Problem is, the unit is unusably slow with a large MP3 collection. I'm not talking laggy, or a few-second wait for certain actions -- loading a large playlist (1000+ MP3s) or selecting a genre with a large number of MP3s to play randomly can easily take *5 minutes* to queue up. While the device would seem to work fine for people who only have a collection of a few hundred MP3s or only use small playlists, it's maddening with a large one. I spoke to Creative technical support, and they indicated that my experience was due to limitations of the device.

Close, but no cigar. Hopefully, the next generation will be more capable; I like the interface a lot.

I'm reasonably tech savy, but not savy enough. (Rating: 1.00)
Review : I thought the negative reviews came from a bunch of sticks-in-the-mud. Unfortunately, this device has turned me into just another muddy stick. I spent my entire Sunday trying to get the thing to become friends with my wireless network. Then, I got home from work today and have spent this entire evening on the phone with technicians attempting to get the device to cooperate.

I bought the package deal: the Microsoft wireless network router along with the wireless music device. I figured that because they came as a package deal they'd play well together. They have not.

After exhausting every configuration I can come up with, and all the configs the Microsoft people can come up with, I'm putting the thing in the post back to Amazon tomorrow. The folks at the Creative Help desk were poorly informed about their product and were unable to provide much beyond the advice posted on their web site.

I'd recommend this to people who are ultra computer savvy and who have lots of time to kill. For everyone else, I think we might be better off spending a little more money and getting a device that does what we hope.

If you buy this, I wish you the best of luck. Maybe it'll work for you. I wanted it to work, but I got what I paid for...actually, since it didn't work, I guess I got a little less than I paid for.

This Box Rocks (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I felt a responsibility to share my experience with this unit since it differs considerably from other reviews. Many have complained of lag when calling up long play lists or when dealing with a large number of MP3 files. Apparently Creative Labs has been listening.

I got one today, and I couldn't be happier. No doubt this is due to the new firmware I downloaded from the product site. I have over 6000 MP3s, and I can browse and call them up without a hitch. There is a 2-3 second gap of silence after pressing play while the first file buffers, but it's no big deal.

I am a computer geek, and some network savvy is required to configure the unit if you're using WEP encryption. If your network is not encrypted, it's fairly plug-and-play, save for the firmware download which is straight forward.

Regarding the range of the unit, my 802.11b router is 3 floors above the Wireless Music receiver and I haven't heard a single dropped bit all night. I am also controlling the unit 1 floor above the receiver, so the RF remote is pulling its weight.

If you've been on the fence about this due to the lag issues, fear not. Download the firmware, and you'll be in heaven. This is truly great technology, and the sound quality is superb. For me, it was a crucial link in my home audio chain that I didn't even know was missing.

Early product but ready for prime time (Rating: 4.00)
Review : I had a few hiccups trying to get the Creative Wireless Music to operate consistently with my wireless network. In the end, I adjusted my network to accomodate the Sound Blaster. My network was WEP encrypted and configuring the SB to fit in, it would often not communicate with the wireless router, a D-link DI-624 502.11g router. My laptop connection which was previously stable now started to flake out. I am not sure what the interactions were but after playing with a lot of settings, the whole network just worked a lot better without the WEP encryption. To protect my home network somewhat, I disabled SSID broadcast and also enabled MAC address filtering to allow only my wireless devices access to the network and no other. The SB Wireless Music receiver remote has the MAC address in the "info" section. All seems to work flawlessly. I should add though that I don't live in an urban setting where my wireless network needs pretty stiff protection.

My large MP3 collection doesn't have the best ID3 tags. This is really a big problem as it's hard to navigate without proper tags. I'm currently in the process of using Ultra Tag Editor to get my collection in order. I think the navigation on the SB Wireless Music is pretty great with a lot of different options to find just what you want.

Firmware 5/04, works great. The remote is a lot more responsive. What I don't like is that sometimes the remote freezes or doesn't do anything and their is no error message. In some cases, the location of my Mp3's changed or file names changed but it would be nice to know why the device is freezing up.

Sound is excellent. I use the optical SPDIF output to my digital decoder preamp.

I have been waiting for a product like this for quite some time. The SB has some quirks but is nonetheless more or less what the doctor ordered. Best of all, I got it for $160 at a major online retailer.

Another fine product from Creative (Rating: 4.00)
Review : Of the devices in this category, this one certainly looks the best! It has a sleek modern look, which goes along with its function. But, as in everything else in life, that physical beauty is only skin deep. The beauty in this device is in what it does!

I was not disappointed that it does dot play streaming audio from the internet, or my movies from my computer. Being in the Army and being faced with lengthy deployments to miserable places, I purchased a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra 40GB MP3 player so I could take all of my CD's with me to enjoy. And then I came across this bad daddy- what an awesome concept. A wireless receiver that will hook into my wireless network and play all of the MP3's in my computer! So I bought it.

Fortunately for me, it has not performed as the numerous reviews state. It has been fantastic. (1) Getting setup. Easy, but could have been easier. I had to manually configure the device to connect to my 802.11g WEP enabled network. Automatic would have been slick, but this also gave me the chance to be hands on, and learn about the wireless network which was also new to the house with this device. (2) Connectivity. No problems here. I live in a modern German apartment building- constructed of steel and concrete. There are two walls and a kitchen between the receiver and the network hub, and it has never lost its connection. Playback has been flawless. (3) Function. Hmm. Here's where it starts to lose a little ground. Why does it take 3-5 seconds to finds the next song when advancing the playlist with the remote? The manufacturer could probably improve this performance with a firmware update. I am not a programmer, but that seems to fix other MP3 products! But, the sound through my stereo is awesome, true to life and very dynamic. And, I have yet to suffer any electronic "glitches" during playback. (4) Features. I don't care that it doesn't play my pictures through the TV or streaming internet audio. I didn't buy it for that. It does what I bought it for and does it well. (5) Network connection. Yes this device is 802.11b and will slow down a "g" network. But Creative thoughtfully has given it an autooff feature, when you dont use it, it turns off and drops out of the network, ensuring that you will maintain the highest rates of through put for data at the other stations. And who cares if it is "b," when I am listening to music I am not surfing the net or playing networked games.

I would definitely recommend this product. But, be prepared to manually "connect" the device to your network and for long lags between songs when manually advancing the playlists. Other than that, enjoy this beautiful new addition your home A/V system!

Lots of pros, but one con too many (Rating: 3.00)
Review : Pros:
1) Don't need to point the remote at the base unit for it to work.
2) Does not require a TV, since all browsing is done on remote.
3) Fast browsing on remote even for large (10,000+ songs) collections (with firmware update).
4) Excellent software for both the remote and the PC. Users of Creative sound cards or portable mp3 players may already be familiar with Mediasource.
5) Great sound quality.

Cons:
1) My unit would occasionally lose the network connection, sometimes right in the middle of a song. This did not happen often, but it was enough that I returned it. I updated firmware for this and my Linksys router and access point. It may have been poor placement of the device (inside a stereo cabinet), but that is where I wanted to put it.
2) No capability for wired ethernet (it is wireless only). Since my home is wired for ethernet, I have a jack by my stereo. If the Creative device had a wired ethernet port, I may have not returned it.
3) RF Remote should be able to have better range. It will operate slightly farther away than standard infrared devices, and it does not require line-of-sight. However, an RF remote should work most anywhere in the house, in my opinion). Mine worked only in the room with the base, and in the adjacent room.
4) Creative's technical support is among the worst in the industry.
5) Although Mediasource is good software, it is required that you import your music into it. Some competing devices will simply ask you what folders contain your music, and you don't have to import anything.
6) Having good ID3v2 tags is critically important for the software, because you can't browse by folder and file name. I tried Ultra Tag Editor based on another review here, and found it extremely useful for getting my tags in order.
7) No support for pictures or video. Some competing devices support more than just music.
8) RF remote codes can not be programmed or learned by other remotes. But, you would need the LCD screen on the remote anyway. Competing products have standard infrared remotes and require a TV for music browsing instead of doing it on the remote.
9) Playlists must be setup in Mediasource. You can't use standard m3u format playlists in Mediasource, and you can't use Mediasource playlists with other software.

I ended up returning this and purchasing the Linksys WMA11B. The Linksys device is working perfectly for me because I can use a wired ethernet connection (wireless is optional). It also supports pictures(JPG, BMP, etc), and I can program the remote codes in my Philips Pronto (TSU-2000) remote. It does not require importing songs into any software, and you can browse by folder and file name. It will also play playlists in the standard m3u format.

One drawback to the Linksys is that you have to be in front of the TV to change or pause the music. The browsing interface is also better on the Creative device. It is far easier to assemble a custom playlist using the remote with the Creative device. The Linksys is pretty much limited to selecting all songs of a particular artist, album, genre, folder, etc. The creative will allow you to queue individual or groups of songs on the remote any way you want to.

Also if you browse artists on the Linksys, you have to scroll through all artists starting with the beginning of the alphabet. With my collection, you could be scrolling for a while. On the Creative, after browsing artists I am prompted with the letters A through Z for the first letter of the artist's name. So, I could scroll down to "R" and quickly get to the "Rolling Stones" without a lot of scrolling, for example. These browsing issues weren't as important to me, since I will probably setup playlists on my PC most of the time.

NEEDS MORE WORK TO WORK! (Rating: 3.00)
Review : The good things:
1) The product looks cool and is very compact.
2) It was VERY easy to install on my existing wireless network.
3) It works to some limited extent, but not what I was expecting.

The bad things:
1) The remote barely works in the same room, nevermind in a different room. And it locks up every now and then.
2) There seems to be no way to play all tracks on random without creating a "playlist." A pain.
3) After creating a playlist with about 7000 MP3s, there is no easy way (or any way) to add new songs to an existing playlist w/o creating a new playlist.
4) When starting my playlist and setting it at random, the first song is always the same, and takes literally five minutes to load and then start playing.

No great, not horrible. Three stars.