I finally got a Linksys Media Center Extender. Impressive! It plugged right in, set up quickly, and works extremely well over my wired Ethernet connection. I’m not sure how well a wireless connection would do, so I’m glad I made sure to put an Ethernet jack behind the TV when we built our house!
These things are surprisingly hard to find. I originally ordered one from Buy.com, but after I had waited three days for a confirmation I sent them an e-mail and they admitted it wasn’t in stock after all, despite what their Web page said. (This is the third time Buy.com has pulled this crap. They’re off my list of acceptable suppliers.) Next, I went to Amazon, but they said it might take a week to ship, so I ordered from Newegg.com and had the box in 48 hours.
Probably the most impressive feature is the speed and ease of managing my digital music collection, which has close to 12,000 tracks on nearly 1000 albums. It takes up to 5 seconds for the listing to appear initially, but after that, searches are nearly instantaneous, and the sound quality is exceptional.
I’m compiling a list of minor glitches I’ve encountered, but all in all the Media Center products are working spectacularly well, and I have no serious complaints.
P.S.: Amazon.com has the Linksys Media Center Extender on sale today for close to the best price I’ve seen: $250, with free shipping. Amusingly, their product details page says the box weighs 145 pounds and standard shipping will be $90. Of course, the actual weight is about 6 pounds. I sent a correction last week but they still haven’t fixed the mistake.
Ed Bott 