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Linksys WMB54G Wireless-G Music Bridge
Binding: Electronics
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Manufacturer: Linksys
Features:
Average Rating: 3.0
Total Customer Reviews: 228
List Price: $94.99
Product Description
The Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge lets you bring the digital music streaming to or stored on your computer to your Home Entertainment Center, without running cables through the house. Using a wireless connection, the Music Bridge finally frees your digital music collection from those little computer speakers to play in full glory through your stereo or surround sound system. The Wireless-G Music Bridge sits by your home stereo and connects to it using standard consumer electronics cables. Then it connects to your home network by Wireless-G wireless networking, or if you prefer, it can be connected via standard 10/100 Ethernet cabling. The included software creates a virtual sound system in your PC, which sends the audio output of any application to the Music Bridge and the stereo system. Use your favorite media player to play your music, and listen in the comfort of the living room. Let the Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge bring your digital music out into the living room for the whole family to enjoy
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Users Product Reviews: |
Product Review Summary: Works well, but setup is not easy My wireless music bridge has been hooked up to my stereo system for two years now. It has been very reliable and the sound is excellent. Unfortunately, setting one of these up is not recommended for a computer novice. You will probably need to also check the instructions for your wireless router, especially if your wireless network is encrypted. If you follow the instructions you should be OK, but it might take a couple tries. Also note that this device acts as an extension to your sound card when activated. If you start playing computer games or watching videos, that audio will also play over your stereo system. For this reason, it's best not to start any other applications on your computer when broadcasting music to your stereo.
The problem with the competing Airport Express is that it only works with other Apple products (that means Itunes only). I prefer the flexibility of the WMB54G.
Product Review Summary: Not Easy to Get Working With Vista But Gives Great Flexibility Yes, this is a real pain to get going with Vista (why Linksys has not updated the software/firmware for this device by default is beyond me), but it is possible. Unless Linksys updates the software/firmware for Windows 7, you will likely have to jump through a few hoops to get that working as well. There were really good instructions for setting up the device with Vista on the Linksys support page. It basically involves downloading both the software installer (i.e. the utility) AND the firmware file and running both -- do not bother even inserting the disc that comes with your wireless device if you're using Vista. The problem I'm having now is skips in the music, even though I'm using the most robust buffering on the WMB54G and have a 10,000 RPM SATA drive configured for maximum performance. I'm planning on installing a second drive just for music files -- having the data on a separate drive from the OS should improve the skipping problem. On the plus side, this device is really changing how I listen to music: I can separate the wheat from the chaff (on most CDs all I'm interested in is 2 tracks at most), can create playlists that will play for hours on end (I don't have to swap in new CDs every hour or so), and once I finish ripping my extensive CD collection I don't have to deal with stacks of CDs lying around the house, as I won't be touching them much any longer. On the down side, the quality isn't quite as good as if I play the CD from a CD player (yes, I'm an audio snob, which is why I don't do mp3's which generally remove 80% of the audio information compared to "red book" CD audio). This is most likely due to the processing the Linksys software does to encapsulate the audio data into IP packets for transmission to the wireless device (you can change the volume from your PC -- generally any extraneous data processing is not a good thing when it comes to audio quality) and also due to the quality of the DACs (digital-to-analog convertors) in the WMB54G, though it does have optical and SP/DIF interfaces if you have external converters. I won't be using this device on my $10,000 stereo, as I would easily hear how badly it sounds, but in the kitchen where I do most of my listening anyway, the quality is acceptable and all the flexibility that comes from being able to play everything back from playlists is really amazing.
Product Review Summary: Nice, but a bit skippy Install was a bit more complicated than adding a new PC to the home network, but not as bad as some of the reviews I had read. I find that I have to engage the WMB54G as the audio output on my main PC BEFORE I call up my music player software in order for the unit to work. I am wireless from my PC to the router and wireless from the router to the WMB54G. When playing music, you get the occasional pause. I have tried various mp3 playing programs, no change. My new attempt will be to wire the WMB54G to the router and reduce the wireless path to one-way.
I have a ton of music and I though this would be the way to manage and play it on my stereo, so far, yes, but not with the quality I want.
Product Review Summary: no more wires to run to the stereo! A very nice small gadget that cuts down on running wires to the larger stereo. did'nt run into to many problems like the rest of the reviews say, but I did run it threw another linksys router so they may be more compatable then some other brands.
The only complaint is that they have yet to find a way to run threw a vista system like my laptop is, but desktop running xp works ok.
Product Review Summary: Great concept, not always versatile Concept is great.
Would be better if there were an easy way to pipe video through the bridge as well.
Also, some ways of adding the bridge to your existing network (CAT5 wired directly to router, rather than wirelessly connected to existing wireless router) are easier than others.
The buffer size can also sometimes cause problems. Even when adjusting buffer size for different media there can still be strange breaks in play.... particularly after extended use.
Also: connecting and disconnecting and muting and un-muting can be problematic... both the computer and the bridge can get confused and sometimes it's easier to restart either the program or bridge than fight with it.
I still love it though.
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