Technology Review - Netgear MP101

It's official - we have entered the golden age of 'digital convergence' - where media (be it music, digital film, or photos) can be streamed seamlessly from room to room around your wi-fi enabled house.

This is surely the the stuff of sci-fi dreams, where music downloaded and stored on your PC in one room can be enjoyed in a completely different zone of your abode. A new wave of consumer products are already here to enable you to do this, championed by the likes of future thinking gadget magazines Digital home, Stuff and T3.

Netgear's rather awkwardly named 'MP101' is just such a device - it slots snugly into you home stereo, via standard AV leads, and taps into to your wifi network to get at your music stored on a remote networked PC, via a natty little black ariel on top. It claims to connect your existing home stereo to your home computer network so you can finally listen to your mp3s, windows media files, or Internet radio - with superior sound quality - in the comfort of your living room.

It also promises, via a hardware upgrade, access to the Rhapsody music service (Real's new offering), assuming you have an account or trial. To top it all off, you control it with with a remote control from the luxury of your expansive sofa. Then, with a large, Cheshire cat-like grin and a small bowl of olives, you can tuck into your favourite music, streamed wirelessly from another room using the might of your, for arguments sake, Sony, hi-fi. Hi-fi Wi-fi. Wow.

Couldn't be simpler, right?

Well, yes, and no.

The process starts well - unpackage the box, connect to stereo and plug in. Then go upstairs (where our 'media server' - or laptop as we have previously known it, is located). Install a CD on your PC to set up things up, create your music server and point the software towards the location of all your music files (it helps if you have them all in one place). This process was easy and effective. No problems.

The issues arose when coming back to machine to power up, connect to the wi-fi network, and, as they say in the trade, set the music free downstairs, and here's the rub.

For all the MP101's promises, the key stage in this digital revolution - connecting to the home network - was a real chore, primarily because of the problems thrown up by the WEP security enabled on our home network.