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Wi-Fi Enabled Stereo From Philips In Beta
Orangerobot writes "Philips Electronics is undergoing the beta test for the latest model in the Streamium line called the MC-i250. You have to trudge through a cheesy Flash presentation to get all the details, but it looks pretty good: Wi-Fi, CDDB support, online playlist management and more. It looks like they might actually get it right." Reader UVWarning's review of the current generation of Streamium indicates plenty of ways the next generation could improve on the current one.
Philips Streamium MC-i250, the world's first Wireless Broadband Internet Micro Hi-Fi System.
The MC-i250 builds on the highly interactive audio features of its predecessor. Only this time, it's wireless. Effortless access to a whole universe of music in any room in your home, within your home network - without wires, without boundaries.
Product highlights
It is as unlimited as your imagination.
Create and explore your very own universe of music:
Personalized Internet Audio:
Pick'n'mix from a vast catalogue of artists, music styles and eras to create a personalized station playing your favorite music.
Online Music Charts:
Enjoy the best of your favorite music styles with dedicated online charts - all updated daily.
Online Radio:
Go global! select from thousands of stations of music, news, sports and special interests in any language, from every region.
INFO! Service:
Press the INFO! button to receive an email with detailed information on artists and tracks.
Virtually unlimited
-Wireless connection to your home network
To be well and truly connected, wireless is the way to go. You can virtually stream digital music, access award-winning online music services and your PC's music files - from any room in the house.
All this is made possible with the uniquely powerful concept of Wi-Fi - wireless fidelity.
(Wi-Fi, also known as 802.11b, is the international leading industry standard for wireless broadband networking.)
The missing link - PC Link
PC Link wirelessly connects you - and your family - to not just 1 PC but all the PCs connected to your home network - at the touch of a button. And you can savor your vast collection of music through Philips' patented wOOx speakers for unmatched, deep and dynamic bass sounds.
Get personal - My.Philips
Created exclusively for Streamium users, My.Philips.com lets you log on to access and manage your vast online music collection, get special links to premium partners, download latest software updates, check out news and information, or even make purchases.
This extended online product interface lets you venture where you want to go, while maintaining control right at your fingertips.
Here, now, always - Futureproof
The upgradeable Streamium MC-i250 is a secure investment. Get the latest scoop on online upgrades and stay up to speed with changing technology, new products and services. As a proud Streamium owner, you become part of a privileged league once you register with My.Philips. If it's hot and happening, here and now, you will be the first to get it...always.
Ex-stream-ly feature-packed Audio System
The Streamium MC-i250 offers multi-format CD playback and a full-function FM/AM tuner. Powerful (2x50 Watts) wOOx speakers ensure mighty, impressive sound.
Built with brains - and brawn - this amazing set can handle both MP3 and mp3PRO compression formats. Its 5-line display shows artist, track title and time elapsed. A user-friendly jog dial scrolls quickly and accurately through stations and tracks. Top technology right at your fingertips!
Want to know more about MC-i250?
Full details are just a click away...
hp has a Digital Media Reciever that sits on a wifi network and scans the network for shared folders with music, AND pictures. Then, it plugs into a stereo/tv using s-video and rca cables. It seems to me that this whole phillips stereo is just another version of the same things you can already do with a computer and the hp DMR.
For the record, I do acknowledge that the DMR is SERIOUSLY lacking in that it can't do video. When they support DivX, I'm all for it.
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I owned a Phillips DVX-8000 which was one of their last attempts to bring some of the pc world to the stereo cabinet.
The DVX-8000 was a high quality onkyo receiver coupled with a built in pentium 233 (modern at the time) and PC DVD player and line doubler. This system cost about $5000 new in 97 but quickly got dumped by phillips because it was a disaster. Custom software that never worked right, no upgrade path, custom hardware that broke, no vision for the future. They never bothered with any real software updates (it was never even able to run windows 98) and was so laden down with custom hardware including the video system that there was really nothing an end user could do. Once the units were out of warrenty thats the last phillips ever touched one leaving all of their owners stranded.
This new phillips system seems novel but i would never consider buying one considering what a poor track record they have with their other 'experiments'
bah... i'd rahter have a slick slimp3 ontop of my rack...
oh, wait, i already got one!
use me... abuse me...
I have an old PC ("the server") that has my music collection and is wired to my stereo, and wired to my LAN.
I mostly work on a wi-fi laptop.
I use remote desktop software to control what's playing on the server. That way, no matter where I am, I can control what's on the stereo, using any audio source available to the server (whether it's my software or services like Rhapsody or other Web sites or Internet radio).
You can use pretty much any remote software, such as WinXP's Remote Desktop or PCAnywhere or VNC (I have some notes about that here).
Next, you could also make that same server-based collection available for playback over your LAN -- and even out over the Internet (if you have enough upstream bandwidth).
Andromeda lets you do that, provided you're running a Web server that can do PHP or ASP.
That all might sound complicated, but it's not, and it's really convenient.
My 2c, -Scott
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
It has. Not specifically for the iPod, but check your local Radio Shack analogue.
And Audiotron hooked up via Linksys ethernet bridge; plan on getting a Slimp3 eventually, as well. I don't see a reason to lock myself into wireless as a method to hook up any of these devices, though: the audiotron works with phoneline networks and plain wired ethernet, which works for me.
I do have a Motorola wireless SimpleFi, though, which uses RF. Cute hardware, but the software
is horrible: it would take me too long to set up (plus, there doesn't appear to be a way randomly play songs). It sits unused these days.
Vincent J. Murphy
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