NETGEAR Wireless Digital Music Player

NETGEAR Wireless Digital Music Player
by Netgear

List Price: ~~$216.00~~
Our Price: $37.99
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Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: CE
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Customers in the UK, Buy this product at amazon.co.uk for British Pounds

Digital Photo Product Details

Manufacturer: Netgear
Audio: English (Original Language)
Platform: Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP
Model: MP101NA
Product features:

Streams and plays MP3s and Windows Media format digital files from all of your networked PCs and Internet radio directly to your home stereo
Compatible with your existing 802.11b or 802.11g wireless home network
Remote control and vivid LCD interface for easy browsing of music collection
Listen through your stereo, boom box, headphones, or powered speakers
Compatible with Windows 98, 98SE, Me, 2000 or XP

Accessories:

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR Wireless Digital Music Player

Customer Review: Good concept. Too bad they didn't test it.
Summary: 2 Stars

Here's the bottom line. This is clearly a beta-release
product that was rushed to market before it was
ready, and many problems linger a year after its
release. I *was* finally able to make it work with a
combination of websurfing and trial and error. Netgear
support was worse than useless. Now that it's working,
it's quite good.

Here's the short version:

-My system:
Pentium 3GHz, Windows XP SP2,
Linksys BEFW11S4 (computer hardwired. MP101 via
wireless)

-My magic bullets:
Static IP for MP01,
Latest MP101 firmware (1.3.7),
Enable uPnP on router,
Twonky music server (either standalone or
Winamp plugin)

-What *didn't* work:
Bundled music server! (you need it to download
firmware, but music will skip and jump
like a very dirty CD),
Windows Media Connect (no skipping, but only
played one track at a time),
MusicMatch server (no skipping, played more
than one song in a row, but playlists
didn't work and unit hung frequently),
Netgear support (online broken. Phone
support totally clogged and useless)

-What I haven't tried:
Firewalls (I disabled them during my testing, but
I think they're OK),
Online radio

-Conclusion:
Now that I have it working, I'll probably keep
it, but I'll keep the box and the receipt right
up until the end of the return period, just
in case. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone
else.

Some more details...

First of all, the DHCP only works about half of the
time, often requiring a "Restore to factory defaults"
to get it to work again. I finally gave up and used a
static IP, which seems to have solved THAT problem.
Surfing the web showed this was a common complaint.

Once I got the connection working, I downloaded
and installed the latest server and firmware from
Netgear.

On to the server software. This makes the network
support look good by comparison. It works to install
the firmware upgrades and that's about it. When I
used it to serve music, it skipped and jumped
like someone was playing soccer with a CD player, and
it got even worse if there was even the slightest
amount of network traffic on the home network. There
were other problems, but why beat a dead horse?
When I surfed the web, I found that virtually
*everyone* had a similar story to tell about the
server software. Did Netgear even bother to
test it??

Based on what I read on the web, I decided to try
Windows Media Connect. The skipping stopped and it
sounded great - as long as I played one song at a
time! If I tried to play two or more songs, it
got to the end of the first, completely
hung for a minute or two, then went back to the
main menu, from where I could play the next, single,
song.

Tried MusicMatch server. I got really excited when
it successfully played two songs in a row, but then
I tried to use a playlist. It saw the playlist,
but came back with "unrecognized song format"
when I tried to play it. Also, any attempt to
interrupt a song (e.g. hitting the stop button
or navigating menus) would hang the unit and require
a power-cycle to bring it back.

I tried to use the Netgear online technical support,
but - surprize!! - that's buggy, too. I entered my
information and it dutifully recorded a case number,
but when I click on it, it says it can't be found.

I decided to call Netgear. I knew this would be
painful, but it was my last attempt before taking it
back. I navigated the hellish phone tree once, and
got cut off. The second time, I was informed the
wait was "in excess of 10 minutes". I can't
accuse them of lying because strictly speaking a
half hour *is* in excess of 10 minutes. Finally
I got a very friendly "did you plug it in?"-level
technician who spent 15 minutes determining that I
wasn't a total moron, at which point she said I
would be contacted by a "level 2 technician"
sometime in the next 24 hours. We're at two days
and counting.

Finally, in desperation, I tried the free Twonky
server. Bingo! Everything worked, including
playlists, and no hangs whatsoever. Now it's
actually a nice unit that does exactly what I want.
If it had only worked like this *with their own
software* I'd be posting reviews saying what a
great device this is. I know from reading the
reviews that I'm not alone in these problems. Would
it be too hard for them to admit the problem on
their website and point people to other servers,
even as a suggestion?

At this point, I'll probably keep it, if for
no other reason than because I've worked so
hard to make it function, but if you're
thinking of a wireless music client, my advice
would be to wait a bit because the technology is not
quite there yet. The ones that get great reviews
are really too pricey for what they are, and the
cheaper ones all have significant bugs. In a year
or so, these things'll be $50 and totally bulletproof.
If you absolutely have to have one, figure out what
your time is worth when comparing prices.

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Description of NETGEAR Wireless Digital Music Player

NETGEAR's Wireless Digital Music Player lets you enjoy your digital music files stored on your computers and unlimited, worldwide Internet radio with your friends and family throughout your home. It connects your existing home stereo to your home computer network so you can listen to the digital music collection from any PC on your home stereo system. You can also listen to music directly from a 30,000 track digital jukebox using the RHPSODY¿ service (only available in U.S.) or hear thousands of Internet radio stations even when your PCs are turned off. Easy-to-install software on one PC automatically finds all your music files on any networked PC and collects them into one complete database. The remote control and stylish user interface let you sit on the couch and wirelessly stream MP3s or Windows Media format files from any PC on your home network straight to your stereo! The MP101 supports many PC operating systems, not just Windows XP, and the LCD display means you don't need to turn on your TV when you want to listen to music.

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