NETGEAR MP101 MEDIA PLAYER

Netgear, a provider of wireless network routers and gateways, seems to be going in the same direction as Linksys – to the home entertainment market. Its latest venture is the Digital Music Player, which will connect to any Wireless-B network and stream music to your Hi-Fi. The Netgear MP101 (£125 inc. VAT) is a stylish grey box that’s controlled via remote and has no buttons on it. All you are presented with is a four-line display and connections for audio line-out, a headphone socket, and Ethernet for direct connection to a network.

Set-up is straightforward – the install disk configures the player on your machine and works out the relevant IP addresses to connect to. On the downside, the MP101 only currently supports Windows users, but we’re assured that an Apple version will be made available. To add tracks to the software player, you can either search your hard drive or access your Windows Media Player library. After a quick scan – this will take longer if you’ve got lots of music files – you’re ready to start listening.

The player’s range is roughly 30 metres, but this varies depending on the positioning of the player and the type of walls you have in your home or office. We tested in both environments, in an office that’s fairly open plan and an older-construction town house with plenty of solid walls. Naturally, the number of walls in any building will cut down on the effectiveness of the signal, but we still managed a range of over 18 metres in the office. Such a distance is not usually a problem in the home.

Like Windows Media Player, tracks are sorted by artist, genre, playlist and grouped into albums or single tracks. The four-line display offers information on everything from song title to track number on the album. The screen is very clear and Netgear has opted for white text on a black background to complement the style attributes of the player. The remote offers quick access to all of the above and a handy home key will always get you back to the start in one quick press of the button.

If you are fed up with having plenty of songs on your computer but then not being able to listen to them anywhere away from the PC, then the Netgear MP101 will allow you to share the love in another room.

RATING: 8

PRICE: £106/£125 (EX/INC. VAT)
REQUIREMENTS: 2.4GHZ WIRELESS ADAPTER OR ETHERNET ADAPTER, WINDOWS 98,
98SE, ME, 2000 OR XP, BROADBAND INTERNET SERVICE (RECOMMENDED)
CONTACT: 0870 112 1206 WWW.NETGEAR.CO.UK