Customer Reviews

Cisco-Linksys WMB54G Wireless-G Music Bridge

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(84)

 

 

First off, a little background... I consider myself fairly skilled at using computers.. I have been using them for 25+ years and have installed operating systems, configured routers, set up wireless networks, recovered systems from virus crashes, etc. Reading the below reviews I thought that while installing the music bridge might be a bit tricky, I could handle it.

WOW. I don't know where to begin. This product has the worst documentation I've ever seen, both in the box and online. I spent 10+ hours getting this to work on my system, plus another hour un-doing damage to my system registry after the Music Bridge driver conflicted with another driver in my system and caused a crash.

Having said that, I finally have it up and running and it is operating as promised, though using 100% of my CPU power and thus causing the computer to run very slowly.

Reading the support forum on the linksys site, the people that have the fewest problems installing this equipment are those that don't have routers. Ironically, though Linksys (and Cisco) are router companies, the instructions do not include the special steps that must be taken to re-configure your router so it will connect with the bridge.

Be warned - this is not plug and play and you may very well spend a lot of frustrating time trying to get it to work. Once it is working there are many idiosyncracies (eg having to close and open your music player to get it to play through the bridge) that you would not expect from a well-designed piece of hard/software.

This is a bargain for a reason - I'd suggest you spend a little more and find something better. Good luck!!

I bought the Music Bridge after reading all the reviews, positive and negative. Since I'm a technical guy I figured I would get it to work - and I did, eventually.

Here are the basics on this unit:
- It's a "virtual sound card". The sound card in your PC plays music through its speakers; this Bridge uses your WiFi network to "project" your soundcard wirelessly to a remote location.
- The first step is to connect it (using an ethernet cable) to your PC so that you can set it up (it needs to learn about your WiFi network) and plug in the power. Using the install CD to try to setup the unit seems useless; in reading the reviews it seems that the standard install process works for only 1 in 10, and I wasn't that one. The workaround is simple: look on the bottom of the unit. The IP address of the unit is listed there. Type it into your browser (I used IE) (type http://192.168.1.210 ). You'll be prompted for a username (leave it blank) and a password ("admin"). Bam! You're into the setup screen. If you've gotten this far you can probably figure out the setup steps (Change the Bridge's name to something that means to you. Change the Bridge's IP address and click "apply" which restarts the unit. I changed mine to 192.168.0.210 since my D-Link router's using the "0". Also setup SSID and WEP if you use it). To do this you don't absolutely have to have connectivity to the wireless router but if you do you can click "search" to make sure they're talking.
- Once you've setup your Bridge you can disconnect the ethernet cable and move the unit to the stereo. Turn the stereo on and make sure the red and white RCA cables are plugged into whatever input you tune your stereo to (sounds silly, but make sure).
- The rest of the work is done back on your PC by installing the "utility", the software that turns this contraption into the virtual sound card. If you used my workaround above you'll need to go back to the Autoplay of the CD and at the bottom in smaller letters it says "Install Utility". Once you've got the Utility up, click "scan for bridge" and hopefully (if your Bridge is close enough to your WiFi router) the bridge's name will appear. Give it 15-60 seconds after scanning. If it doesn't appear, unplug the bridge from the stereo and put the bridge next to router (eliminate the range issue) and try scanning again.
- Once you get the bridge listed in the table, select it and click "Connect" in the Utility and click "yes" in the popup. This should send sound to the Bridge. If the bridge is in another room and you don't want to crank up the volume, just open a media player on your PC after connecting and see if sound comes out of the PC - silence is good because the sound is being sent to the Bridge.
- You CAN toggle back and forth between the Bridge and your PC's sound card. Simply always open whatever media player you're using AFTER making your choice in the Utility. I.e.: click "Connect" (to the bridge), then open Media Player 10 which will cause MP10 to pick up the Bridge as the virtual sound card. If you want to come back to the PC sound card, CLOSE MP10 then click "Connect to PC's Speaker" then reopen MP10 - sound will now come from your PC's speakers.
- I found that with 40 ft and a couple walls between the router and the Bridge there was intermittent cutouts. Moving the router closer helped but still didn't make the signal perfect; in my non-technical opinion is that the radio in the Bridge is pretty weak.
Summary: My conclusion is that this approach to getting music from the PC to the stereo has too many points of failure - PC, WiFi, Bridge, Stereo - and if any one has an issue then you get no sound. I don't know what the alternative is for me yet, but I'm returning my device even though I got it tow work. It seems to me that for a single person with a PC, Router and Stereo close to each other - like in the same room but where running a wire isn't practical - this Bridge is a great, affordable solution with some minor issues related to setup. However, for a family living in a 2000+ sq.ft. home and with components scattered around the house on multiple floors, this Bridge may not be ideal.

I have Apple's Airport Express, which I use to send music from iTunes to my stereo. That is a great product, but Apple only sells music, not rent it. So I have been renting music from Yahoo. The problem was, there was no easy way to listen to Yahoo music through my stereo. There are products like Roku, but I was looking for something like Airport Express. Such a product now exists -- the Music Bridge.

The sound quality of the product is excellent. With Music Bridge, I can listen to iTunes as well as Yahoo music. The only small deficiency is that it is not easy to switch from listening through stereo to listening through PC speakers and vice versa. Typically you have to restart the media player after switching, which is not very convenient. Also note that there is a delay when listening through the stereo, so watching video on the PC's screen while listening to the audio through the stereo is not recommended; but this is a problem that Apple's Airport Express also has.

Setup wasn't hard at all. Before you can use the wireless Music Bridge you have to set it up. To set it up you have to physically connect the Music Bridge to your computer using the supplied ethernet cable. (This works because the MB has automatic crossover.) Then run the setup program on the supplied CD.

If the setup program fails to find the Music Bridge, as it did in my case, it may be because the physical network connection of your computer is disabled or not in the 192.168.1 range. The Music Bridge's physical connection is in this range by default, so unless your computer's physical connection is also in this range it won't be able to talk to the Music Bridge.

Here's how to fix the problem: Open Control Panel and double-click on Network Connections. Locate your Local Area Connection and right-click on it and select properties. In the Properties dialog scroll down till you see Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Double-click on it. Select the "Use the following IP address" option. Then enter any IP address in the 192.168.1.xxx range, for example 192.168.1.135. Then click OK to close the dialog.

Rerun the setup program; it should be able to find the Music Bridge this time. You now have to enter the details of your wireless network, such as the network name or SSID. If you are using encryption you have to enter your security code. After entering these details you can disconnect the physical connection and use the Music Bridge wirelessly.

I did have to call Linksys tech support to figure out some of the above details, and I found the tech support to be very helpful and professional.

Yes, set-up isn't easy and the software could be better, but the only issue that makes this product unacceptable to me is the sound drops out about once every 4 minute song. It is only for half a second or so, but it irritates me. I even hard wired the thing so no wireless was being used and it still had the drop-outs at the same regularity. My PC is brand new and doesn't cut out the winamp music when using an audio cable. Ithink the issue is with the Linksys box hooked up to the receiver. I simply can't recommend this product even at the great price.

Setup on this thing is horrible. You have to hard wire connect to your computers network card (cant do inital setup wirelessly) to establish settings. It gives you the option to give it its own IP, but that never worked for me. Like one of the last reviewers... I tried and tried as well to find it wirelessly, and I couldnt do it for hours.

FINALLY, I established a connection... and it sounded great. Only to realize that every 30-120 seconds, the sound would break for a second or two. When I watched my windows xp wireless network connection, the pause happened during a brief connection loss (or signal re-negotiation?). I tried EVERY advanced setting I could think of.

Two e-mails and a live chat session with Linksys tech support proved to be a waste of time. As usual, the techs are educated on basic problems... and I consider myself an advanced wireless networker.

I finally gave up and I am now researching different digital audio receiver options. I just want to stream some online radio stations wirelessly to my home stereo. Why is this sooooo stinkin difficult??

PS - the installation instructions never refer to an all wireless network. They just assume your PC is hardwired to your wireless router. I have a wireless network card on my PC...

I got the wireless bridge so I could play stuff on my laptop and listen to it from my home theater setup.

The Linksys wireless music bridge is perfect for the task. It does the job very well. It installs as a sound device on your computer. When you want to listen to music through the music bridge, all you need to do is to switch the sound output from PC Speaker to the Wireless Music Bridge.

Things I like about the linksys.
1. Lots of audio out connectors - Coaxial, Optical Out, RCA and headphone jacks.
2. Easy setup. Follow the instructions and you should be set up in 10 minutes.
3. Excellent sound quality. The EAX modes are very nice too.

Things I didnt like
1. You have to close and restart winamp or WMP when you switch between pc speakers and the music bridge.

Having said that, I recommend this product. It's well priced and it works well.

My wife, not a technophile like me, loves it too. She thinks it is the best thing I have bought.

This machine works well if you have XP and don't mind jumping through hoops to set it up. However, Linksys STILL has not released any VISTA drivers, so BeWare! This makes Linksys really look bad. Take note, you will not be able to use this product with Vista, so don't buy it if have vista.

I read these reviews and was scared that this product would be problematic. My experience was a good one. Setup was a breeze. Just followed the setup wizard and it was running within about 2 or 3 minutes. Now it is easy to pipe sound from any application on my notebook PC to anywhere I want my amplified speakers.

I'd give it a 5-star except for a few minor complaints.

1. It is not a super-slick package. There is a long attenna sticking out. The box is not really tight like the Linksys compact router (WRT54GC or WRT54GS) or the Apple AirPort Express. It is not bad, just not as pretty as some other products. Seems like it could be 2/3 the size.

2. The power adaptor block is only for 120VDC. If you want to take it to Asia or Europe, it is not easy to adapt.

3. The sound twice dropped out for a split second but it is generally totally steady.

4. You cannot switch between your PC speaker sound and the wireless sound without closing and reopening your Windows Media Player after switching with the Linksys utility.

5. When using the wirelss sound, the volume and mute buttons on my IBM T-42 are disabled. You must use their utility or the functions directly on the speakers/stereo you have it connected to. If I use a wire from my PC, these buttons work just fine.

How can you sell a high-tech consumer product in September 2007 and don't have support for Windows Vista? According to a forum page on their website, Linksys has promised to have the driver released soon. I talked to their chatline today, and they told me the driver was going to be released soon. Since the forum page starts to mention "soon" back in February, I don't really trust that the drivers will be available soon.

This device is designed to allow you to play music on wifi enabled computer on a home stereo system (or any audio system that has AUX inputs) over your home wireless network. And it works. Once the software is installed you simply use an icon in the task bar and switch your audio output from "PC Speakers" to the "Wireless Music Bridge". Then you will hear ALL audio generated on your computer on the stereo. That means all the music will be played AND even other sounds like alerts, IM's will be heard on the stereo. This isn't a big problem, just turn off other programs that generate sounds when listening to music.

What I like about this device:
1) Allows optical connections between the device and your stereo - excellent sound quality
2) Allows you to play music from any program on your computer. The apple device will only play music from iTunes.

What I don't like about this device:
1) Installing the driver on your computer can be a hassle. I called Linksys for support and they were able to help me install the driver. However, when I installed the driver on another computer instead of calling support I played around with the installation myself. I started Windows XP in safe mode with networking and was able to install the driver easily. I guess my computer while in regular Windows mode has some sort of network conflicts so I can't install the driver. I can however use the driver (once installed in safe mode) in Windows normal mode.

Summary:
-Works as billed.
-Optical connections (and RCA connections too) - great sound quality.
-Allows you to use the MP3 player of your choice (not restricted to iTunes).
-Hassel to install the driver - just try the safe mode with networking trick. (This is why I gave the product three stars - it really should be easier to install this thing).

Cheers.