Logitech Wireless Music DJ System Review

The reason for this is that Bluetooh is essentially a plug and play technology, whereas other wireless streaming devices that attach to an 802.11b/g network often require manual configuration that unfortunately many consumers find confusing to deal with, on top of requiring the wireless network to be present in the first place. Also, Bluetooth only requires devices to be paired with one another, something that Logitech already does at the factory. As such, once everything is plugged in, all three devices are able to talk to each other instantly.

The USB transmitter is a rather simple device, small in profile with a slanted yet curved design and surprisingly lightweight. On the front of the unit underneath the Logitech logo are a blue and red LED shrouded by smoked plastic, used for indicating the power and the connection status to a receiving station.

The remote is incredibly sleek; featuring a glossy black face coupled with silver plastic and brushed metal that has a nice solid feel to it. The remote is also very slim, the battery component barely thicker than a Motorola RAZR cell phone. At the top of the remote is a recessed Power button that powers on the remote, and turns off the music when shut down. The remote has the option of powering down after a set period of inactivity while keeping the music alive.

The receiver actually doubles as the remote's charging station, cradling the remote at an angle. While the remote has a contoured yet loose fit into the station, there are no clips or sides to keep the remote in place when my cat rubs against it. On the backside of the receiver is the power port, stereo RCA ports for connecting to a TV or Hi-Fi, and a 3.5mm stereo miniplug jack for connecting to a pair of computer speakers or headphones. A connect button is also located here for repairing the receiver with the transmitter if necessary.

Spinnin' With StreamPoint
The software that ties these three components together is Logitech StreamPoint, a small program that runs in the System Tray when the computer starts up. Its initial setup is a breeze; simply install the software, select what music you'd like the Wireless Music DJ to aggregate, how StreamPoint should handle refreshing with your music libraries, and then connecting all three devices followed by naming the room the receiver is located in.

StreamPoint touts support for aggregating your iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Musicmatch 9 songs and playlists; however now that Musicmatch is now Yahoo! Music Jukebox it's really just aggregation between the iTunes and WMP libraries. However, you can also specify music folders for StreamPoint to sort through, and considering that many subscription services including AOL, Rhapsody, and Yahoo! allow their music to be downloaded directly to the hard drive in WMA format, that's even more music that can be controlled remotely.

The best part about the Wireless Music DJ is that it can play DRM'ed tracks from these subscription services, as well as individually downloaded songs from URGE, Napster, the iTunes Music Store and more. The reason for this is that unlike most other music streaming solutions available, the Wireless Music DJ leaves everything to be played on your PC, playing back MP3s and internet radio stations in either iTunes or Windows Media Player (your choice), WMAs in Windows Media Player, and AAC songs in a minimized iTunes. When using Windows Media Player for playback, a separate executable is launched (wmp.host.exe), so it's possible to still play songs in WMP on the local computer even while songs are being streamed to another room. For iTunes however, you can not playback tunes on the local computer while music is being streamed.

Logitech is able to pipe your music from either of these jukeboxes and nothing else by essentially switching your default sound playback device to the USB sound card, launching the player so it uses the external speakers, then switching the default playback device back to your PC's usual sound card. All of this happens in less than 3 seconds, and it's actually a trick I've been using for quite some time now to keep my voice chat programs assigned to my USB headset while my games and music run through my conventional speakers.

Knowing this, there are a few nifty things you can do with the Wireless Music DJ setup. By temporarily assigning the default playback device to the wireless receiver in the Sounds and Audio Devices control panel, it's possible to have the sounds from your games, alarm clocks, or movies play on another set of speakers. Also, by right-clicking the StreamPoint icon in your System Tray and selecting "Stream All PC Sounds", every program will be heard through the wireless receiver instead of your PC speakers, although you might have to close and relaunch any open applications for this to take effect. When in this mode, you won't be able to access your music libraries with the remote; however limited control (volume, play/pause, back/forward) will be available for a few programs if they're in the foreground.

I must fault Logitech though for their lack of Mac support with the Wireless Music DJ. I'm no programmer, but since the Wireless DJ is basically a standard USB audio device and already integrates with iTunes on the PC, it shouldn't be too hard to write a lightweight StreamPoint for the Mac that ties into iTunes as well, right? The only major work that would have to be done is porting over the LCD display manager. Considering the fact that the AirPort Express is currently the only available product able to stream iTunes Music Store downloads, but requires you be at the computer to change tracks, there's a large market opportunity here that's left untapped and unsatisfied.

Wireless Navigation
Using the Wireless Music DJ remote is very much like using an iPod - remarkably simple. Scroll the wheel to move through a list, press the select button to open the highlighted item or menu, hit back to go back a menu, and home to return to the main menu. Music can be browsed by Artist name, Playlists from iTunes, WMP and Musicmatch 9, Genres, Albums, and Song titles. Scrolling isn't accelerated, and circular scrolling isn't enabled either (Going backwards from A to Z and back), so navigation can be somewhat sluggish for those with large music libraries. However, when using the latest StreamPoint 1.5 software from Logitech's website, opening any of the menus will reveal shortcuts to the first letter, cutting down navigation time drastically.

In all of these menus are three shortcuts for adding the available tracks from that directory into the DJ list, also known as the current playlist. Play All Songs will add all tracks in order and immediately start playing, Shuffle will do the same but out of order, and Add to DJ List will merely add the current folder to the list for later playback. Individual tracks can also be added to the list by highlighting a song and pressing the DJ List Add button. Some finer control is available for shuffling tracks, by selecting either Artist Variety or Random from within the remote. Still, the DJ name is a bit of a misnomer, because the order of tracks can't be changed from within the remote, nor can individual songs be removed from the list on the fly. In fact, the only way to reshuffle or clear the DJ list is to kill the music. Bummer.

Internet radio bypasses the DJ list entirely, as it naturally wouldn't make sense to have an upcoming list of stations when the streams are continuous. I must say that Internet Radio is my favorite capability of the Wireless Music DJ, not just because I'm too lazy to manage my own playlists but because I often grow weary of my own collection and want to listen to a mix of known tracks and fresh content I never heard of before, all around the house. Needless to say, the lousy playlists and commercials heard on terrestrial radio don't even come close to filling this void, so it's nice to be able to tune into the variety of unspoiled music on the internet, including the indie groups and niche genres like chiptunes, trance, metal, foreign, etc. The only thing that could be done better here is for the Wireless DJ to actually display the radio station's currently playing song and artist information - something that's unfortunately been missing in Logitech's G15 and Z10 USB speaker displays as well.

The only major quip I have with the Wireless Music DJ though is how sluggish the controls feel, most likely due to the 2-way Bluetooth communication and all the library information being stored remotely on the PC. It's easy to scroll past an intended item, and sometimes it takes two rotating 'clicks' on the wheel to move one space on the screen. A few of the buttons themselves also feel mushy, but after spending several days with the Wireless DJ I'm becoming more accustomed to them.

Wireless Performance
While there are several advantages to using Bluetooth for the wireless connection, most notably the ease of setup and 100 meter range (Logitech quotes a more realistic 50 meters), one large disadvantage is that it's yet another device in the overly saturated 2.4GHz spectrum. Wireless networks, phones, speakers, mice, keyboards, microwave ovens and other Bluetooth devices all operate in this frequency, and while I personally found the Wireless Music DJ to be rather resilient to interference, it's always a possibility that there is too much interference keep a reliable signal as my boss found out when he tested the Wireless DJ in his large apartment complex. Because of this, it's a good idea to purchase the Logitech Wireless Music DJ from a store with a friendly return policy, and spend a few minutes trying to the transmitter in various locations in order to get the best reception.

In my own testing, I was able to stream music from my computer in the dining room in the far corner of my house at ground level to my bedroom in the front center of my house on the 2nd level with a couple of short half-second skips every few minutes. After repositioning the antenna, I was able to reduce these skips to once every few hours or so. That's quite impressive, considering the number of walls the signal must pass through, plus I'm running 2 different 802.11g wireless routers that were loaded with BitTorrent traffic! Audio quality was equally impressive, with no noticeable differences between music played on my PC speakers or my home stereo.

Unlike the higher-end Sonos players that can stream the same song to multiple rooms at once (but can't play most DRM'ed content), Logitech's Wireless Music DJ is only able to stream to one room at a time. Up to four receivers may be paired with the transmitter, but unfortunately Logitech effectively crippled this functionality for new users. It used to be that you could purchase a Wireless Music System Add-on Receiver for around $80 that was designed for the older, discontinued Wireless Music System and use it in conjunction with the Wireless DJ, however Logitech no longer sells these add-on receivers due to a perceived lack of consumer interest. No plans exist for an updated add-on receiver designed for the Wireless DJ. Smart shoppers can still find the old add-on receivers on eBay for $20-50 + shipping by searching the term "Wireless Music System". These auctions often times include the older transmitter and display-less remote control, both of which can be discarded in favor of the Wireless Music DJ system.

Recap
Stylish, easy to use, and an impressive range and audio quality just about sum up Logitech's Wireless Music DJ System. Being able to play all purchased content from iTunes and other music stores is the icing on the cake. The only real downsides to the system are the slightly sluggish controls, missing Mac compatibility, and lack of readily-available add-on receivers that must now be purchased second-hand. Still, assuming you're able to maintain a clean signal between your computer and the receiver, the Wireless Music DJ is an affordable system that finally gives an incentive to blow the dust off of your bookshelf speakers.