Digital Music At Home

{mosgoogle}Some of the most exciting changes are happening in the home. High-quality audio peripherals can turn any PC into a great digital music player. But most people don't want computers in their music listening rooms. Which is where Wi-Fi network - now simple and inexpensive enough for consumers - and media center PCs are starting to change things.

Wi-Fi lets you distribute digital entertainment from room to room. A Wi-Fi network consists of a router, usually connected to a high-speed internet service, plus computers and media devices that wirelessly communicate with each other and, through the router, with the internet.

Now add a wireless music player, such as the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Wireless Music Receiver. This device plugs into your home entertainment system and receives digital music streamed over the Wi-Fi network from your PC that's located in a different room and feeds it to the home stereo for superior sound.

Wireless media products, such as MediaLounge from D-Link takes it further, letting you stream music from internet radio stations. They can even deliver digital video from your computer to TV.

Media center PCs offer an entirely different way to solve the problem. They're designed to sit next to the home entertainment center and manage digital media distribution throughout the home. Some even look like home entertainment components rather than PCs - though they do come with keyboards.