Philips Streamium Network Music Player NP1100

One of the big problems with digitising your music collection is that you’re left with your music sitting on your computer. Your MP3 player may be great while you’re out and about, but it doesn’t easily plug into your stereo when you get home. Presuming you’ve already got your PC connected to a home network, however, this device from Philips will plug into your stereo and return it to its rightful position at the centre of your music entertainment system.

Features:
The Streamium NP1100 plugs into your stereo with standard cables and can connect to a network either with Wi-Fi or Ethernet. It uses a UPnP server to gather songs and song information from your computer. This means that if you’re already using Windows Media Player or a range of other players to organise your music, it’ll pick up your tracks and playlists automatically (in WMP, set it up in the Library tab of the Options window). Unfortunately, Apple’s iTunes doesn’t support this open standard, so if you’re an iPod user you’ll need some extra software (see http://tinyurl.com/upnpserv for a comprehensive list) or you could just let WMP run alongside. With a UPnP server running on your computer, you can listen to all the music and playlists that are stored on your home network.

One of the downsides is that, while you can also listen to live internet radio and many podcasts from sources such as the BBC, you can’t get the Beeb’s superb Listen Again service – something that many rival systems provide as standard.

Performance:
The problem with using Wi-Fi for streaming (even audio content) is that you need a strong signal to keep it going. If you’ve got one, fine. If not, the Streamium has an Ethernet port so you could use a device such as HomePlug to pass your network through the electrical wiring in your walls. Even better would be to use standard Ethernet, though that might require trailing wires around your home, which isn’t ideal. Audio streaming isn’t that hard on a network though, so most people should find Wi-Fi streaming to be quite acceptable.

Ease of use:
Setting up the device is very simple – just plug the supplied phono cable into the Line In of your stereo and the Line Out of the device. There’s also a digital option, though you’ll need to supply your own cable.

One of the useful things this player does is ignore ‘The’ in the titles of artists, so if you’re looking for The Velvet Underground, for example, you can look under V instead of T. It’s a small but sensible thing that’s lacking in many rival devices. Philips has also obviously spent a bit of time designing the user interface, as it’s sensibly structured and simple to step through.

Value for money:
The product is reasonably priced for a device of its kind. Considering you can hook it up to your stereo, you should be able to get decent sound out of it – similarly priced devices with their own speakers, such as internet radios, are unlikely to provide such quality. However, you have to remember that it’ll only be as good as the speakers you’re bringing to the party.