Larry Magid: You have options for listening to Internet music
By Larry Magid
Special to the Mercury News
If your kids are like mine, they spend a lot of time downloading and listening to music from various Internet sites.
For the sake of this column let's assume -- for the moment at least -- that what they are doing is both legal and ethical, which is quite possible (though not always likely) thanks to download sites operated or sanctioned by record labels or unsigned artists. And even if your kids don't download music, you or they might listen to streaming music or news on such sites as siriusradio.com, broadcast.com, real.com, windowsmedia.com or quicktime.com.
Wherever you get your music, there are five basic ways to listen to Internet audio. You can listen though your PC or Mac speakers; copy it to a CD and listen on a standard CD player; listen on a specialized MP3 player; copy it to a mini-disc or cassette tape; or connect to a home, car or portable stereo system.
Listening to music through computer speakers can be fine if you have a good sound card and a decent set of external speakers, especially one with an amplified computer speaker system with a sub-woofer. The obvious downside, however, is that you have to be in the same room as your computer.
Another option is to connect your computer to your home stereo system. There are numerous ways to accomplish this ranging from a $2.99 cable from Radio Shack to solutions that cost well over $1,000. I'll skip the high-priced options and focus instead on what most of us can afford.
The cheap solutions, for many families, are more than adequate. If you have a desktop computer and a good speaker system, it's not necessary to spend more money unless your goal is to listen in a different room, in which case you'll need a long cable or a wireless link. Fortunately, both wired and wireless products are available at very reasonable prices.
If your home stereo system or ``boom box'' has standard (RCA) input jacks, you can connect it to your computer sound card by getting a $2.99 cable with a mini-plug on one end for your computer sound card and two RCA jacks on the other end for your stereo. This solution works reasonably well if the stereo is within a few feet of the computer. The sound quality will depend, in part, on the quality of the computer's sound card -- some are better than others at reproducing lows and highs and avoiding distortion.
A more high-tech solution is the Hi-Fi Link from Xitel (www.xitel.com). This $49.99 intelligent cable plugs into the USB port of a computer or a Mac. The software to support the device is built into Windows 98SE and Mac OS 9.04 or higher so there's no need to fiddle around with CDs or installation programs. The other end of the shielded cable -- which is 30 feet long -- plugs into the RCA inputs on your home stereo or boombox. One possible advantage of this device is that it completely bypasses your computer's sound card so the quality of the sound is consistent, regardless of what type of computer gear you have.
The company's Web site has some impressive technical specifications and claims. All I know is that music coming from my laptop sounded really good when I played it back on my home stereo system. It also sounded good when I used the $2.99 Radio Shack cable. But, when listening critically at high volume, the Hi-Fi link was louder, had less distortion and did a somewhat better job on the bass and treble. The biggest advantage of the Hi-Fi link is the long cable that allowed me to position the computer across the room from the stereo system.
Sometimes, however, even a 30-foot cable isn't long enough. If the computer is in the den and the stereo system is in the living room or a bedroom, you either need to wire the house or install a wireless link. You can pay hundreds or more for a wireless audio system, but I recently stumbled upon a low-cost product that is reasonably good. The $49.99 KS-110 from Kima Wireless (www.kimawireless.com) comes in two parts. The base unit plugs into the audio out port of your computer sound card to transmit signals up to 1,000 feet to the receiving unit that sits near your radio or home stereo system. The nice thing about the receiving unit is that you don't even have to plug it in to your home stereo. It's wireless, too, sending signals to your FM radio at either 88.1 or 88.3. The receiving unit has RCA plugs that you can use to connect directly instead of going through the FM tuner.
In my tests, the sound quality of the Kima device was mixed. I plugged the transmitter into my desktop computer and put the receiving unit in my living room -- about two rooms away. When I listened via the FM radio I heard a bit of distortion, but the sound quality improved when I used RCA cables to connect the receiver directly to my stereo, continuing to use the wireless link between the transmitter and the receiver. Still, the sound quality was not as good as the Xitel Hi-Fi link or the cheap Radio Shack cable, but the convenience factor was a big plus. The device comes with an AC adapter but you also can use it with batteries, making it possible to broadcast music to a battery-operated FM radio in the back yard.
Like all devices that use radio waves, your experience could be better or worse than mine. The signal quality could be affected by wireless phones, microwave ovens, home construction and other forms of interference.
None of these low cost solutions lets you control your computer remotely, but they all enhance your computer's ability to play music.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AI
