You have a dream: you want to store your CD collection on a single hard-drive and stream music to five wi-fi stations all over your home. You also want to connect your iPod for playback through the same system.
Well, that dream can become reality with Philips' new WAC3500D Streamium Wireless Audio Center, yours for £300. The name may be a bit of a mouthful, but what it can do is impressive.
First up, you can rip up to 1500 CDs to its 80GB hard drive at MP3 bit-rates of 128-320kbps or WMA at 16-128kbps. Recordings can be made either while listening to a CD, or at four times normal speed, and the system will automatically pull in track and album title information using the Gracenote song information system via the internet.
Once stored, music can then be wirelessly streamed to a maximum of five Wireless Music Stations dotted around your house. The system is compatible with the music stations developed for the Philips WAC700 and WAC7000 wi-fi systems.
Users can search for tracks by genre, artist, album or track names using the remote control.
Alternatively, the WAC3500D can receive, store and play MP3 or WMA tracks saved on a PC and wirelessly stream them to the system using simple drag ’n drop selection.
What's more, the built-in dock will play and charge your iPod.
Amplification comes from a 2x40w Class D digital amplifier, which drives two compact, two-way speakers.
And if you want to transfer or play music from a USB storage device, there's a simple USB socket to enable you to do so.
The WAC3500D is available now. Additional wi-fi music stations cost £199 each.
Technorati Tags: hard drive, internet radio, MP3, streaming, USB, wi-fi, wireless, WMA
