New Products Bring Digital Music to Living Room

08/01/2004 5:02 PM, Reuters
Scott Banerjee

As consumers populate their PCs with digital music, the desire to stream these tracks on home stereo systems is growing.

Thus far, however, linking PCs and home entertainment systems has been a slow and difficult process often reserved for tech-savvy early adopters.

"It hasn't been a nice, slick, all-in-one world where everything is connected and everything gets transmitted digitally," says John Barrett, analyst with market research firm Parks Associates. "It's been a patchwork."

But the "digital living room" is coveted real estate for top PC, chip and consumer electronics manufacturers. To date, simple solutions have included running wires and cables throughout the house, playing burned CDs (which, according to Parks Associates, is what the majority of people do) or connecting MP3 players straight into a stereo system.

NETWORKING SOLUTION

Apple Computer, with its easy-to-use iTunes software and iPod portable music player, is a logical choice to simplify home networking. The company is trying to accomplish this with its new portable wireless networking station, the Airport Express.

The $129 device plugs into any power outlet and allows PC and Mac users with existing home Wi-Fi networks to stream music from their iTunes library to their stereo. It can also act as a base station for creating a home Wi-Fi network, or it can extend to an existing one.

Barrett thinks Airport Express could be a steppingstone, allowing consumers to unlock the potential of PCs as multimedia "hubs" and living rooms as "digital entertainment dens." But the device lacks a user interface or remote control, so volume, song order and other variables can be adjusted only on the computer -- an inconvenience if the Airport Express and computer are in different rooms.

SET-TOP BOXES

Apple is not the first company with a digital music service to offer networking solutions for the living room. In 2003, RealNetworks' Rhapsody, the leading subscription music service, integrated Intel's "Universal Plug and Play" standard into its software.

As a result, companies like Linksys, Netgear, SMC Networks, GoVideo and Rockford rolled out "Rhapsody-ready" set-top boxes, allowing users with a wireless network to stream Rhapsody or an MP3 music library into their home entertainment system. In contrast to Airport Express, these devices can be operated through a user interface and remote control.

Until recently, the cost of this extra hardware, coupled with the cost of in-home Wi-Fi could price most consumers out of the market.

But according to Sean Ryan, VP of music services at RealNetworks, the prices for these set-top devices have dropped considerably, to about $150, making them more attractive to the consumer.

Reuters/Billboard