Streaming MUSIC In your Home
Thinking beyond the stereo
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Technology is continually making more and more advanced amenities available for the average home. Remotes have gone far beyond the TV and stereo and can now operate nearly every appliance in your home. Programmable home automation systems now allow you to control your home's electrical features over the internet. It only stands to reason, then, that your home's audio system should be getting a massive upgrade, as well.

Music of late has been moving away from the oldhat method of duplication using actual, tangible material. First came wax cylinders. Later, we got vinyl records. Since then things started snowballing. 8-tracks, cassette tapes, laser discs, mini discs, compact discs - they all made their way into the music industry. But not until the digital breakthrough did music no longer need an actual, hardware medium for transportation. All your favorite songs have been broken down into 1s and 0s and exist only electronic signals. No more magnetic cassette tapes, no more vinyl grooves.

If you're like the 150 million-or-so other people in America, your music collection is at least 50 percent all-digital. But who wants to listen to all that great music through your tinny computer speakers or your iPod earbuds?

Enter Netgear's 10/100 Ethernet and wirelessequipped MP101, a remote media server that allows you to access any music on your PC with the touch of a remote. The $280 unit is no bigger than a large clock radio and takes less than 10 minutes to install in your home. With a few wall-mounted speakers in a couple of rooms, you've got all your favorite tunes streaming all throughout your home at the push of a button.

The MP101 is simple to set up. Simply install the media server software on your PC. Within seconds of installation the software will scan your hard drive for music and be ready to stream it through your home's wireless connection. Once you plug in the MP101 and feed it your server's IP address, you're ready to go. Chuck your blank cds out the window, because you'll never have to burn digital music and carry it to your living room stereo again.

As an added bonus, the MP101 can also stream music from the internet thanks to the vTuner Internet radio service. Set up your preferences online and flip through more than 50 of your pre-selected stations from your couch.