Wireless Music Networks with Windows XP
Published: January 8, 2004
By Tony Northrup, Windows XP Expert Zone Community Columnist
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If you're like me, you have thousands of songs stored on your computer. Unfortunately, my computer is really the last place I want my songs, because all I have connected to it are two tinny speakers. Okay, well, it's not the last place I want them—the last place is that dusty box full of CDs and tapes in my basement.
I can load my songs onto portable audio players, like my NOMAD Jukebox Zen and listen to them through headphones. This is a great way to listen while I'm in an airplane, mowing the lawn, or even in my car. It's not a great way to listen to music when I'm at home, though. I already have a nice stereo with a good set of speakers on it. Unfortunately, my stereo can't talk to my computer.
For me to listen to my music at home, I need to connect my computer to my stereo somehow, and then find a way to control the playback of songs with a remote. There are some new devices called digital audio receivers (DARs) that connect to both a computer and a stereo and translate between the two. They can even do it wirelessly, which is important to me, since my computer and my stereo are in different rooms. They'll cost you between $100 and $300, but that's not much considering you can gain instant access to your entire music collection.
In this column, I explain the benefits of using a digital audio receiver and tell you how to install and set one up. I also cover how to change your Internet Connection Firewall configuration so the DAR can connect to your computer over a network.
How DARs Work
DARs, like my Sound Blaster Wireless Music, the Turtle Beach AudioTron, and the Linksys Wireless-B Media Adapter, pull audio files from your computer, and play them back through speakers or your stereo system. The Sound Blaster Wireless Music connects to my 802.11g network (it connects to 802.11b networks, too) to read MP3 and WMA files from my desktop PC. It then plays the music through its audio connections. It has RCA-type audio connections and an optical out (SPDIF) connection that enable it to connect to just about any stereo system, no matter how new or old.
Most DARs connect to a television to enable you to browse your music collection. You might prefer to use your television, but I want to be able to listen to music on the stereo in my bedroom, where I don't have a TV. Fortunately, the Sound Blaster Wireless Music includes a very smart remote, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1
The remote has a small LCD screen that allows you to browse and select songs by artist, album, playlist, or song title. The remote's user interface closely resembles that of a portable music player, except that the remote does not store or play back the music; it only controls it.
The remote uses radio signals, rather than infrared signals, so it can work through walls. I was able to control the stereo in my second-floor bedroom from my basement. Of course, I can't think of any reason I'd want to do that, but if you have a whole-house audio system that capability would be very handy.
The remote is bigger than other remote controls and portable audio players. If you lose it, which seems unlikely given its size, press the Find Remote button on the Sound Blaster Wireless Music. This causes the remote to generate a sound that will lead you to it.
Before DARs, I accessed my music collection using a 50-disc CD changer. Although it's a big improvement from a one-disc CD player that requires swapping CDs to listen to a different artist, a DAR is much nicer. DARs switch between songs almost instantly, while my CD changer takes several seconds to change CDs. I can program my CD changer to play a list of songs, but DARs have much more powerful playlist capabilities.
In the case of the Sound Blaster Wireless Music, I can set up a playlist by pointing and clicking within Windows. That's much easier than programming a list of songs on my CD changer. In fact, it was so difficult that I never bothered to program my CD changer, but I've already programmed several playlists on my DAR. Of course, choosing the music I want to listen to is easier on a DAR, because it can display the name of the artist, album, and song. My CD changer required me to memorize CD and track numbers.
Install Sound Blaster Wireless Music
Installing the Sound Blaster Wireless Music or any other DAR is an easy process that takes about 30 minutes. This DAR needs to communicate with my desktop computer to retrieve my songs and playlists, which required me to install some software on the computer. After I installed the software, I connected the Sound Blaster Wireless Music to my computer using a USB port. Then, I ran a configuration tool to specify my wireless network settings, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
After the Sound Blaster Wireless Music was communicating on my wireless network, I was able to disconnect it from my computer. From then on, it does all its communications across the network.
Change Internet Connection Firewall Settings
The device needs to connect to my desktop across the network, which meant I needed to change my Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) configuration. The Sound Blaster Wireless Music software used TCP ports 8080 and 9666, so I had to specify those port numbers as accessible services on my desktop's wireless network card. To open ports in ICF, follow these steps:
1. | Click Start, right-click My Network Places, and then click Properties. |
2. | Right-click the connection that you use for the Internet, and then click Properties. |
3. | On the Advanced tab, click Settings. If the Settings button is unavailable, ICF is not enabled, and you don't need to make any changes to use the music software. |
4. | Click Add to open a new port, and in the Description box, type a friendly name such as Wireless Music. |
5. | In the Name or IP address field, type 127.0.0.1. |
6. | In the External port and Internal port boxes, type the port number. For the Sound Blaster Wireless Music software, I provided the port number 8080 the first time around, and 9666 the second time. |
7. | Click TCP, and then click OK. |
8. | Repeat this process from step 2 for each port to be opened. |
For more information on opening specific ports, see the Knowledge Base article, How to Manually Open Ports in Internet Connection Firewall in Windows XP.
Other DARs will use different port numbers, but they will definitely require you to poke at least one hole in your firewall. If you are not using a personal firewall, you won't need to take this extra step. However, you should be using a firewall. For more information about firewalls, read my Internet Firewalls column.
Next, I disconnected the USB cable, carried the Sound Blaster Wireless Music to my stereo, and plugged it into my stereo. Use the SPDIF (the digital connection) if your stereo has that type of connection—your music will sound better!
Then I connected it to a power outlet and the Auxiliary Input port, and switched the input on the amplifier. After a couple of minutes, the Sound Blaster Wireless Music had connected to my desktop PC across the network and was ready to play music.
Note: Companies like Dell, Apple, Napster, and BuyMusic.com are convinced that online sales of digital audio files are the future of music distribution, and I think they're right. Some devices, including the Sound Blaster Wireless Music, can't yet play audio files that are purchased and downloaded online. If you buy music online, be sure to use a compatible DAR, or you'll only be able to use your DAR to listen to music that you've copied from CDs.
Use a CD or DVD Player
If you don't yet have a network at home but you do have a CD burner, you can use a CD or DVD player that supports WMA playback to record hundreds of songs on a single CD. There are complete stereo systems, such as the Panasonic SC-PM28, that support this format. If you have a component-based stereo system, you can purchase a standalone component to playback WMA CDs, such as the JVC XV-N50BK or the Onkyo DV-SP301 DVD players.
Though they're not perfect (yet), DARs are the best way to bridge the gap between your computer and your stereo, and to bring your entire home into the digital music era. I'm excited about the future of DARs too, because Microsoft is currently working hard to make connecting computer audio to your home stereo as easy as plugging new devices into the USB port on our computer. The Windows Media Connect software they've announced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show will make it much easier to get these devices working without being a networking expert.
Expert Zone columnist Tony Northrup is an Internet engineer, a part-time photographer, and author of dozens of books and articles. He writes to help people safely use the Internet to communicate, share, and learn.
