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Streaming into your living room
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Tired of listening to Internet radio in your office? HP and RealNetworks are building a streaming media appliance for more comfortable environments.
WITH the advent of Internet streaming audio and video, the PC has become a great source of entertainment. The problem is that PCs aren't designed for environments where one typically likes to be entertained. Most of us would like to listen to music and watch video while reclining on a couch, not while sitting at desk in straight-back chair.
In response to this problem, the streaming media company RealNetworks recently announced a partnership with hardware manufacturer Hewlett Packard to bring streaming media into the living room. Their first product is slated to ship for the next holiday season.
HP will design a small consumer appliance that incorporates RealNetworks' streaming media software RealPlayer and its music management application RealJukebox. Using an embedded Linux operating system, the appliance will stream audio from the Internet through a standard dial-up connection, cable modem, or DSL. But it won't be a PC. It will sit next to and perhaps connect to your stereo system. "We like to say that this product will fit the 'lean back' usage model," says Jay Jaisimha, group manager for consumer appliances at RealNetworks, "As you use it, you're not sitting at desk leaning forward, staring at a screen. You're casually leaning back and enjoying yourself."
For Larry Gerbrandt, chief operating officer at Paul Kagan Associates, a media research and consulting firm now owned by Steve Brill's PrimeMedia, the product satisfies an obvious need. "The office with your PC is just the wrong room for streaming audio," he says. "And your PC isn't designed to integrate with a home entertainment system anyway." He expects the that the device will soon offer much more than streaming audio, consolidating all your entertainment equipment in single place: "Eventually, they'll build a whole family of devices. They may include a hard drive for storing MP3 files, a DVD player, a DVD burner possibly, even digital video recorder capabilities."
What's a ZapStation?
ZapMedia, a company based in Atlanta, is developing a similar device-the ZapStation--which will include a CD and DVD player for streaming audio from the Internet via Microsoft software. As is likely with the HP-RealNetworks appliance, the ZapStation, which measures 4.25 by 14.8 by 17.1 inches, will connect to your television for easy setup and use over a graphical interface. This approach is less likely to intimidate consumers, says Gerbrandt: "Many people will be more comfortable using a TV than a PC. If you're 15, using a PC is easy, but it's more daunting for older people." And eventually these Internet appliances could stream video to your TV and VCR.
The HP and ZapMedia products are still several months away, but you needn't wait that long to have streaming audio in your living room, bedroom, or kitchen. The 3Com Audrey Digital Home Assistant, a cookie-jar-size Internet appliance designed to sit on your kitchen counter, offers streaming audio and is available today. "You can listen to talk shows, ball games, or music," says John Conmy, 3Com's manager of Interaction design and application development for the Internet appliance division. "And in the fall, we'll offer streaming video."
Soon, 3Com will also offer the Kerbango Internet Radio, designed to stream audio to your bedside. 3Com acquired the radio early last year when the company absorbed Santa Clara's Kerbango, but there are still delays in bringing it to market. A similar Internet radio is on the way from AudioRamp.com, and Request Mulitmedia says that its AudioReQuest product, a CD player that also handles MP3 files transferred from your PC, will offer streaming media in the next few weeks. With all these appliances slated to ship, now is the time to clear some space in your home entertainment centre.
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