7. Negatives

Anyone who uses iTunes on a regular basis knows that message boxes periodically pop up to inform you of available software updates, to let you know that there is a blank disk in one of your optical drives, and so on. When StreamPoint automatically loads iTunes to play a DRM-protected song, the offending message box prevents iTunes from playing media until it is closed. When this occurs, an error message is displayed on the Wireless DJ remote and you're forced to go deal with the message box on your PC before StreamPoint can continue to stream files. This is, at worst, a mild annoyance that does not occur often.

However, the more serious weaknesses of the product will quickly be revealed to anyone with a large digital music library. First, there is no search function on the remote. If you want to locate a certain song using only the remote, get ready to wear out the jog wheel as you try to scroll down the list to find it. The lack of a search function might not bother someone with a couple hundred songs, but many people have thousands. Scrolling slowly through thousands of songs to find one track quickly becomes tedious.

Also, since the menu system on the remote does not work in a loop, attempting to locate a song in the lower half of the alphabet by starting with Z and scrolling backwards is not possible. I have approximately 4500 songs on my PC (about 300 albums). On average, scrolling as fast as I could, it took me a little over a minute to get through all of the songs starting with the letter 'A'. At approximately one minute per letter it would take me over 20 minutes to locate a song that begins with the letter 'Z'. Currently, the only way to narrow your selections down is to search through the genre, album, and artist lists, or stick with your PC defined playlists.

I contacted Logitech to find out if they're planning to fix this problem and they assured me that they are working on a patch that will enable the user to skip to each letter of the alphabet without needing to scroll through all of the songs in the library. The patch will be released before the end of the year, and will make finding songs mush easier.

Conclusion

Most people have a collection of compressed audio hanging around on our computers. We transfer the files to our MP3 players and make playlists on our PCs, but why should we stop there? Compressed audio offers many conveniences over CDs, not the least of which being that every song that we own can be accessed almost instantly at any time. There's no need to dig up a CD by searching through a mountain of unorganized jewel cases, only to find that the one you're looking for is either badly scratched or missing. There's also no need to repeat that CD search after listening to 15 or 20 songs.

With the Wireless DJ, many of the conveniences associated with the compressed audio library on your PC can be transferred to your primary audio entertainment system with minimal effort. The Wireless DJ components are beautifully constructed with noticeable attention to detail. They are very classy looking, and the remote interface is simple and intuitive. The remote's LCD screen conveniently allows you to retain the benefits of browsing through song titles as you would on your PC, and as soon as the patch is released this feature will improve greatly. The StreamPoint software consumed few PC resources, so it won't bog down your computer while it streams files. It worked flawlessly as it switched back and forth between media players to access DRM protected content.

All things considered, the Logitech wireless DJ music system is an impressive product and ideal for anyone who wants to listen to their digital music without being chained to a PC. And because everything you need comes in the box and sets up easily, it's especially suited for those who aren't networking savvy. Highly recommended!

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