the MP101 box, and the other end to the audio input of your home stereo.
If you’re using a wired network, plug a RJ-45 Ethernet cable to the RJ-45 Ethernet socket on the MP101. Plug the other end of the cable to the Ethernet port on your PC. Of course, this means your PC must be next to your MP101 which kind of defeats the purpose of streaming your music.
If you’re using a wireless network, there’s nothing to do in this step!
Install the Software
The next thing to do is to install the supplied software from the Netgear CD-ROM. The Netgear software is pretty neat. What it does, upon installation, is to scan your entire PC’s hard drive for WMA and MP3 files. These can then be accessed using your MP101 receiver. If you have your music files stored in an external hard drive, you can also instruct the software to scan that location.
Locate Your Network
Once the Netgear MP101 is setup and its software installed, the next step is to locate your network. For a wireless network, you need to go to Setup – Network Setup – Wireless. Then highlight Available Networks and press OK on the MP101 remote.
If everything has been done correctly, you should be able to select your PC as the server and access your music (see the next step). If there are problems, 90% of the time it’s due to a wireless network encryption problem. Refer to the manual of your wireless router to see how to overcome the problem.
Play Your Music
Ok, if you’ve managed to locate your network, you can now select your PC as the server.
Go to Setup – Available Servers and select your PC from the list. From there, you can play your music as though the Netgear MP101 was a stereo. Just navigate through your tracks using the buttons on the remote.
Troubleshooting
If you fail to get your digital music to work wirelessly as above, then the problem is very likely due to a network connection. Just try to ensure your PC is well connected to the network first, then attempt to connect the MP101 to the network.
One personal gripe I have about the Netgear Wireless MP101 is that it doesn’t have an internet radio function. So you will need to listen to only your WMA or MP3 files. If you want an internet radio capability, the Linksys Wireless-B Music System is a better choice.
Conclusion
As you can see, streaming digital music in your home is not a difficult task. The important thing is to ensure you have your wireless network already running, and get a good wireless media receiver like the Netgear Wireless MP101 or Linksys Wireless-B Music System.
To me, streaming digital music in your home is a worthwhile investment –the freedom to enjoy your music files anywhere in the home is too great a benefit to pass up. Good luck in streaming your music files!