Linksys Wireless-B Music System WMLS11B

Linksys (WMLS11B) MUSIC SYSTEM 802.11B 11MBPS

1 Awesome! Problems mentioned below must be fixed.
I purchased this product even though I had read several reviews where people were having problems here on Amazon. My thoughts were "if these problems haven't been fixed, I'll take it back." I'm happy to say that I've experienced NONE of the problems that some of the users below have experienced. As one of the other reviewers below said "many of the problems are fixed with the 1.0.9 Firmware." I've not had any problems reported below such as 1) Can't play more than 10 songs on a playlist 2) skipping songs 3) Low wireless signal strength (the unit picks up in the back of my house where my laptop's wireless card won't!!!)

I've had NO skipping and I've now got over 50 CD's on my media server with varying numbers of songs on them and have NO problems selecting them from the panel interface. I basically, powered the unit on and it discovered my wireless network and I was playing Internet radio stations within 10 minutes of having it out of the box. Upgrade to the 1.0.9 before you do ANYTHING else.

Now, I am using mine in a slightly different way that I've read about others using theirs. My whole point in buying this was to use either Musicmatch's On-Demand or Rhapsody's unlimited streaming downloads for $9.99 a month. I don't have massive colletions of downloaded mp3's that I want to play. I simply want to use one of these services to store playlists and access those albums from across the house. Here is WHERE I HAD PROBLEMS BUT OVERCAME THEM. I started with Musicmatch 8.2 that came on the Linksys CD and is supposedly the only server that is compatible with the linksys unit. The Linksys immediately say the server I had the 8.2 software on and was able to access the Playlists I had created (again, not Playlists of songs that I had actually downloaded but Playlists that I could stream to my system). Unfortunately, this FLAT didn't work. I could see the songs on my Linksys but they just wouldn't play. I think its the format that MusicMatch streams them from their site in. On a whim, I decided to download Rhapsody and try their equivalent. Nothing in the Linksys manual implied that you could do anything with Rhapsody other than access their radio stations. However, when I got it installed (either 2.1 or 3.0 works) I noticed that it was acting as a UPnP server. Looking at my Linksys, I saw that it now saw another Media Player on the network. I created a few Playlists on Rhapsody and hit the button on the Linksys.....THEY PLAYED. Rhapsody works with this box but I COULD NOT make Musicmatch's On-Demand work. I bet it works great pushing songs you've purchased. Oh, one other trick, when you add songs to your Rhapsody Playlist, you need to stop and start your Rhapsody software and power cycle the Linksys for it to see those updates. It takes mere seconds.

As for the unit itself the speakers are only slightly better than what you would expect from an "under the counter kitchen radio". In my small bathroom and even in the kitchen, they put out a decent amount of sound but won't ROCK. Get your expectations right and you won't be dissapointed. The unit itself is pretty light and "plasticy" but still looks sharp in my opinion. I hooked it up to my stero speakers and it ROCKED. For under $100, this is an AWESOME unit that really works. I'm looking to buy another one. Its cool to have a box that can play Internet radio stations alone...no to mention I can access Rhapsody and have unlimited albums for $8.33 a month paid quarterly. Wow!

2 Cool look just doesnt work!
Music Match is very slow in loading and hangs by every startup.
The player doesnt stream music well at all no matter what bitrate or firmware version.
Once you go into a sub menu you must go all the way the the first menu to get out.
Volume on the included speakers is horrible.
I just bought the entire Rockford Fosgate Package AWESOME!

3 Buy this if you like to be tortured
I bought the WMLS11B for my teenage daughter for christmas for her to play her music collection on our computer from her room. This seemed like a really cool idea and I was looking forward to tinkering with it. After following the setup directions I could not get the box to recognize any of the WMAs or MP3s on my music servers (Music Matchbox) or to play internet radio, even though I could quite easily access the WMLS11B remotely via the web-based admin tools. I endured endless torture trying to reach and communicate with the Linksys "technical support" personnel but I won't provide the gruesome details. I'll only mention a few highlights:
1) I spent over 7 hours with Linksys support (most of that was spent on hold, waiting to talk to somebody)
2) Linksys apparently outsources their technical support to India and uses a voice over IP line for the phone connection. It was very difficult to understand them, both because of their accent and because of the poor phone connection
3) The sum total of the technical knowledge of these people seemed to be limited to what is printed on the 2-page instructions that ship with the unit
4) During five different calls, and two internet 'chat' session, I was told that I was being transferred to 'level II' support but either I was put on hold and the line ultimately went dead, or in 3 instances I was told that Level II support would call back but they never did (after waiting over a week)
5) By some fluke I was finally able to talk to a person in Level II support and she ran through my situation and concluded quickly that my unit was defective and arranged an RMA to ship me a replacement
6) The replacement arrived with the wrong cables, had a funny rattle inside, but also did not work.
Luckily I was able to return my unit to Amazon for a refund (they extended the period for returns for the christmas season). So my lesson from this is 1) Never buy anything from Linksys, 2) Always buy stuff from Amazon.
P.S. As if this experience wasn't enough, I decided not to give up and ordered the Netgear music system. I was able to set that box up in about 15 minutes and it works like a charm. My daughter is finally happy!

4 Better than other reviews would lead you to believe...
My biggest gripe with this box is that I lose the media server after I turn it off. The only way to get it back is to make an innocuous change to network settings and let the unit reboot. (For the records, I ditched the MusicMatch software in favor of TwonkyVision, but I had the same problem with both.)

The integrated Internet Radio is a big plus, though, and it is well-organized by genre and country, with a good selection of stations, better than Shoutcast.

I like the fact that this unit has detachable speakers, so I can fit it into my entertainment center for piping through the stereo or can put it on my nightstand. Would be better if the power and audio interfaces to these speakers did not involve so many wires. I'd also like to be able to power this with batteries.

I have found that this unit is finnicky with the formats it will play (e.g., no rights-managed WMA files). If you already have an extensive digital music collection, this could be a problem. I'm just starting to rip my CD's, so it's not such an issue.

The speakers are a bit underpowered and do have a tendency to buzz at times, but the sound is decent. Hey, for 100 bucks, I wasn't expecting a Wave Radio!

5 Love it
I would have given it a four if it was easier to hook up. Once it is hooked up it works great. I think for the price it is a great gadget. I bought two.

6 Too early to market
I am incensed that this very expensive player has an undocumented (and apparently unknown to Linksys customer service techs) 10 song limit on the playlists you can create. Sure, it's good to hook up Internet radio, but I've got 1000 songs on my computer and I painstakingly made them into playlists... only to hear the damn thing repeat after the first 10. Hours on the phone with tech support had me thinking something was wrong with MY computer. Later, by e-mail, I learn the thing only plays 10 songs. They should have disclosed this on the box... for a $180 product... and they CERTAINLY should have this documented for their tech support people. Linksys! I want my money, my time and my dignity back!

7 Good, if you have right expectations
I've had this item for a few days now. Overall, for the price, I think it is a good buy.

Although I did not read the instructions (Instructions? Where's the fun?) I did not experience any major headaches during set up. I think a key to this is to first plug the unit directly into the ethernet port on your PC and skip using wireless or a router until you get it all set up. The unit is preset to crossover mode via a very difficult to see switch on the back (the switch is essentially hidden), so you can use an ordinary cable for this direct-to-PC connection. If you choose to connect via a router, this hidden switch may screw you up (you probably have to switch it from crossover to normal). Immediately go to Linksys and download their updated firmware (1.09 right now) and driver (a 23MB file) and ditch the enclosed CD altogether. Install the firmware update utility (part of the 23MB driver file) and then upgrade the firmware. Then set up the rest - your wireless network, etc. I did this and had internet radio coming through within 20 minutes of opening the box. It does use MusicMatch 8.2 Jukebox for it's media server. Although I have the media server set up and working I haven't quite figured out if they give you a special version of MusicMatch or what - but I had version 9.0 installed and had to overwrite it with the version (8.2) that I had downloaded from Linksys as part of the 23MB driver file to get the server to work. The server seems to work well and I don't understand what most of the complaints are about. It DOES NOT support any DRM as far as I can tell. For me this means some of the CD's that I ripped myself before I figured out that Windows Media Player was "protecting" them need to be re-ripped in an unprotected WMA format (these songs appear to que up - song title appears - but do not play and sometimes the unit locks up). It also probably means the two-three songs I've bought via web-based stores don't play, but I haven't checked it yet. It DOES play my variable bit rate WMA 9.0 files flawlessly. I've read that only mp3 streaming radio is supported, but there are still many many radio stations available (uses a service called vTuner - see vtuner.com) including KUT Austin, my favorite. The interface is fine as far as I can tell. The strangest thing though is the low volume of the device. With volume at 25% the unit is barely audible in a quiet room with my ear a few inches from the speaker. At full volume it is too loud for most of my uses, though, so that is ok. It is just weird to have to have the volume up to 60-75% or so for ordinary situations, unlike any other radio or device I have (it is underpowered compared to any standard PC powered speaker set I have used).

I bought this primarily for the Internet radio funtionality and I have to say I am pleased. It is truly an appliance for that function - no PC connection required. Just what I have been looking for. Now I can listen to my Internet radio stations in the kitchen, garage, and so on.

8 Don't believe all the bad hype on this.
I purchased this as an alternative to the Squeezebox I already own. I wanted a wireless music player for upstairs, but did not want to fork out another $275 for the Squeezebox. The Squeezebox is great and the Slimserver software running on Linux rocks but I'm cheap. I also like the idea of playing radio on this without the server running.

This player has gotten a lot of bad press on Amazon. I just got mine today and within an hour or so, I was up and running. A couple of important points:

1. Do not use the Server software supplied with the device. Use Twonkyvision. It just works. I'm running mine on a Mandrake 10.1 box. I am also running Slimserver on the same box with no problems.
2. Upgrade the firmware to 1.09 immediately. My unit shipped with 1.07. 1.09 fixes a lot of issues everyone has been b*tching about.

Pros:
Price - at $99 you can't beat this vs. $275 for a Squeezbox.
Internet radio without a server running. Seems to work well
Easy to set up. I know there is a lot of bad press here, but if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, you can reduce the headaches. I found this device no more difficult to set up than the Squeezebox.
Menus as easy to navigate as a Squeezebox.
Digital optical output.

Cons:
DHCP is squirrelly sometimes, as in not grabbing an IP automatically. It seems to work better in wireless mode on my network.
Menus are slow with EQ enabled. Feed your audio into a receiver or amp and this is not an issue.
Can't crank this thing. Speakers suck. Not a problem since I plan to use the optical audio output into a home theatre receiver.
Favorite list is too short.
No battery option.

All in all, I am very happy with this device so far. I have played a bunch of Internet radio stations and server supplied MP3's with no major problems.

9 Nice concept but not quite ready... yet.
Just bought this unit tonight (Wal*Mart) and was quite excited by the idea I could listen to my MP3 collection and Internet Radio anywhere I could plug this in! Nice looking unit, too!

Got it home and ended up configuring it manually because it wouldn't use DHCP to grab IP settings, wired or wireless.

It worked OK on a wired connection. The User Interface is difficult to navigate (at best). Finding a song by browsing is very difficult; if you try to go back one menu level, it takes you all the way back to the root level.

On wireless, it refused to play even one song all the way through without skipping. I thought maybe the signal wasn't great but I was only about ten (10!) feet from my wireless router. I put my laptop (with 802.11b) next to the Linksys and played the same song through both. My cheapo laptop wireless card did better than this $110 unit!

I am not only not impressed, I'm disappointed and discouraged. This is the first birthday present I've had to take back for good.

Sorry, Linksys, but I have to give you some advice: Make the unit a little better and you'll have me as a customer. I've been in I.T. for eight years now and I'm quite well aware of how easy it would be to fix these issues.

Len

10 Agree - Great Idea, But Not Ready for Prime Time
After five hours, the music center is now working, but my wireless computer is no longer working. I have setup networks before but still had to call Linksys support. There seemed to be no real solution. We restarted the router and music center dozens of times. The last thing tech support had me do was change the wireless channel to 9 and then the music center began to work, but the notebook quit working. Then, I was transferred to another technician and was cut off. I called back and was told to download a utility, which I did and it didn't work with my version of the router (keep in mind it is a Linksys router and Linksys told me to download that utility). So, I called back again and this time, the story is the problem is now with my Cisco wireless card and I need to call Cisco even though everything worked before trying to set up Linksys' Music Center. I set the channel back to 11 and the music center still works, but have not figured out why my notebook no longer authenicates. Even for the computer literate, my advise would be unless you have a couple of days to waste, wait for the next version and hope they figure out the bugs.

11 Linksys Music System: bait and switch
This device lured me with two separate attractions: 1) internet streaming radio stations without a PC, and 2) Rhapsody music service.
I admit that on point #1 the WMLS11B was satisfactory as it linked in easily to my network and allowed me to "browse" hundreds of internet streaming MP3 radio stations from all over the world (like shortwave radios as a kid, only better!). Unfortunately some stations would mysteriously reboot the device upon connection. Linksys support was not good: they suggested stopping the previous station before starting a new one. Their knowledege base lacked a link to their own firmware upgrade to cure this problem. To top it off, the upgrade failed midway thus leaving the device basically disabled and unbootable.

On point 2, I didn't discover until further research on the web off the Linksys page that the Rhapsody service required a PC to be powered on and connected to the same network. Too bad. Almost bait and switch. Again Linksys support had NO IDEA how Rhapsody worked with the device, whether the connection was direct or through a PC client.
I returned the device to Best Buy. Maybe someone else will have better luck!

12 things they don't tell you on the box
Beware, you might need the help of a techie to set this up if you have a simple home network.

For trouble-free operation and to get the full benefits of the product it assumes that you have 1) a wireless access point (for infrastructure mode) and 2) a router or other residential gateway that serves DHCP. The person I set this up for had neither. So we had to put a PCI wireless card in his only desktop, which was tapping his DSL modem directly, and enable XP Internet Connection Sharing and ad-hoc wireless with static addresses. This requires a certain level of wi-fi, tcp/ip and firewall knowledge that the average consumer doesn't have and a thorough workout of practically all of the unit's configuration options -- a tedious process itself. This is all complicated by the fact that the supplied documentation is zero help for this kind of configuration (and questionable for the "normal" one) and, as is often the case with Linksys fringe products, there are zero online support resources as in NO knowledge base entries for the product, nothing. This is extremely poor customer service. Especially considering the high volume of customer service calls this product must generate. Also frustratingly missing was any description of what network ports the unit uses so that a firewall can be configured properly (again, using internet connection sharing).

In the end we got both the Internet Radio and Music Server options working but not without much hair pulling. This should really be considered a "kit" instead of a product. In our situation it worked but just barely and only because I have experience configuring awnry wireless LAN products.

As for quality, the unit is plasticky but that should come as no surprise to Linksys regulars. The speakers are a disappointment and don't perform like they look like they might. But any serious user is going to connect this to their existing audio system anyway so no big deal.

All in all I think it is a risky purchase for the general public. I'm giving it 2 stars because I believe only 40% of buyers at most will not regret the purchase.

13 Works great, once you get it set up
We recently purchased the Linksys Music System so we could have essentially a portable boombox-type device we could move from room to room and access music and Internet radio using our wireless network.

Setting up the system was a bit of a pain. We followed the instructions and it worked fine in wired mode but wouldn't work when we went wireless. I configured and re-configured several times but no luck. Finally, after much frustration, I called Linksys Tech Support and one of the technicians got it going in about 5 minutes (we switched from using DHCP to a static IP address and that was it).

Now that it's configured, it works great. We can stream music from our MusicMatch library or from any of a large number of radio stations without a problem. The only negatives are that the speakers are somewhat underpowered (we use them near max volumn most of the time) and the unit can sometimes be a bit slow to respond to the remote. Neither of these issues comes close to offsetting the convenience and functionality of this unit.

Do be sure to get the latest firware updates though as many people have reported problems with the one shipped with the unit.

14 Portable Music System that Rocks
First read all the reviews. If you get this, definately go to the Linksys web site and download the latest firmware update September 04 version 1.09. After that, you will, within minutes, be listening to tons (over 1900) internet radio stations, surely you will find something that meets your mood. As other reviewers stated, the sound is not the loudest, but it is adequate for around the house use. If you want shake the walls sound, hook it up to your home stero system. I looked at other systems, and the fact that I could take this unit, anywhere in the house and listen is awesome. Other units will have to live on your component rack only. Musicmatch server does a fine job, with the occasional comercial to upgrade to the plus version. There is a plug in for Winamp (tonkyvision) that will also run a media server, but it requires Win XP, I have Win ME. In microsoft website I also read that they have one too, but also runs only in Win XP. Once the unit is up and running, the built in web server makes it nice to add favorites from ShoutCast (this system only accepts streaming MP3 not WMA or Real) by saving the playlist to a file, opening with an editor, and copy and paste server URL to the favorites. One minor bad thing was that I run a 11G WiFi and I had to change the encryption from WPA-PSK to WPE-SK, in order to continue to have a closed system. You should also turn off the SSID and enable MAC address filtering, to help make it more secure. Remember, is does not stop a hacker, just slows them down. Anyway, this is exactly what I was looking for, the ability to play my MP3's, listen to internet radio stations, and do it all WiFi anywhere in the house for around $115 from Best Buy after rebates. Definatly worth the money.

15 too much hassle, great idea bad way of doing it
I was excited to try this thing out when I got it for christmas. I have alot of music on my computers and wanted a way to be able to tap into it onto my stereo system in the living room and deck for partys. After opening it I found that where this thing apears to be portable it is not. It has 3 different sets of wires across the back of it for all the speaker hook ups. It has to be plugged into a power source all the time. The other dissapointments are that it has to have a server software running on one of the computers. The software is music match media. This software wouldnt run correctly on my computers and kept locking up. After 2 hours of trying different things I got it to play a song over my wired network. It could browse songs but it takes a while to find them on the little screen. Any song queing needs to be done with playlists and that has to be set up previously on the computer with the software. Wireless? It wasnt working rite. I had it connected, but it wouldnt browse any more than about ten songs at a time before it had a long wait period to look for more. Then it would play the song once you found it. It did seem to sound ok through its speakers that came with it.

For the money this thing is more of a hassle the a cool inovative device. It requires toooooo..... much setup and configuration. It also requires too many steps to get to your music. I suggest finding an old PC with a tv out card and hooking it up to your stereo and tv. Much more convenient.
Dont buy this thing, I am returning it.

16 Wireless?...Well, not really.
I thought wireless meant "without wires"! Not the case with this device; you will have plenty of wires to choose from! This player is going back to the store...you get what you pay for.

Wireless
The description claims that you can "Carry the Music System around the house and have access to your entire music collection". Well the only problem is that you will need a VERY long extension cord to do this, because this unit does not run on batteries...only an attached DC power converter.

Setup
I have 5 computers in my house sucessfully connected to my wireless network. However, I was unsucessful in creating a robust wireless connection to this device. I could get it working, but then the device seemed to reconfigure itself on occasion. It also often grabbed bogus IP Addresses when using DHCP.

Features
In concept, this device is nice. It includes a lot of useful features such as: Internet Radio, self-populating Playlists. However, I often could not get many of the features to work. Many of the songs would not play (media error) even though I can get them to play on my other 3 MP3 streaming devices.

Ergonomics
Wires Everywhere! The back of the device is a web of wires...one to power the device; one to power the speakers; one to connect the right speaker to the device; one to connect the left speaker to the right speaker. And...they are all jammed closely together, which makes it nearly impossible to coonnect them all.
The other problem is that you must use the remote control in order to access most of the features of the Jukebox. I think its reasonable to expect to be able to control/configure a device from the main unit.

MUSICMATCH Jukebox:
What was Cisco/Linksys thinking? This device requires MUSICMATCH Jukebox running on your media server in order to access your songs. Now, I realize that this area is still not standardized in the industry...each manufacturer seems to have their own server-side software package that is responsible for streaming your music. However, most manufacturers are using either Windows Media Player, or their own proprietary software. Linksys chose to use a shareware program that constantly bombardes you with advertisements, and ofers to "upgrade" to their not-free "professional" version.

I will return this today and continue to search/wait for a more robust stand-alone media streaming device.

17 Ok product EXCEPT....
I had no trouble setting it up on my wired network. Plays fine EXCEPT for @ 80% of my mp3 collection. For @ 80% of my collection I get 'media error' and they will not play. I tried a firmware upgrade, it was easy and was successful, but did not cure my problem. I was using the included MM software, I updated that as well, no help there either. I also have WMP 10 + the UPNP media add-on and tried that, no luck with that media player either. I also tried 4 systems as servers running XP home, XP Pro, and 2000 with AMD or Intel processors, plenty of RAM and hard drive space, no luck. I emailed Linksys and after 4 weeks I received their answer: "the bit rate that usualy work stable with the WMLS11B are the ones running on 128 bit" and "Try to also to use sound forge version 6.0 as the MP3 converter". Well, my mp3's are all ripped from my own CD's at 320 Kbps using a standard LAME engine. The unit will play my (few) mp3's ripped at 128Kbps and lower. I have had 2 other networked media players (Oritron and a Rio Receiver) that played my entire colelction without any problems. This is unacceptable. I will be returning this item. Too bad they dont mention this limitation in the technical specs, FAQ's, or even on the box (all of wich I read before buying).

18 Fine product with firmware upgrade and later production runs
I've been eyeing this one for a while and I jumped in at the sub-$100 price. I purchased it yesterday (11/14), wired everything together, plugged it in and I was immediately listening to Internet streaming radio over my existing 11b network. Been running the MusicMatch server and streaming my MP3 collection to the unit with no problems. I did upgrade the unit to the latest firmware available at the Linksys site. Most of the reported problems seem to be due to early QA problems and early firmware. Some negative user experiences may be attributable to a poorly documented UI on the unit. Playlists have worked fine for me, as has adding Internet radio stations to the favorites list using the onboard web interface. I say give it a shot! Good luck!

19 Best Looking System- with speakers
More potential than other systems at much less cost. Program your own streaming online radio stations to add to those included. I use the Linksys WMLS11b in conjunction with Nicecast network streaming (Rogue Amoeba) with very Pleasing results. Hook-ups are just a tad cheesy, though.

20 Cool concept -- poor execution
I was very excited when I saw this in the store. What better way to play my thousands of MP3s in the living room? I really, really wanted to like this product. But, while the concept of this product is neat, the execution is terrible. I won't repeat what the other reviewers wrote about the difficulty of managing more than a few dozen MP3s with the awkward user interface; suffice to say I agree with them. But that annoyance would have been minor if playlists worked well. The 10 song limit of playlists is also quite annoying (especially since it's undocumented), but not a showstopper as far as I am concerned.

What really drives me crazy is the poor quality. When I got the unit a week ago playlists worked fine. Then, yesterday, the unit would only play the first song in any playlist and then stop. Finally, today, the unit stopped playing playlists altogether, instead just displaying "Connecting..." and doing nothing when I select a playlist. I haven't changed anything about the unit, my wireless network or my PC. While the unit still plays MP3s that I manually select from the list of all songs, who knows when that will stop working. I have had bad luck with Linksys products before, so I should have known better than to buy another one.

21 Impossible Setup
Mine is going back. I can not get it to work. The documentation is useless, and the media server does not work worth a damn. Over an hour on customer support and no one there seems to know how to trouble shoot the device. Control your blood pressuse, Avoid this product!

22 Reasonable for the knock down price
I have a squeezebox for my main streaming unit, which is awesome. This product has nothing like the useability but is reasonable, at the knocked down price point.

Easy to set up - and works wirelessly very well. Ideal for use in the study and bathroom and to take around the house. Volume on the unit - as mentioned in other reviews - is very low. But as a result the sound is not distorted at all through the speakers. Shame there is no headphone jack. It is a good secondary wifi streaming unit - but make sure you upgrade the firmware, which is easy to do on the Linksys website.

In summary - It's a rock solid cisco product, but you won't be using it in anything other than a small quiet room.

23 Linksys should be embarrassed for releasing this
This unit was a complete waste of time. Not only does it not work, it looks so stupid sitting on my entertainment center. I don't know who designed this thing but they obviously didn't run it by anyone who knows anything about style.

Ok, let's talk about my experience....
After over an hour of setup, I finally get it turned on and connected to my network. My whole purpose of buying it was to run Rhapsody through it. There was no documentation whatsoever how to get it to work with Rhapsody even though there was a Rhapsody-compatible sticker on the box, and an advertisement for Rhapsody inside. Anyway, I searched on the Rhapsody website and found out what to do. Finally, I was able to stream a song through the thing. Obviously I was quite excited and had it playing for the next few hours. Then I did something stupid. I actually tried to use it to play a Rhapsody playlist. Obviously the Linksys engineers didn't think about this, although there is a playlist option right on the unit. I got through about 7 songs and then it locked up. Unlocking this thing is such a fun experience. After 1/2 hour of rebooting things and turning things on in different orders, I got it going again. So, I fired up another playlist. About 5 songs in, it started skipping the music and then started playing songs that weren't on the playlist. Imagine my surprise when an Eddie Murphy standup sketch came on during a Country Music playlist. Anyway, it eventually locked up again so I went through the rebooting procedure.

I repeated this fun about 3 more times, and then gave up. I searched for alternatives and found the Omnifi DMS1W. This doesn't even compare to the Linksys toy. It took me longer to unpackage it than to set it up. Plus, it looks & sounds great! The Linksys is currently in a pile on my floor and is going back to the store tomorrow.

I give it two stars because it forced me to by the Omnifi box which I really love.

24 Great Product, Nice Looking!
I own a Linksys wireless G router and use the linksys wireless card in my PC so I know Linksys is a good name, which is one of the main reasons I bought this product. So, I was pretty surprised to see a Cisco logo over both the box and the actual item! Seems like Linksys and Cisco have done a joint venture here with Linksys doing the marketing (thankfully).

Anyway, I got this working in no time at all. The range is excellent, the speakers provided are very good, the actual product looks very sleek and the remote control was a bonus. My only complaints would be:

1) MusicMatch - The software is very intrusive and loves to take over your PC. Try and install it without selecting it as the default player for every file type under the sun.
2) A lot of the pre-programmed stations on the player are programmed using static IPs. You'd have thought that the collective genius of both Linksys and Cisco would have used the concept of DNS and put names rather than IPs in there. *sigh* I had to reprogram some of my favourites but this is very easy through the web utility.
3) If you are not an experienced user you might struggle a bit with the quick-start guide. I found a few missing steps in it (like switching the unit over to wireless after configuration or nothing works!) that were obvious to me but might not be to a new user.
4) Linksys should make this 802.11G rather than B.
5) Amazon don't sell this in Canada, so I had to buy it elsewhere!

All-in-all I'd thoroughly recommend this. Nice product :o)

25 Work's Great - For A Few Minutes
I purchased the Linksys Wireless-B Music System for one simple purpose: so that I don't have to haul my laptop over to the stereo system everytime I want to listen to my mp3 collection over good speakers. Linksys being a good brand and all, I went ahead and bought it.

When the system arrived from Amazon, the first thing I wanted to do was set it up for an ad-hoc network (apparently it is capable). No need for a router, just beam from the computer to the music system--sounds simple, just two devices involved. After three fruitless hours I gave up trying to set up an ad-hoc network.

The next day I decided to add a Linksys-G wireless router to mix. Within half an hour I had mp3's playing over my home stereo. It worked great... and gave me a taste of the awesome possibilities of the technology, when it suddenly began to randomly switch from song to song in the playlist after only a second or two into each song and would not respond to the remote control commands.

I thought it was a fluke, so next day I get it up and running again (this alone takes a little work - it seems particular about the order things are turned on: first switch on router, then the system, then wait a little while before running the Musicmatch software on the PC). And this time after playing three or four songs from the playlist flawlessly it inexplicably stops and will not play any songs I select, even though it shows a good wireless connection and no obvious problems.

So what is the problem here--the Musicmatch software on the PC or the Music System itself? I don't know but it doesn't matter. Together they make a terribly buggy pair. Maybe I need to learn to be more patient and flush out and work around all the bugs, but I don't need to be as I will send this system back and find one that does what it is supposed to do for more then a few minutes at a time.

The most disappointing thing about this product is it shows you the possibility of wireless media streaming -- and then snatches it away from you!

26 It works.
I bought this to replace a Rio Receiver -- an older, network mp3 player that needed a wired network. While I never found that unit perfect, it certainly beats the Linksys in everything but wireless networking.

I had major problems getting the Linksys to connect via wireless -- the reason I bought it. It wasn't until I replaced my older Linksys wireless router with a new one that it worked at all. No idea why -- the older router worked with other units just fine.

The speakers hum. All the time. Even when the unit is off, the speakers hum. Sound quality is what I'd expect for an amp of this type, and is good enough for me for the way I use it. Volume does seem to be a little low, but I can get it loud enough to hear it in the situations I use it, so that's okay too.

As most people have said, the user interface is where the machine really lets you down. An very frustrating example from the other day is when I was trying to figure out which album contained a certain song by an artist whose name begin with 'L'. I had to scroll all the way to the L's and find her name. Right arrow to see the albums. Right arrow to see the songs. Oops, wrong album. Now, left arrow should take you to the album selection again, right? Nope. It takes you all the way out and you have to start over by scrolling to the name again. Over and over I've found the user interface to be counter intuitive, difficult to use, and very unfriendly.

If you can put up with the user interface, it's not a bad little unit. And it's nice to have the whole thing -- mp3, wireless, and amp in one package. I'd be willing to purchase another for around $75, but any more than that would be too much for me.

27 Love it! Works as promised - no problems.
This is great. I already own a Linksys Wireless Media Adapter and love it. This one worked right out of the box, just needed to set a couple of options on the MusicMatch software(per the instructions) and it worked like a champ. The included speakers are OK, but getting hooked to your stereo or other external speaker is better. I used CNET to search the best price and saved a few bucks.

28 Unreliable. Poor UI
I have had lots of trouble with the WMLS11B. In general connecting to internet radio has always worked, over either wired or wireless. The limited testing of wired connection to PC seems to have worked. Wireless connection has been at best intermittent. Tech support was not helpful.

I finally found a PC networking option that I didn't have loaded -
"Service Advertising Protocol". Why it worked sometimes without this I have no idea. Why it is needed and not loaded by the install I have no idea.

I hope this helps someone.

Peter

29 DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM!!!
The set up is a nightmare.
No one at Linsys (Cisco) knows anything about the product. Every call I've made I have finally figured out some solution while waiting endlessly on there "support".
The device will only work with Rhapsody from Real networks (which actually works well) and Musicmatch.
Rhapsody will only play music from it's own server.
Musicmatch is supposed to play waht is on your hard drive.
Recently, when Musicmatch upgraded to a version 10.0 it is not supported by Linksys. It only works with 8.2 . The "support" people at Linksys were blown away that anyone might want to upgrade a music service that you pay for.
In any case, other features of Musicmatch such as music on demand or radio will not play on the device.
Also, it will not play music on your computer and the plastic piece of junk at the same time.
Most irritating of all is if these electronic companies absolutely MUST export customer service it would be nice if that person serving North America could actually speak and understand English with at least some proficiency. I don't even call customer support anymore because:
1. The wait is always an hour or more even in the middle of the night to get to someone who knows anything about this procuct.
2. Once you have that person trying to communicate is such a mind numbing difficulty that it is not worth it.

DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM!!!

30 Complete Crap - Repacking Box As I Type
I picked a Linksys WMLS11B on sale at Best Buy this morning - my wife saw it in the ad and thought it would make a good birthday present. Despite the horribly sparse documentation, setup was relatively painless until I tried to connect to a local "media server" on my home LAN. Oh, if only I had read these reviews first, because I could have spared myself much suffering...
First of all, in order to listen to your own MP3 collection using this piece of junk you need to install the bundled MusicMatch software. There are no other options available, but Linksys tech support personnel neither understand nor support the software. I think it is interesting that there is absolutely no mention of MusicMatch made on the device packaging, or even in the installer itself. The first warning I had that I needed MM was when I clicked on "Install Media Server" in the Linksys setup wizard, and the MM installer launched.
When I first installed the device on my LAN I was able to listen to internet radio after only 45 minutes or so of configuring the device's settings. Although 50% of the preconfigured stations I tried (after using the "update radio station list" menu option) simply would not play, the ones I wanted the most did, so I was pleased. I then installed the MusicMatch software, built up a media library in MM and tried to connect to it using the Linksys WMLS11B device. I spent an hour or so performing basic troubleshooting steps, including searching the almost nonexistent Linksys knowledge base, before I called Linksys tech support.
Although most of the people I talked to at Linksys were very nice, spending 90 minutes unplugging and plugging in the WMLS11B device, and checking and unchecking the same two check boxes in MusicMatch was very frustrating. In the end the Linksys tech was unable to provide any information, solution, or ideas as to what could be wrong. I suggested that Linksys consider replacing MusicMatch with software that they could support and received a very cold response.
I'll take this piece of junk back tonight. Now I just need to figure out what to get my wife for her birthday...

31 Great Idea. Horrible Execution. Not ready for primetime
If you are interested in internet radio, then forget about this product, and look into a Homepod instead. Here's my litany of complaints:

1) Poor manufacturing. Like many of the other reviewers, I got a lemon. Cost: two hours on the phone with tech support, and an hour on the road back to the store.

2) Lousy selection. Want to listen to a European radio station, or maybe just NPR? Forget it. The selection of pre-programmed radio stations is pathetic -- unless you spend all your time listening to techno.

AND ABOVE ALL

3) ROTTEN SOFTWARE: The player won't connect to most of the pre-programmed stations anyway. And don't bother trying to add stations to the "favorites" list: it won't connect to them. And even if it would, there are a lot of stations you couldn't get: it only handles MP3 files. So forget about all those stations that use Real Audio or Windows formats. In other words, MOST stations.

OH, AND DID I FORGET TO MENTION:

4) LOUSY TECH SUPPORT: I sent several messages to them asking about how to remedy some of these problems. They didn't even bother to respond.

In sum, if you're interested in internet radio, don't buy this product. Linksys makes some great products. But this isn't one of them.

32 Keep returning it until you find one that completely works
I am a man of few words. The first unit would not recognize the remote. On the second one, the music would stop every five seconds or so while the buffer reloaded. Went on for hours this way. I tried all the tricks to make the first two units work. The third unit works fine (at the moment). The bottom line of this story is: it is a great unit and don't give up until you find one that actually works. When it does, it is a great device!

33 Good idea but not quite there yet
My main complain is what appears to be buggy firmware. The box would loose connectivity to media server once in a while (I have it connected to LAN directly). I would start displaing "No Media Server" message (the box would continue to be visible on the network however). Once that happens - the only remedy is to turn power off and unplug the power cable and then power it back up.

The other problem is that menu navigation is really slow, much below acceptable level of comfort.

On a minor note - built-in speakers are of really poor quality for what one may expect to get for the price.

34 Good product - not perfect - but a lot of bang for the buck
I too am surprised at the posts here - as they do not match my experience at all. I'm also a happy Turtle beach Audiotron owner so I had high expectations. I also own a Linksys media hub (that I'm not crazy about), but simply plugging in my WMLS11B had it was up and running connected to my old media server in minutes. While that worked, it only played one song at a time off lists or albums. However, installing the included Musicmatch server that came with the product fixed that immediately. Other than that, set up with DHCP, everything worked immediately out of the box.
Several folks reported not being able to play entire albums or genres. I found that you need to press PLAY - not SELECT to play an entire album or genre. Pressing SELECT gives me exactly what the other folks reported - a menu to the next level of detail down - or start playing the one song you were on. I didn't see this in the docs.
I have not encountered the 10-song playlist problem - but can't say for sure that I tested it. I did't install Rhapsody. And yes, my biggest gripe is that scrolling through many artists takes forever - which it also does on my Media Hub and on my Windows media center PC - I just figured that comes with the turf, but it is a pain. A jog shuttle (like the AudioTron and iPod) would be better of course, but a simple A-Z list would be a huge improvement. I found the volume was adequate, but not ear-blasting, and the sound quality reasonable. Since I'm using it in my kitchen it seems perfect. Also, I have it at ceiling level atop my kitchen cabinets and have no problems seeing the display - and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to use the remote from across the room with ease (tougher to see from there of course) but it worked.
Since Linksys went to the trouble of building a web server into the product to allow remote configuration, I'm amazed they don't allow remote control, station selection, playlist management, volume, etc like the Audiotron. Also it seems odd that the only thing you can add to favorites are Internet Radio stations. I'd like to add genres, artists, etc.
So it's not perfect, but things rarely are - and theres always hope in firmware upgrades. (...)I got a decent-looking, portable media hub with a usable remote control and powered speakers, plus the ability to play my mp3s and internet radio anywhere in my house, deck, or garage, I think it's a great deal.

35 Great idea, poor execution. Wait for next iteration.
MY BACKGROUND:
I have always been an ardent musicphile and have subsequently grown a respectable collection of music. With a little less than 1000 CDs, physically finding the music you feel like listening to was always a chore (although there is much to be said for spending some quality time rediscovering that CD that you forgot you had). SO, I jumped on the MP3 bandwagon a couple of years ago, ripping my entire collection (up yours RIAA) onto my server. Having them on my server has made it easy to listen to whatever I like pretty much anywhere in the house where there's a computer (both son's rooms, living room, my office). I converted to iTunes recently when it became available for the PC (much nicer to synch the iPod with than MusicMatch ). BTW, I'm a software engineer and gadget freak, which explains why my house is wired with CAT6 cabling and why even my 3 year old son's computer is running at Gigabit speeds on our home network. :-)

Okay, enough babbling, onto the review:
WHY I BOUGHT IT-
I'd been toying with the idea of picking up one of the portable media players ever since they came out a year or so ago. I couldn't justify spending the cash on the designs that were out there until I found the Linksys WMLS11B. It is very aesthetically pleasing, but more importantly, it has a very nice (and large for the form factor) LCD screen and looks basically like a boombox that can play all your MP3s. Whenever I can (when the weather and family allow) I try to work from my deck or screened-in porch. I'm somewhat tired of having the iPod earbuds sticking in my ears and plugging a pair of powered computer speakers into the iPod is a hassle.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-
For $180 ($250+ MSRP) I expected something a bit more substantial. It's not badly constructed, but seems too 'plasticky' and lightweight for the cost. Anyway, after about ten minutes, I had it configured and working on my wireless network (Linksys 802.11g). Incidentally, you need to set it up with an ethernet connection to set it up initially, but I could not get it to connect to any of my computers directly and had to finally just plug it into a router. The very first impression was that I had messed something up with the wiring because I had to have the volume all the way up to hear the music. After goofing around with everything, I decided that it was set up correctly, but just lacked the power to play adequately in anything else except an absolutely quiet room (with the sound level at MEDIUM, you can barely hear noise coming from the speakers).

PROS -
-Nice to look at
-Sound quality is pretty good once you hook up some nicer powered speakers
-Easy to set up
-Fairly compact
-Fair selection of internet radio stations

CONS -
-The included speakers leave a lot to be desired
-Must use MusicMatch (it sucks!!) or Rhapsody (a RealOne company, which if you didn't know, is run by Satan)
-For some reason, I can't get it to play more than ten songs from a playlist.
-The interface is HORRIBLE! Very non-intuitive and I spend more time scrolling through my collection than actually listenting to music. Most frustrating is that after you scroll down for a couple of MINUTES and find 'Modest Mouse', if you change your mind and decide you want to listen to 'Menomena' instead, the interface tosses you back to the top-most menu, meaning that you have to select 'BROWSE' then select 'ARTIST/ALBUM' then scroll down for several more minutes to get back to the M's.... Even a submenu that allowed you to scroll through the alphabet and select, say, 'M' and then browse all the M's would be VERY nice. If the playlist function worked properly, then you could invest some time and set up your favorite songs and/or artists, but for spontaneously searching through your catalog... uhh, you won't.
-For some reason, I occasionally lose signal with my network and it can't find the server (even though I have my laptop receiving 54Mbps with excellent signal strength right next to it). Not a frequent occurence, just puzzling.
-Being 802.11b based, it only supports WEP and not WPA.:-(
-No carry handle
-The remote is pretty good, but doesn't work unless pointed directly at the unit and from within a very shallow angle from center.
-No headphone jack on the front
-Too many cables sticking out of the back. Cable management is so easy, yet apparently an alien concept to most manufacturers.

CONCLUSIONS:
It's just frustrating to have something soooo close to being good, but having some poor design muck it up. I really wish they'd assign it a more iPod-like interface (where you can use the back button to go to your previous menu level and selection). I also wish they'd find some way to tap into iTunes as a server or roll their own (okay, I can dream). I believe that if Linksys were to revamp the interface firmware and take care of some of the problems with the 'music server', it would be worthwhile. Unfortunately, I've dealt with Linksys for too long to even hope that they'd bother to update this version. They will instead release a newer, improved version which will make this model the MP3 Edsel.
I'm going to return this to the store today as I have a 10 day 'remorse period' that expires on Monday.
Nice try Linksys, better luck next time. :-(

36 Awesome Idea, Poorly Executed
Believe me, I wanted this to turn out to be an awesome product. However, in its out-of-box state, it was mediocre at best. I have a desktop and a laptop in my home network connected via Linksys Wireless-B WAP and Router (BEFW11S4). Both have MusicMatch Plus, and my WMLS11B is networked via wi-fi. Out of the box, I immediately noticed spotty performance in streaming music from my library. The playback would regularly interrupt so that the system could buffer the file, and it got really annoying, so I upgraded the firmware as soon as the next version was released. Now the mid-song buffer issue seems to be resolved, however the more i used it, the more flaws I noticed.
1) There is no way to page thru artists/albums/songs when browsing. There is no search feature. You are limited to scrolling one by one alphabetically until you find the item you want. Have a large music library? You're screwed.
2) There is no way to view the contents of a playlist. If you want to play a specific song from a playlist, you have to leave the playlist and browse to it via artist/album/genre.
3) Screen response is slow. This makes scrolling through your library tough because you inevitably hit the down button too many times and scroll too far.
4) This is the big one: If you try to play a playlist that contains more than 100 songs, this piece of $#!t only buffers the first 10 songs, and plays them over and over again.
5) There's no way to create playlists on the fly.
6) Upgrading the firmware is only possible with an ethernet connection. If you have your WMLS11B set up wirelessly and nowhere near your router like I do, this makes upgrading a huge pain.

I feel there's a lot they can do to improve this thing. I'm not so fed up that I'll return it yet, but seriously this thing makes my Walkman look like an iPod.

37 Good product - I'm enjoying it
I just got the Wirless-B Music System. I have just installed the Linksys wireless system- the WRT54GS router and the WPS54GU2 Print Server. Everything works great so far. The WMLS11B Music system set up easily and works. I have the Rhapsody music service - I just had to turn on UnPnP in both Windows XP Professional and in Rhapsody. The Music System sounds great, I have hooked it up to my stereo system downstairs and it sounds even better. I get good reception in my backyard and anywhere around my house. It will play and entire album if I select the album and play it, not individual songs. I can advance to the next song using the next button if I wish. My only beefs are the menus respond slowly (kind of like those first generation satellite boxes), you cannot get to an artist directly, you have to scroll. My way around this is to load a playlist with the artists I want and make sure it comes up immediately by callin it A A A Main Playlist (first in alphabetical order. A first of it's kind unit but it is fun and works well

38 Cool Product, But BEWARE Linksys Support
This product has done what it claims to do, which is to provide a really convenient way of connecting MP3 and selected streaming radio to the home stereo system. Unlike some reviewers here, I have been able to create long playlists and individual albums which conveniently play all tracks. My installation was hampered only when I bothered to call Linksys user support for questions about DNS and server setup. Documentation is insufficient.

BEWARE if you don't have the time, patience or expertise to experiment with the latest Linksys products, such as the WMLS11B, then avoid them. Linksys had clear user documentation and reasonably helpful customer service in the past. Now both are inadequate if not misleading. The technical support personal are ill-informed, incapable of understanding fundamental questions and reluctant to seek higher-level assistance. Until Linksys decides to correct its support problems, novices or people who don't want to wing it alone should avoid new Linksys products.

39 802.11b streaming intermittent
Although WMLS11B Wireless-B is designed specifically for 802.11b, the 802.11b throughput seems insufficient to stream reliably. Or, the device has a cache buffer too small to offset slower transfer rates of 802.11b.

In my setup, the music server PC is connected to a wireless bridge. The wireless network is infrastructure where communication between two network nodes goes thru the AP, so the streamed data traverses two wireless segments before reaching the WMLS11B box. With this setup, the WMLS11B playback freezes every few seconds, which makes the device totally unusable. It is possible that this problem may not be as significant if the music server PC is connected via ether to the AP, however I'm not changing my topology just to make this work. As is, WMLS11B only works reliably when hardwired to your music server PC.

40 A Nice MP3 Jukebox with Digital Outputs!
Here's the KISS Method (keep it simple stupid)

CONS: 1. Maybe difficult to connect for the tech challenged!
2. Only Plays with MusicMatch and Rapsody!
3. Small Speakers, Small Sound!
4. Remote Control not user friendly!
5. Many Wires hanging out the back!

PROS: 1. An inexpensive way to get your mp3s played on your
stereo.
2 It does work well!
3. It connects digitally to your stereo, for great sound.
4. It's Wireless and gives you access to your Hard drive.

Summary: It works well, It sounds great, and I reccomend It!

41 Needs a firmware upgrade
It has decent reception (My router is in the second floor and I've used it in the garage and the basement), but it can only play 10 songs from the MusicMatch playlists. Maybe its the UPnp Music Server the one that's failing. I added a shortcut to start only the server and not the whole MusicMatch program. I wish I could use Winamp to provide the playlists, I don't like MusicMatch, they keep asking to upgrade every time you close the program.

Another little thing, when you browse your collection and try to play an album, it only plays the first song, you have to press "next" to keep playing the album, this may noy be attractive. But the browsing capabilities (Genre/Artist, Artist/Album, etc.) are great when your collection counts the thousands.

The speakers sound acceptable for their size, even at full volume, but when the Media Link is idle there's a very low, but almost annoying electric noise comming out.

I'm waiting paciently for the firmware update form Linksys, so far I'm partially satisfied with this machine.

42 I can't understand these reviews.
I own the Audiotron and just purchased the Linksys WMLS11B. While the Audiotron is probably the most intelligently designed audio server, the Linksys is a versatile and more capable device than the other reviewers have indicated.

Perhaps I haven't used it long enough but everything, and I mean everything, that I have attempted to do with it has worked without issue.

The Linksys WMLS11B is a fine product worthy of consideration.

43 Not ready yet
The product works fine if you're only interested in playing 10 songs. I just finished a long conversation with a customer support rep who said that Linksys is working on this problem and expected a new firmware fix by late July, early August--no guarantee and no specs on how many songs it will play with this fix.

10 songs is a worthless product, do not waste your money!

44 Great idea, not so great product
When I heard about the Wireless-B Music System and saw the marketing hype, I was sold right away. Unfortunately the actual product didn't deliver on expectations.

I bought the WMLS11B several days ago. The setup was fairly straightforward and when I had problems initially connecting Linksys tech support was very helpful. When I got everything working, however, I soon realized some feature limitations that didn't live up to the marketing: I am also experiencing the 10-11 song Playlist limitation and tech support doesn't seem to have an answer for this. For now I've gotten around it by creating multiple Playlists of the same type of music, but that's a lame workaround I shouldn't have to do. The other limitation is the internet radio feature, which provides access to a number of radio stations, but most of which I have no interest in listening to. For the ones I do try to listen to, I usually get dead air. I've tried to use the Favorites feature to configure internet radio stations of my own, but to new avail.

Overall, this product is great in concept but not ready for prime time. I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

45 Great Product!
This thing is GREAT! I purchased a SqueezeBox about a month ago and spent 10+ hours trying to get it working (I'm an IT guy so it's not that I didn't understand the technology). Long story short - I never got it working, so I sent it back and decided to buy a Linksys WMLS11B despite the less than enthusiastic reviews. Well I'm happy to report that I received it last night and had it up and running 15 minutes after I opened the box. I listened to Rhapsody streams for over 4 hours and couldn't be more pleased with the sound quality (I have it connected to my receiver). I found the interface to be very intuitive and everything worked as expected. The only time the device lost a connection was when I crank up the microwave (must be on a similar frequency). Once the microwave is done nuking - the music picks up where it left off. Again, from my experience this is a great product!

46 Received it yesterday, returning it today
Received it yesterday, returning it today... Followed the instructions exactly, but it would not connect by cable to my router, so I tried it wireless, it connected. After it connected, it took quite a while until it saw the music server. When it lost connection (frequently) it would again take forever (in excess of 10 minutes) until it again saw the music server...

Played about 3 songs before it crashed and I had to unplug it to recover. The remote was awful- it took several pushes on a button until the unit actually responded. The unit itself was sluggish in responding, even to the buttons on the unit itself... The sound quality was less than impressive using the supplied speakers.

Based on my past experience with Linksys tech support (tried the 802.11b print server unsuccessfully), I did not bother to call them this time.

Overall, I am very disappointed in this unit and would not recommend it to anyone.

47 Wanted it so bad, but no luck
Product worked fine when wired up into my network (although I didn't try a playlist to see if it had the 10 song problem or not) and even played Internet Radio when it connected to my neighbor's wireless network accidentally. But the device absolutely refused to see my Adaptec Wireless Access Point. Every other wireless device I've had in the house sees it no problem. Not this thing. Worked with tech support, no dice. On my own before I called them, I tried upgrading firmware, changing the settings many times, I even opened up my access point every which way (security off, etc.). The WMLS11B never saw my SSID in its Site Survey (although it did pick up a neighbor's from about 150-200 feet away.) Sent back this morning.

48 Firmware and software need major upgrade
As one reviewer said, I can't get more than 10 songs to be recognized in a playlist. And you can only create playlists in MusicMatch player. I've tried every combination plus over 1 hour on tech support. They said they were going to get back to me... Immediately ask to talk to a supervisor because level 1 support is useless. There is only one way to play more than 10 songs and that is to play everything in your MusicMatch library. And you can't see the songs in your playlist on the unit, only on your computer. Though you can search by id3 tag for artist, album, genre, etc., you can't play everything by that artist or every song on the album; just one song. This device is effectively useless for playing your mp3 or wma files.

On the positive side, it will pick up a lot of Internet radio stations; but not all stations. There isn't any rhyme or reason as to when a station will play. And it doesn't support Real Audio or Window Media streaming media formats.

If I don't hear back from tech support, I will be returning the unit within a week of purchasing it. Based on what other reviewers have said, I'm not holding my breath.

49 No support from Linksys tech support
Device hooked up and Rhapsody radio stations would not play. when e-mailed tech support, they caimed I should go to Rhapsody to "fine tune" the Rhapsody client. They were not able to help in any way and refused to send me to second level tech support or to offer an opion on removal re-install of product. This product is not ready for the market and potential purchasers are warned that if they want the Rhapsody radio stations they will be disapointed.

50 poor performer
after spending 5 hours with linksys tech support, wmls11b would not work, nor could Linksys tech support give me any reason why this unit would not work. i knew more about wi-fi and mp3 formats than the 4 tech support personal, i talk to. i currently have a linksys media adparter wma11b, and had no problem with setting up. the software that comes with the wmls11b is very poor. Linksys need to go back and start over with this product. the concept is very good, but Linksys hardware and software all wrong

51 good idea, well made, poor programing
I felt this was a rather unique product. I chose to buy the unit instead of putting together a small form factor mp3 server. I had a hunch the software was going to suck and the firmware would be sketchy and I was right. However the design is solid and feels well made its not extremely loud but then again its not very big either. You wouldnt have to be an A/V wizard to swap the speakers or hook this to your stereo. I pray they release new firmware and patches to enable the mp3 play list feature to take advantage of other software suites. Music match jukebox makes me sick to use and doesn't seem to be very reliable. My unit seems to reboot itself after about 3 sequential commands. If you're a station flipper like I am it can be fairly annoying. The Internet radio feature does work without subscribing to music match but its hard to browse the stations, there are just too many, some do not work or are dead air. I also found my college radios station on the list which was a surprise, wkdu - Drexel University, Philadelphia. The list is very extensive but with it being free, don't expect the same music that's on FM radio without subscribing to the service. This product has potential but out of the box it's a little bit disappointing.

52 Really disappointed, it's going back.
I was really disappointed after I finally got it working. The device itself crashes frequently (even before it connects up to the computer), the display is tiny and hard to read if you are even a little off angle, and the included speakers sound like what they are, cheap computer speakers. Sending it back and going to get a Squeezebox Music Player instead even though it's a few bucks more.

53 Great product - Maybe a little interface work
With all my CDs ripped to a hard drive, I was thinking about buying or building a media PC. When I saw this little number, I immediately put those plans on hold. Does the product deliver on it's promises? I've been using it for several days and I can, with great confidence, say YES! But, I must say, if you're using the attached powered speakers, you're not going to be waking any neighbors. Even at full volume they are not that loud (though they don't sound too bad). Routing the receiver in to your stereo speakers is the way to go. Typical RCA output jacks are included as well as an optical jack. All cords (except an optical cord) are included.

If I could, I'd give this 4 3/4 stars. The only thing preventing a 5 star rating is the interface. I've got 500+ CDs and there's 1100 internet radio stations available. though you can scroll through your artists, albums, songs, generas a screen at a time, it's still tedious to make your way through the list.

I don't think most anyone will be disappointed with this thing. Go for it!

54 Outstanding Product!!!
I was able to get it up and running within 10 minutes (I have a pre-existing wireless network); 30 minutes if you count the Rhapsody service. Sounds great, works great, very little hassle. I agree with the reviewers comments about the screen being a little finicky, and the remotes responsiveness leaving something to be desired, but, overall I'm extremely satisfied.

55 Great Product for Listening to Rhapsody!
This device is an excellent way to listen to Rhapsody. Even if you already have another digital media adapter, you might want to consider getting this one too since this one will allow you to move your 50,000 CD Rhapsody collection wherevever you can get a wi-fi signal in your home.

If you are already a Rhapsody subscriber and are planning to use this device to listen to Rhapsody on your home wi-fi network, set-up could not be easier. Simply pull the device out of the box, hook up the speakers, plug in the power cord and upon powering up the device will automatically find Rhapsody on your network (make sure Rhapsody is running on your PC and you have enabled the UPnP server...see Rhapsody FAQs for more info if you haven't already enabled UPnP).

The display is bright and easy to read and it is simple to navigate your Rhapsody collection either with the buttons on the front of the device or with the remote control.

56 Pretty good, but...
I'd be happier with it if the screen weren't so disappointing. Scrolling through hundreds of artists is as painful as expected (especially if you're accustomed to the zippy iPod wheel like I am), but it's hindered further by the screen's spotty lighting, slow refresh rate and VERY minimal viewing angle. You have to be straight on to read what is says, which really limits where in your system you can place it.

On the positive, it sounds quite good, with few hiccups. Like another reviewer alluded to, "it took me 5 hours to set up!!!" Well, 2 hours actually, but I'd never used a wifi network before. I set this up with an "ad-hoc" network, meaning the desktop and player talk to eachother only, with two access points, but no true router. It can be done. Reception is good, and it works with an 802.11G signal.

It's probably worth it if you're in a multi-level home - still, with the weak screen it's not friendly enough to impress your friends, which is the true measure of tech greatness after all...

57 Disgusted
I could not get the playlist function to play more than 10 songs--it just loops back to the beginning. Fast forward (about 20% faster than normal play--not very fast...) will cause the unit to freeze if it's held down for 15 seconds or so, and when I say "freeze", I mean you have to unplug it to power it down.

Tech support was completely useless. Over the course of a week, I made about 10 calls, spent hours on hold (the level one support will put you on hold for about 20 minutes while they determine that they don't have a clue), was dropped more than once while on hold (once after being on the phone for 40 minutes!), reiterated my problem to at least 12 different people (even though they supposedly had a record of it and I provided a case number), was told that I would get responses that I never got, and was asked banal questions like "Are there more than 10 songs in your playlist? Are you using MP3's? Walk me through how you create a playlist..." I finally told one of the level one reps that I refused to talk to anybody who hadn't actually used the product. I was transferred to a level 2 guy who supposedly had used it, but again, I was told that they didn't know what the problem was but they'd contact me within 24 hours. It didn't happen, of course. I finally sent it back after a week of toying.

This is basically a really good proof of concept, but it was audacious to go to market with it--it's riddled with bugs. The fact that the first firmware update came so soon after its release should have been a huge red flag. Linksys makes some good stuff, but their tech support is completely incompetent, so when they miss, they miss big. This is a huge miss.

58 A Pretty Good First Internet Radio Appliance
Radio reception is horrible in our condo. So, I've been searching for some sort of appliance that could play internet radio programs. Up until about a week ago, none apparently existed. A few days ago, I discovered the LinkSys Wireless Internet Radio at Amazon.

There is a unit that, for want of a better name is an Internet radio tuner and two detachable powered speakers. The tuner can be hooked up to a stereo using standard RCA plugs or an optical connection. The tuner connects wirelessly (11Mbps) to the Internet through a standard wireless Access Point. It uses the same Internet connection you normally use.

You can access Internet programs using the unit's front panel LCD and buttons or you can use the unit's remote control. There are 1200 stations and the list is updated regularly. You can set up a list of 20 favorite stations. I've got such stations as KPFA and WBAI (Pacifica San Francisco and New York), KUSC, KCSN and a bunch of college stations set up.

The tuner also uses a new technology called Universal Plug-and-Play Server. This makes it possible for on-line services to provide access to program material on the Internet and for you to play it on your Internet radio appliance. I am using the Rhapsody service. It's music oriented with 60 pre-set music stations (I'm listening to the Baroque station right now) and you can even create your own by setting up a list of artists. Tracks are served up randomly. The service claims to have hundreds of thousands of albums.

There are only two current drawbacks.

First, the unit currently natively plays only streaming MP3 Internet radio stations. That's still a lot, but it doesn't allow for stations that use proprietary formats like Real Player or Microsoft Media Player. Universal Plug-and-Play Server services can get around that by converting streams to MP3. Since Real Player operates Rhapsody, I hope they soon convert at least Real Player streams to MP3.

The second drawback is that the unit isn't portable. Even though you can wireless receive the Internet signals that carry input anywhere in your home, you have to plug the unit into a 120 volt receptable. This could be fixed easily on the tuner by turning off the always-on front panel LCD and running both the tuner and speakers off of batteries. Internally recharged batteries would be ideal.

59 Best Rhapsody Streaming Device
This product offers great value and nice integrated speakers too.