Cisco-Linksys WMA11B Wireless Digital Media Adapter Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)...
First Impressions:
Nice packaging. Nice looking device, it's not much bigger than a four port hub. It has both the Cisco and LinkSys logos on the face. Vertical or horizontal mount. The package contained the device, quick setup poster, and a CD.
Installation:
I have an existing server, running Win2K Server, that I store my MP3 collection on. This product works by installing an agent on a PC and then connecting the device over a hard wired LAN or WiFi (802.11b). My setup allows me to use either LAN or WiFi and of course I chose the wired setup for max bandwidth and so I could actually listen to music and use my phone or microwave without dropping packets and thus songs. The agent installation was flawless and the media adapter and my server were talking within a few minutes after cracking up the box. Once the agent is installed on a PC, you really only have one option: Point the agent to your media. So of course I decided to point it to my entire (29 gig) mp3 collection which began in a single MP3 folder. Well, it starts to "Search" and then simply would disappear. No error, no nothing. Ok, maybe my collection was too big, so I start dragging my genre folders which were maybe 1 gig a piece...same thing happend. Ok...so I decide to drag a single album over to the agent and finally it seems to take the 6 songs in the folder and I rush over to my TV to fire up the device...it was able to play three of the songs and then the entire folder disappeared and thus I had no music to pull up anymore. After a few reboots and trying different folders I had similar results. My trade, I'm an IT guy...so there were no 'technical user' issues...I can assure you of that. To this day the device is flakey. It forgets entire folders for no reason at any given time. I've even loaded XP with similar results.
Audio:
The sound is on par with my expectations, though I wish for the price the device would have at least coax digital out. Your stuck with a pair of RCA, which I hooked a pair of Monster cables up to for optimal sound. The unit is equipped with an Intel StrongArm 400 MhZ (The same processor the latest PocketPCs use) and thus is pretty good at decoding and playing the MP3/WMAs.
Display:
The menus are sloppy. There is absolutely no customization on for menus either. There are NO visualizations while songs are playing. You can't see anything important like bit rate or most of an ID3 tag (genre, year, etc.). You are stuck with an unsizable screen that shows you the track name and album name and running time. That's it. Plus they use such a huge display, that a band or song title with a long name (13 chars +) gets lopped off. Sloppy stuff all around on the visuals. Again, I expect more.
Photos:
Photos are displayed well. No real problems here. The device sure could flip through them faster though with this processor. One plus is the ability to play MP3s while viewing photos. However, some lag does occur on larger photos. Whether this is due to bandwidth, processor, or a combination I'll leave up to the "engineers" over at Linksys to figure out and hopefully fix over the next decade or so...
Support:
This is where the stars began to seriously dive. ... I doubt the engineers who designed this paper weight released this as a stable product under their free will. It's a joke.
Conclusion:
... I would recommend looking at the new Gateway DVD/MP3 network device or waiting as this market opens up more. We will all want to stream over DivX movies, MP3s, and every other type of media soon. I'm just going to wait a few years while they refine this technology better.

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The Linksys Wireless-B media adapter lets you bring the digital pictures and music stored on your computer to your home entertainment center, without running cables through the house. Using a wireless connection, the media adapter displaysyour digital photographs on the TV for the whole family to enjoy. And your digital music collection is finally freed from those little computer speakers and can play in full glory through your stereo system.
The Wireless-B media adapter sits by your home stereo and television and connects to them using standard consumer electronics cables. Then it connects to your home network by Wireless-B (802.11b) wireless networking or, if you prefer, it can be connected via standard 10/100 Ethernet cabling. Using the included remote c ontrol and the user-friendly menus on your TV, you can browse through the digital pictures on your computer by folder, filename, or thumbnail. You can view pictures one at a time, or watch an automatically created slideshow of all the pictures in a given folder. The media adapter supports five popular picture formats: JPG, GIF, TIF, and BMP. Use the remote control's Zoom button to get a close-up of the details in your pictures. You can also use the remote to browse your MP3- or WMA-formatted music collection by title, artist, genre, folder, or playlist. Choose the music you want, and let the Wireless-B media adapter play it through your stereo system. You can even let music play in the background while you browse your pictures.
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Philips HDD1630 6 GB MP3 Player Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been using this little mp3 player now for a while and I feel I can give it an accurate assessment. I'm going to compare it with the ever popular Ipod Nano just in case you find yourself like I did, stuck between two heavyweight champs.
-Appearance: I found myself taken right away with the gogear. It's about the same height of the nano but definitely thicker. The entire player is a reflective midnight black with silver plating on the sides. It fits nicely in the hand and looks stunning. It shows fingerprints, but those wipe away easily. It doesn't seem to scratch too easily, unlike its opponent which scratches at the lightest of touches. I knew someone that kept his nano in a cloth case and it still found a way to show scratches. Albeit, the Ipod nano is incredibly small and aesthetically pleasing, but the darn thing just can't take its punches. The screen is prone to cracking and I've never seen an Ipod nano that didn't have a million battle scars on it. Which one you like better is a personal choice, but in my books, this round goes to the GoGear if only because it doesn't scratch so easily.
-Functionality, Playback and Features: Let me start by saying duh! Who would buy an mp3 player that only has a capacity of 2gb when they could get a different one at the same price that has 6gb of storage. I call this a nobrainer but whatever floats your boat. You could shell out an extra 50 to get the superior nano, but it still falls short of the GoGear by 2gb. The GoGear is extremely straightforward in its design. My computer had no trouble detecting it. I quickly and easily synched my music library to the GoGear using Windows Media Player. The main menu has 5 options to chose from: music, radio, pictures, recordings and settings. Everything is pretty easy to find. The touch navigation is pretty good. I sometimes have a problem with it going two clicks instead of one, but that's a small annoyance. The playback on this player is good. It has a couple of different equalizer settings to chose from. Hip Hop is my personal favorite. It has dedicated volume, power and menu buttons on the side. I do wish there was a button that took you directly back to the main menu. As it is designed, you kinda have to backtrack through to find the main menu. Again, this isn't really a big deal. One thing I really do like about this player is the fact that it has an Am/Fm tuner. The nano lacks this in its feature set, and it is sorely missed. The navigation on the GoGear is pretty comparable to the nano, though I feel the GoGear is a little more easy to navigate in. Again this is a personal choice, but I feel the GoGear won this round as well. My main complaint with the nano is that it doesn't have a radio tuner. Who dropped the ball on that one?
-Battery Life: I haven't had enough experience with the Nano to really declare one better than the other, but I'll tell you what I know. The battery on the Philips seems to last a while. I would call its 17 hour rating a pretty accurate statement, give or take a little bit. I do know that the Nano is infamous for its suspectable battery life. Most users complain that it just doesn't have the endurance to make it through the day. I'm going to call this round a draw because of the simple fact that I just don't have enough experience with the Nano. Though from other reviews, I would say the GoGear has again bested the Nano.
-What I didn't like about the GoGear: My main complaints about the GoGear were about the accessories. The rubber case that comes with it is more like a rubber sleeve that outlines the edges. It does nothing to protect the front of the player, but I guess Philips didn't have to supply a case at all. I also couldn't stand the headphones supplied with it. They just wouldn't fit comfortably in my ear. Again though, Philips didn't have to supply earphones at all, so I guess I shouldn't complain. These are minor complaints and they don't impact my music experience with the GoGear.
-The Verdict: In the end, the GoGear is the clear winner. It looks good, it works and plays well, and it has 6gb of storage 6gb as opposed to 2gb the equally priced nano gives you. This amounts to about a 1000 more songs, more or less. There are only two reason why anyone would chose the nano over the GoGear: 1) they are ill-informed consumers that just wanted to buy the popular mp3 player instead of researching the issue or 2) they just really couldn't get over the size of the nano. The Nano may win on the coolness factor by a slight margin, but it just can't compete with the features of the GoGear. Do yourself a favor, and put your money on the ultra sleek GoGear.


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Philips MP3, 6 GB Hard Disc Drive, Like Music to easily play 20 songs from same genre, Music Messenger to allow sharing of favorite songs with friends, Color LCD Screen, Microsoft Plays For Sure, FM Tuner, Picture viewing, Senory Touch pad control, Cradle connector/charger, Windows Media Player

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MP3/MP4/WMA Player & FM transmitter with 1GB Samsung flash memory built-in (1.8 Inch TFT Screen) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)While this player does a fairly good job of transmitting the songs clearly to the FM radio, reading the display during the daylight is difficult to impossible. The remote has to be very close to the player to function. also the unit doesn't support folders so all MP3s have to be placed into a common folder which makes it harder to locate and play a specific song.
Otherwise it is an OK player and the sound quality is good. The signal is strong enough so that the radio doesn't overlay a lot of static during playback. If this player had a more easily read display and supported folders, it would be a great MP3/4 player.

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