Customer Reviews

Philips MCi250 Wireless Broadband Internet Micro HiFi System

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This system rocks! It's hard to explain how cool it is, owners of Tivo might relate to this: you have to use it and then you'll ask yourself how could you listen to your music any other way.

Some cool things:
- some radio stations allow you to skip songs
- tens of station available for free
- it will download album info even for you CDs
- supports multiple users, each with their own favorits
- it will sync its clock using a time server over the Internet. The poster that mentioned that this feature is not available is mistaken: one just needs to turn the setting on from his/her account on my.philips.com
- more featurs than you can imagine

The only problem is that the manual SUCKS, especialy when dealing with network setings, so here's some usefull info:
- the system works with WEP but only 64bit (aka 40bit). It doesn't works with 128. To ensure that your wireless is very secure, make sure that you enable WEP (64bit is still quite secure, unless you're a top secret agency, in which case don't use wireless), set authentication to Open (not Shared), change yor SSID from whatever default value (eg linksys) to something else, turn broadcast SSSID to off, change yor default router admin password. Last, but not least, read yor router's manual and see how you can filter MAC adddresses and allow only the ones fir yor devices (including the Philips Streamium) - however, if you follow the other setting, this one is optional only.
- when entering the WEP keys on the Philips Streamium you MUST to use UPPER CASEs, even though it shouldn't mattter, since those are hex values. Use the remote control to enter them.

Good luck all, and enjoy this super cool product!

I always buy products after reading customer reviews. After reading a few reviews and spending a few days weighing price/features, I decided to buy this product. I noticed that you cannot get a better price than what you are getting through Amazon.com

I received the unit on Wednesday (02/04/04). Excitedly I opened the box and started setting it up. I have a wireless and wired network at home. First, I tried it with wireless connection through my Microsoft MN-700 802.11G Base Station using 128-bit WEP key. To those who think the key is key sensitive, I am a network engineer and know for a fact that it's NOT. It's a hexadecimal number (not text) and numbers are not case sensitive. (Makes sense?). Also, if you remember entering the long key on the unit, you will know that it doesn't give you any option to change case.

To cut the story short, I was not able to get this unit to communicate with my base station wireless and I didn't try without encryption because I don't want to run an unsecured wireless network just for this unit.

I connected the RJ-45 and it connected to the network without problem. Here comes the problem: To those who said that it updated software/firmware in a flash, I think my unit was clearly defective. It went into a loop where it would try to upgrade software and would fail sometimes at 0%, other times it would go up to 5% or 15%. I've never seen it go more than 15%. After that it would just give me a message saying "Upgrade Failed" and then tell me "Your set will now reboot". Automatically reboots and then start upgrading all over again - going into an endless loop that can only be stopped by unplugging the power cable from the back because while it upgrades, remote control or buttons won't work.

...

If you have basic technical know-how, this product is great. Though I was not able to see how it streams through the Internet, I like the product overall. That's why I am not going to return it for a refund but instead for a replacement.

Word of caution for new buyers: User Manual or Guide is useless. You must have basic technical skills to get it working. There is no section that describes how to set up PC-Link or what needs to be checked when it doesn't work. This is high-quality product with low-quality support and documentation. If you can handle the support part yourself, buy it! If not, stay away!

-----------------
Update 02/12/2004
-----------------
I received my replacement unit from Amazon yesterday which connected to the Internet and updated its software on the first attempt and in less than 1 minute. Clearly the old unit was defective.

...

"Automatically sets the clock on the display to the local tima via the internet."

Ignore the typos on their website but anyone can clearly understand that what the above statement means is that unit can connect to a time-server and automatically update time (just like Windows XP).

User Guide doesn't even talk about anything that comes even close to what the above statement declares. All it shows or is how to set up time manually. This unit has been connected to the Internet for the past 12+ hours and so far the time shows as --:--. It's not a big deal for me but it shows how falsely Philips is trying to sell this product for a high price so people will compare this against other systems and falsely think that it has unearthly features for a boom box which in fact it doesn't.

...

I looked for quite a while before I leaped and the previous reviews were very helpful. I actually have two MCi250's and they are both working great off the same PC as server. One is ethernet wired to the network, the other off a Netgear b/g WLAN. The wired version was piece of cake to hook up and had no problems with the firmware update or setting the clock. Using Musicmatch 8.2 with the "Streamium" option checked as others described. Did have some problems getting the other hooked up as wireless to work with 128-bit encryption, but after setting it up without any encryption and getting the firmware updated (again no problem) was able to turn back on 128-bit and after the tedious process of entering the key with the remote again got it up first time. Note there ARE both small and capitals of the alphabet when entering the key and despite others on this site swearing it doesn't matter or that Alphanumeric means only numbers, it does matter what case the letters are in. All that being said, these are great little stereos, the WOOX sounds good, the PC-Link and Internet usually works fine and they are a great value.

I was very apprehensive to buy this based on the reviews of this and similar streaming music products. However, I found it at a local store for $227 and decided to try it, figuring I could return it if necessary. I bought it Saturday and started trying to get it to work Sunday. It wasn't nearly as bad to set up as I imagined. I followed others advice and first connected it via Ethernet to get the latest firmware upgrade (it only took a minute to download and was effortless). The Wireless was a little tricky, but I did get the 128 WEP to work, but only after turning the system off and back on. The only other "issue" was my firewall, but I changed one setting as recommended on Phillips website and I was off and running. The sound is great and the connection is very fast, I can breeze through my 6000+ MP3 collection with no delay. The Internet radio sounds better than I was expecting. The only thing that would make this better is the capability to play WMA file types. Otherwise, I'm very pleased with the purchase and would highly recommend.

I had been waiting a year to buy this, hestitating because I was worried about lack of promotion by Philips and about some mixed consumer reviews. I'm glad to say that while there are some kinks, I'm overwhelmingly pleased with my new stereo.

Some comments (sorry if they're cryptic; if you've read other customer comments, you'll probably understand it all):

Pros:
-- The sound is great. Bass is surprising, and adding a subwoofer gave me an ever richer sound
-- The internet radio runs smoothly and sounds very good. I use this feature the most. Love the variety.
-- Setup was generally glitch-free, and yes, I got the wireless encryption to work.
-- Yes, you CAN set up more internet radio stations than current Philips providers. They must be MP3 streaming stations, though.

Cons:
-- Older version of Musicmatch required. (I haven't checked out another user's claim that you can use a newer version.)
-- The wireless encryption did not work first time around. Customer support suggested I start the setup over. I was skeptical, but it worked. But it shouldn't be like that.
-- No support for rights-managed music (songs you buy and download from the services). Or for wma or aac formats in general.
-- I'm nervous about Philips' commitment to this product.

Who should buy it?
-- If you want a new shelf system, go for it. If you have very good stereo equipment already, there may be better alternatives. Although I'm not aware of many that will do a better job with internet radio.
-- You are comfortable with setting up/maintaining a home network or with learning the details of doing so.
-- You are not a mac user. Sorry charlie. No support there. Take solace in the iPod.

I received my stereo today and I got it working in little under half an hour using WEP encryption. Several people seem to have problems with the WEP key issue. Please keep in mind that the key is case sensitive, meaning that if your wireless router's WEP keys are set using capital letters, you must use captial letters while programming the MC-i250. Unfortunately this is not explained well at all in the instructions. I cannot comment on Philip's tech support as I have not needed to call them yet. Sound is good as far as bookshelf systems go. While the choice of actual internet stations is rather limited, the range of music played within those stations is adequate.

As for the MusicMatch software, remember to NOT download the Philips edition of MusicMatch from the Philips website. All you should need is to download the latest version of MusicMatch from the MusicMatch website and you are good to go. For MusicMatch version 8.2 go to the "settings" in the "options" menu, hit the "CD Lookup/Connectivity" tab, then activate "enable music server" and "Philips Streamium". Your PClink should work fine after that. This is where not only the documentation but also support falls short.

So to sum it up, this is a great system but the manual is lacking. Just remember those two fixes listed above and all should be well.

I was able to get the internet radio features of this unit up and running with little trouble, but ran into a snag when I tried to install the feature that allows the unit to play mp3s from your computer hard drives.

Although the web site promised a macintosh version, I discovered only after buying and registering the unit that there is none posted. There's even a link on their web site that says "click here to download the PC Link software for macintosh" but it leads to nothing.

Over the past 10 days, I've been on the phone 3 times with philips customer support, and it is clear that their representatives have little or no experience with the products they are in charge of. Really quite shocking for a company with Philips' generally good reputation. After this 3rd call, they have promised once again to "call me back," but I have little confidence that they will.

I still haven't received an answer to my question, but I'll post a new review if I ever do. Right now, I'm stuck with a machine that only does 1/2 of what it promised.

---

The update, as promised:

I returned this stereo to Amazon after Philips still couldn't address my question and the 30 days were up. Interestingly, I have noticed that Philips has removed one of the links on www.streamium.com that promises a Macintosh download. However, the site is still chock full of references to a Macintosh version, and is a blatant case of false advertising.

The concept behind this unit is neat -- a wireless connection to your home network, with access to your MP3 library and the Internet all in one. Unfortunately, Philips implementation is extremely poor. Configuration is clumsy and time-consuming, the documentation is sparse. Their tech support appears to be on a call-back basis only (I suspect they only have one technician that supports this product), and they seem to call back at 10pm eastern a lot. I have yet to actually speak to one of their techs, but given the sparsity of the manual and their web site, I don't hold out much hope.

I had a lot of trouble getting the unit to talk to my Linksys router. Eventually I disabled WEP and I finally got it working, but not without a lot of searching through menus and submenus to find the options I wanted. Running an unencrypted wireless network is foolish, and if that's the only way to get this unit connected, I'll just skip it and use it as a regular (expensive) shelf-top system.

The PC-based music server software supplied with the unit (or downloaded from their web site after you finally get it all configured) is MusicMatch, but it's a custom version that's several revs behind and there are no updates available. When I installed it on top of the current version of music match, the burner broke. It took me several uninstalls and reinstalls to get it all back in working order. Needless to say, the documentation doesn't even mention MusicMatch.

The advertisements claim that the clock on the unit updates itself automatically from an Internet time source, but it doesn't, and the documentation doesn't even mention the feature.

If you're a techno-geek, you love gadgets for their own sake, have plenty of cash to burn and plenty of left hair to pull out, go ahead and buy one of these just to say you did. Otherwise, wait until someone comes out with a better product that they are able to support.

I have the Streamium MC-i250 and people who come over are always amazed at the sound quality. It plays CDs and MP3s and pretty much any streaming radio station straight from the Internet.

This box is just great. Why didn't they make this
a couple of years ago?

Are you an internet radio fan? Are you sick of your
CD collection? If you answered yes, then you should
buy this.

The box connected up to my wired internet connection
(have not tried wireless yet) with no problem and
I could immediately access hundreds of stations on
live365.com. I had to bootup my computer in the past.
Now I can just do it on my 250 boombox. And listen to
hours of music. This has been the best product I have
bought in years (after my DVD player that i got 7 yrs ago).
I am really jazzed about it.

The product looks slick. The Woomx feature makes a
significant difference to the sound quality.

Also, when you play one of your CDs, it connects
up to the internet and downloads track information!

My only complaints are that it has only a single CD disk
player and doesn't have CD-RW capability (for making
your own MP3 compilations) and it is 100W output capacity.
Otherwise, I love this thing.