Rating: 
Summary: excellent in concept, weak in implementation
Review: I used this device for 6 months but the slow performance, clunky software, and intermitted stopping during MP3 play caused me to put it up for sale.
Wait for next release of product or buy something else.
Rating: 
Summary: So far so good!
Review: I was browsing through my local Fry's yesterday and came across the Creative Labs Soundblaster Wireless on the shelf. The vehicle registration rebate from Gov. Arnold was burning a hole in my pocket so i decided to take the plunge and give this thing a go.
The system is pretty complete. Good sized remote, even came with AA batteries. Power supply, USB cable, "streaming unit" about the size of a paperback book and connector cables that from RCA to headphone (for computer powered speakers I assume). Quickstart guide and comprehensive manual.
The software install was pretty routine. There is a music organizer with a very stylized UI. There is also a "music server" app that communicates with the remote box that is connected to a stereo/speakers. The music server app has a good console.
The box itself, once powered, will seek out a WiFi network that broadcasts an SSID. My SSID is not broadcast so i typed it in via the console once i hooked the box up with the supplied USB cable. I also took the opp to download new firmware for the box from the Creative site (doesn't everything need a SW upgrade these days?).
I have a library of approx 7000 songs so it took a LONG time to import those into the music organizer. You just click on where the files are and the indexes them. It will also keep an eye on that folder and automatically add new files as they get dumped there, which is helpful.
After all that I plugged the box in upstairs in the laundry room (where i keep the main sound system). The status light blinked for a bit and then glowed solid green , indicating it had "locked" into the network. i powered up the remote and browsed the library. The response was quite quick, much to my surprise. I selected a song and hit play - ta da!
The remote also has mute and volume, which i found odd. It seems to be adjusting the "line out" signal, which means it's more of a headphone out signal and therefore there must be some fidelity degradation. Then again, these are MP3 files for casual listening so I suppose that is OK.
I created a Kids playlist that has a few hundred songs and it's very easy to select and play it, with the songs in random order. The RF remote works around the main floor of the house but loses signal on other floors - the range is rated at 30ft or so.
So far, so good! I have 30 days to return it but I have a feeling this will do for a while.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT WIRELESS MUSIC DEVICE
Review: Just got it and I love it!! I had originally purchased the LinkSys Wireless Media Adapter, but I didn't like it, and subsequently sold it. The Creative Labs Wireless Music device is AWESOME. One of the reasons I like it better is that it's more intuitive. I also like the fact that you can navigate through your music with just the remote. Most of its competitors are controled through the television. I also like the fact that it's powered by Creative Labs' "Creative MediaSource". MediaSource is the used by several of Creative's products, and that insures that they'll devote continued support to the application/platform/architecture. In fact, MediaSource has evolved from Creative PlayCenter to Creative MediaSource 1 to Creative MediaSource 2. It's something they've been working to perfection for a few years. I definitely recommend this product if you're interested in playing your Digital Music over your wireless network.
Rating:
Summary: Another fine product from Creative
Review: Of the devices in this category, this one certainly looks the best! It has a sleek modern look, which goes along with its function. But, as in everything else in life, that physical beauty is only skin deep. The beauty in this device is in what it does! I was not disappointed that it does dot play streaming audio from the internet, or my movies from my computer. Being in the Army and being faced with lengthy deployments to miserable places, I purchased a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 40GB MP3 player so I could take all of my CD's with me to enjoy. And then I came across this bad daddy- what an awesome concept. A wireless receiver that will hook into my wireless network and play all of the MP3's in my computer! So I bought it. Fortunately for me, it has not performed as the numerous reviews state. It has been fantastic. (1) Getting setup. Easy, but could have been easier. I had to manually configure the device to connect to my 802.11g WEP enabled network. Automatic would have been slick, but this also gave me the chance to be hands on, and learn about the wireless network which was also new to the house with this device. (2) Connectivity. No problems here. I live in a modern German apartment building- constructed of steel and concrete. There are two walls and a kitchen between the receiver and the network hub, and it has never lost its connection. Playback has been flawless. (3) Function. Hmm. Here's where it starts to lose a little ground. Why does it take 3-5 seconds to finds the next song when advancing the playlist with the remote? The manufacturer could probably improve this performance with a firmware update. I am not a programmer, but that seems to fix other MP3 products! But, the sound through my stereo is awesome, true to life and very dynamic. And, I have yet to suffer any electronic "glitches" during playback. (4) Features. I don't care that it doesn't play my pictures through the TV or streaming internet audio. I didn't buy it for that. It does what I bought it for and does it well. (5) Network connection. Yes this device is 802.11b and will slow down a "g" network. But Creative thoughtfully has given it an autooff feature, when you dont use it, it turns off and drops out of the network, ensuring that you will maintain the highest rates of through put for data at the other stations. And who cares if it is "b," when I am listening to music I am not surfing the net or playing networked games. I would definitely recommend this product. But, be prepared to manually "connect" the device to your network and for long lags between songs when manually advancing the playlists. Other than that, enjoy this beautiful new addition your home A/V system!
Rating:
Summary: an overall outstanding product
Review: Okay. I bought this product after reading all the reviews people had left (and I understood that people can have WAY too high expectations with the stuff they review (or something), because I have read some horrible reviews on some wonderful products here before)... I understood that this product had a couple little issues. After I brought it home, I immediatley put the newest firmware at the time on it (this version was 1.10.05 I believe) and it worked okay with that firmware. My only real gripe was that when it went from one song in your playlist to the next song, it took about 3.5 to 4 seconds or so. This bothered me. But not so much that I wasn't still pleased with the unit in general. The navigation in the remote only lags a touch after you scroll down for a while, and picks right up after again.
Oh, and I had to rename all my playlists for my songs so they'd show up in the order I wanted them to show up on the player. This took a little bit of time to do, due to my collection being 1,400 mp3 tracks or so, and mostly albums with playlists. BUT! I just installed the newest Firmware update (1.20.05) and now there's less than a second's pause between each song! And it also has an added 'sleep mode' for when you're not using it to save your batteries. All-in-all, I was OVERLY pleased with this unit, and it turned out to be more than I had hoped. If you have all your mp3's tagged and in order, especially along with your favorite playlists, then this unit is the one you've been looking/waiting for, and its a must have (if you can handle the pricetag). Can't wait to see what the next Firmware release updates!
Rating: 
Summary: DISASTER - BEWARE!
Review: The concept is quite appealing: music anywhere in your house using your existing wi-fi set up. Imagine liberating 1000's of your mp3 files from your PC to your office or bedroom with a simple device. Who could resist? Unfortunately, I didn't. And I am living to regret it ever since.
The idea is a great one but my experience with it has been nothing but horrid. First is the complicated set-up. I am a rather tech-savvy individual and the hoops you must jump thru to get it to even *think* about working are amazing. Software installs, firmware upgrades and configuration of your wireless network are painful and time consuming. Once you have got it up and running, random drop outs are common. A song is playing, you're jamming and *silence*... Nothing like singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T at the top of your lungs and then the music goes dead... Oops...
Then there's the remote. It crashes constantly for starters. On the off chance it works, when you push a button, there is a 2-3 second pause before anything seems to happen. The system latency is even greater if you're using an external HD to store your music files, like I am. Believe me, it's not the HD speed as I've got one of the fastest external HD's in the land.
Then there are our friends at Tech Support. So many calls and the same standard answers from that stupid script. The tried to tell me it was my router (my router's fine, I did a site survey for signal strength) then they told me it must be a conflict with another program. 2 hours on the phone and still nothing.
Bottom line is nothing about this product works the way it should. It is extremely frustrating and you will waste way too much time trying to figure it out. My advice is wait for version 2.0 or until someone comes up with something better than this.
And if you're already bought it and it's working for you, count your lucky stars!!! And call me. Please!?
Rating:
Summary: great idea, poor execution
Review: the idea behind this device is fabulous- stream music off your PC and play it on your stereo. unfortunately, the execution falls flat- this device is very slow (often takes a minute to navigate to the CD you want to play), occasionally refuses to play songs, has a short controller to player range, and on rare occasions refuses to talk to your computer. the two things it's got going for it: it plays WMA files and it works over a wireless connection. overall, very unimpressed, wish i could return this thing and give it another year to bake.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept, flawed implementation
Review: The idea of having access to my computer music collection anywhere in the house was very appealing. In my case, "anywhere" was the bedroom. With no LAN connection in the bedroom, wireless was perfect. Unfortunately, the Blaster must be connected to the computer acting as server by a usb cable (supplied). During configuration, the Blaster console software searches for wireless networks. This means the server must be in range of a wireless access point. In my case the bedroom has wireless access but the server's wireless access is marginal. (I don't normally need wireless access at the server - I have a wired connection there!) This is inconvenient, but temporarily moving the Access Point got the thing setup initially. Unfortunately, the Blaster managed to "forget" its configuration settings several times over the 5 weeks I used it, requiring moving the thing back to the server, moving the access point and reconfig. For what ever reason, I couldn't even reconfigure this last time. Now it may well be that my problem was compounded be weak wireless access in the bedroom (my wireless laptop reports weak access - but it does work). If the Blaster didn't work, I could understand it. I don't understand it forgetting its settings and the subsequent requirement to reconfigure. I really wanted this to work. It almost did but in the end I returned it. BTW, while the interface was not zippy, I found it adequate for the playlists I used (about 100 songs out of a 3000 song library, YMMV). I also found it very convenient to have the entire user interface on the remote's LCD. Bottom line: if you want this gadget, realize that you are an "early adopter" and you may have some problems. In the end, if it works for you - great; if not, you too may be returning a Great Concept with a flawed implementation.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept, flawed implementation
Review: The idea of having access to my computer music collection anywhere in the house was very appealing. In my case, "anywhere" was the bedroom. With no LAN connection in the bedroom, wireless was perfect. Unfortunately, the Blaster must be connected to the computer acting as server by a usb cable (supplied). During configuration, the Blaster console software searches for wireless networks. This means the server must be in range of a wireless access point. In my case the bedroom has wireless access but the server's wireless access is marginal. (I don't normally need wireless access at the server - I have a wired connection there!) This is inconvenient, but temporarily moving the Access Point got the thing setup initially. Unfortunately, the Blaster managed to "forget" its configuration settings several times over the 5 weeks I used it, requiring moving the thing back to the server, moving the access point and reconfig. For what ever reason, I couldn't even reconfigure this last time. Now it may well be that my problem was compounded be weak wireless access in the bedroom (my wireless laptop reports weak access - but it does work). If the Blaster didn't work, I could understand it. I don't understand it forgetting its settings and the subsequent requirement to reconfigure. I really wanted this to work. It almost did but in the end I returned it. BTW, while the interface was not zippy, I found it adequate for the playlists I used (about 100 songs out of a 3000 song library, YMMV). I also found it very convenient to have the entire user interface on the remote's LCD. Bottom line: if you want this gadget, realize that you are an "early adopter" and you may have some problems. In the end, if it works for you - great; if not, you too may be returning a Great Concept with a flawed implementation.
Rating:
Summary: Splash screen
Review: The worst thing I ever bought. Still can't turn off their lousy splash screen and their support refuses to help. NEVER will I ever buy anything with their name on it.
|
