| Linksys WMB54G Wireless-G Music Bridge |
 enlarge
|
Model: WMB54G
Brand: Linksys
Manufacturer: Linksys
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 133
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet // Fast Ethernet // IEEE 802.11b // IEEE 802.11g
|
|
|
| |
| Features: |
Product Type - Wireless Music Bridge
Warranty - 3 Years Limited
Headphone jack connector for powered speakers
Easy Setup Wizard for configuration |
| |
| Description: |
| The Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge lets you bring the digital music streaming to or stored on your computer to your Home Entertainment Center, without running cables through the house. Using a wireless connection, the Music Bridge finally frees your digital music collection from those little computer speakers to play in full glory through your stereo or surround sound system.The Wireless-G Music Bridge sits by your home stereo and connects to it using standard consumer electronics cables. Then it connects to your home network by Wireless-G wireless networking, or if you prefer, it can be connected via standard 10/100 Ethernet cabling. The included software creates a virtual sound system in your PC, which sends the audio output of any application to the Music Bridge and the stereo system. Use your favorite media player to play your music, and listen in the comfort of the living room.Let the Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge bring your digital music out into the living room for the whole family to enjoy. |
| |
| User Reviews (133 total): |
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of Total 7 Pages
|
Pretty decent when (if) it works., August 3, 2008
By user (Ohio)
Have had this now for about 6 months. Setup was fairly simple, but I have more pc knowledge than most. The problem is, the sound sometimes goes out for a few seconds. I'm sure this is due to the wireless network but it even goes out when there isn't any other wireless network usage but itself.
Second and by far the biggest problem is, quite often the utility cannot find the bridge to connect to it. This is a real pain and a deal breaker. Even with the ip address set to manual and being able to log into the bridge's admin console, the utility still will not find or connect to it. Without being to connect to it, you cannot use it which pretty much makes it all useless.
Last 2 times I had to re-setup the connection and it worked that day. Two days later, it cannot find the bridge anymore. If I could return this thing I probably would.
Short and skinny is, it works good IF you can get it to work at all.
|
Linksys WMB54G Music Bridge, August 1, 2008
By user
The unit was received new in good condition. I installed it on a Windows XP SP3 installation, connected to a Netgear 54g Wireless 4 port router. Since the router had a different IP address and a different gateway setting than a Linksys router, I chose the manual setup option, entered my network settings, including WEP security key, and had it up and running in 10 minutes. I did later download and install the version 2.18 firmware update and version 1.3 setup utility from the Linksys website. This fixed a problem with switching between the computer speakers and the speakers on the wireless system, as well as adding Vista compatibility. The great strength of this design is that I have over 500 gigabytes of MP3, FLAC, APE, WMA, and OGG music files and many music CD's. I also like to listen to internet radio stations , and I can listen to anything that I can access on my computer through my home stereo system in a different room wirelessly. No problem with DRM rights or only playing a few selected formats.
|
Great After Frimware Upgrade, July 23, 2008
By user (Troy, NY)
This device is awesome....but it didn't start that way. Make sure you upgrade the firmware (2.18) and the connection utility when you get it. Make sure you login to the device after you install it and make sure it is all in order. Other then that the device is a great addition to a home stereo and laptop users.
|
Got all Linksys netowork equipment??? Go for it, July 21, 2008
By user (Birmingham, al)
I have vista home premium. It would be hard for normal user to install on this OS. I work in computers and had tons of error to work through. Customer support is a joke. You will waste hours on some one that acts it if they just heard of linksys and got a job. Anyway I did not start writing this for that issue. You can work it out, if you are computer savy (go the the site and install the Vista drivers first). I have been steaming video and music through my XBOX 360 for over a year But I tried to put this device on my dlink (di-624) wireless router and it was terrible. It was so choppy. Every other songs line would hang. I even tried it "wired". Went to best buy and brought a top of the line Dlink 802.11N, same results. Ok, it did not like Dlink??? Wrong! I tried the top of the line Netgear with the same results. I tried all the advanced network settings, even setting QOS for the mac address. Biting the bullet. Eventually got the bottom of the line linksys N router and it worked fine. I smell a rat but for my setup this is what I needed.
I gave it a 2. I should have gave it a 1 for wasting my weekend but it does sound good after I spent $$$ on replacing network products.
Linksys = 1 Me =0
|
More Junk from Linksys, July 20, 2008
By user (Southern California)
Look at the review by C-Net and you start to realize that here is another Cisco/Linksys product that just DOES NOT WORK.
I am not a computer expert and don't have the time to become one.
When I spend the better part of $100.00 I expect the product to work.
The Wireless-G Music Bridge doesn't work.
It especially doesn't work with Windows Vista Ultimate.
Don't buy this product and write to Cisco/Linksys to let them know how dissatisfied you are with their products that make you be a computer expert to make them work.
What ever happened with the promise of "Plug and Play."
|
despite negative reviews, I tried it and I like it!, July 5, 2008
By user (Redwood City, CA)
I first saw this product 6 months ago but decided to pass based on the negative reviews. After finding no preferred alternative, I decided to give the "music bridge" a try.
I got the product, followed the directions, and now have music streaming from my Windows XP PC through my wireless network to my HiFi. I am now listening to my itunes and internet radio stations on my hifi. The music is crystal clear. IMO, this thing is excellent for $90.
I am not sure why so many other people have had problems. Maybe the product has been updated/improved. Maybe I was just lucky. All I did was follow the directions and update all of the drivers when asked.
|
Music Bridge Review, June 28, 2008
By user (Orange County, CA)
We spent a lot of time researching ways to play our music from our computers on our stereo and stayed away from this because of the reviews. We started with a Squeezebox, which did what it touted well. This was pulling music from the network using its remote control. Unfortunately, our goal was to push to the stereo from the computer. Our desire was to hide the stereo in the closet and never see it. The Music Bridge is perfect for us. It was easy to setup, relatively inexpensive and simple to use. Using their software, you tell your computer to output to either the Bridge (your stereo) or your computers speakers. Using this, I can hear Quicken's kachunks throughout the house and can listen to internet baseball games the same way -- two things that we could not do with pull-type systems like Squeezebox. Please note that we have a wired network. Configuring the wireless may be very painful, but we did not have to do it. For us, this works great.
|
Do not buy this!, June 18, 2008
By user (Stillwater, OK)
I had problems out of the box because the included driver was not compatible with Windows Vista. After finally tracking down a Vista compatible driver from their website I was able to get the connection working. The wireless is less than reliable. The connection continually drops and then you have to manually reconnect the connection from an icon in your task tray to get it working again - sometimes you have to unplug the WMB54G to get it to reconnect. (My wireless router was only about 10 feet away by the way). After Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Vista, the WMB54G was no longer compatible again - Linksys has yet to release a new driver to fix this. You can get around it by setting compatibility mode to Windows XP Service Pack 2 (on the WMB54G program in the start menu) - but the connection dropping problem seemed even worse after doing this. Avoid this product if you are a Vista user, or if you want to use it with a wireless connection (so basically, avoid this product).
|
Vista Users: Buy an Airlink AWMB100, June 18, 2008
By user (Dallas, TX)
After having good luck for a few years with Linksys networking products, I was very disappointed that this product was unusable on either of my Vista systems. The extent of tech support for this item seems to be "Hold the reset button for 10 seconds, ok try 20 since that didn't work" and "do you have another computer to try this on?" I read through the arduous setup processes posted in Linksys forums and decided to use the Airlink AWMB100 with success on my first try. Hope this saves someone the trouble!
|
hard to connect, April 28, 2008
By user
After many hours of trying to connect this product, I final gave up. Lots of frustration.....put it back in the box and it's going in my next yard sale. This was ninety-eight dollars of experience...
|
|
|
Now that the drivers are out, April 13, 2008
By user (dallas, tx usa)
when i recently bought a laptop back in december i was looking for a way to play music on something other than my laptop speakers and not be tied down by wires. low and behold i found this wireless g music bridge. a big plus that it was made by linksys, a company who's products i've generally like, had success with, are priced right, and somewhat stylish.
i read the reviews talking about being hard to install, but i've done just about anything in the book. i was determined to make this thing work. i got the package, i was so excited...i'm about to be listening to my tunes over my main stereo system. i follow the directs, install the software, then bam...restart the computer and get some dll error...WTF? i did about 3 minutes worth of research, this product wasn't supported on windows vista yet. three months later the driver for the device is out. you can get the drivers and firmware upgrades from linksys' website. you will have to upgrade the firmware in the device before starting to install the software. installation if pretty straight forward.
previous limitations other people complain about, such as having to close your music player to switch from the computer speakers to the music bridge are a thing of the past. the new software allows you to swith on the fly.
sound quality has been good, i have only notice the music cutting out just a little bit, when i was watching some high bandwidth streaming video and downloading a file. my computer is wireless-n, my wireless router is a linksys wrt150n Linksys WRT150N Wireless N Home Router with 4-Port Switch Mimo(which is the best wireless component i've ever bought) is also wireless-n. your results may vary on slower networks, older devices, or a network with many users.
i would recommend this product. installation is probably above the novice level, so call you local computer geek.
|
Horrible Product, April 12, 2008
By user
Set up disc and in box documentation are absolutely terrible. Tutorial on website is written by a digruntled customer, which is pathetic of Linksys. Horrible telephone help desk - no one was authorized to discuss the product with me and I never received the promised call back from a authorized technician. I wasted a weekend trying to get it going. I hired a professional IT guy to set it up and he gave up on it after a few hours saying that it was simply broken. The music bridge is the worst piece of consumer electronics I have ever purchased. I'm looking into other avenues to run internet radio through my stereo; hopefully another product will have adequate engineering.
|
Poor Man's Sonos, April 4, 2008
By user (Chicago)
I took the plunge and got this bridge despite negative reviews and some horror stories from forums and the likes. The reason is mainly because it's under $40/bridge (refurbished) and i salivate over sonos - with no dough to support it.
Regarding set up, nothing can be further from the truth. It's not super easy but it's not hours to set up either. Like everybody else i followed the set-up thru cd and didn't work the first time. Then i've upgraded the utility and firmware from linksys site. Still didn't work. Read the manual and it cleared up the issue. This device use 192.168.1.210 address by default. Well, my router isn't linksys so it didn't work right out of the box. I've set it up thru 'Manual Setup' option and voila. Third time works like a charm (i should've read the manual first).
For you out there that just got this device, learn from my mistake:
1. Upgrade the utility software and firmware first, then
2. Set it up thru Manual option; you'll be set in less than 15 minutes.
I'm not an IT or super-tech-know-all-guy; so if you have the basic knowledge of setting up your home wireless network then you should be able to go thru the set up with ease.
The only negative (if any) is that it's running warm/hot. It hasn't failed on me because of this, so i can't really take a star away. So far it's been streaming flawlessly like it supposed to.
|
Excellent Results With Linksys Music Bridge, March 31, 2008
By user (New City, NY USA)
Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge WMB54G - Network audio playerI set up the Music Bridge for use with a Linksys WRT54G Router. Two XP Pro PCs share use of the bridge. Being familiar with Linksys' setup drill, I found the task quick and easy. The CD-based Setup Wizard did its job with no problems, using the primary computer. It took a little extra time and trouble to get a reliable install of the utility on the second PC, but that was really due to a permissions issue on that system. I downloaded latest firmware and utility versions from Linksys' site; the firmware was another easy Wizard install, and the improved utility resolves balky switching issues.
Another outstanding product from Linksys: easy to use, reliable, good sound quality.
My purchase experience from COMPUWISE was equally positive: very fast shipping, excellent documentation, brand new product at an amazingly low price.
|
No Current Windows Vista compatibility, March 12, 2008
By user (Glendale, CA United States)
I had the wireless bridge working fine with my Windows XP computer, it also worked great with my Yahoo Music account. After I bought a new one computer running on Vista I couldn't get it to work with the existing Music Bridge drivers.
As per Linksys technical support there are no existing Vista drivers for this product and it will not work under that operating system.
Good product if you have a windows XP machine though. It is a shame that Linksys hasn't provided the drivers for Windows Vista.
|
IS SO EASY MY DOG WILL INSTALLED, March 9, 2008
By user (N.Y. USA)
STEPS TO INSTALL THE MUSIC ANYWERE BY Linksys WMB54G Wireless-G Music Bridge WINDOWS XP NOTEBOOK WITH WIRELESS
1. CONNECT THE SYSTEM TO YOUR COMPUTER ETHERNET CABLE AND POWER ON
2. ON THE INSTALLATION DISK DON'T GO TO START HERE GO TO UTYLITIES AND INSTALL
3. YOU WILL SEE EVERYTHING IS CONNECT OR DISCONNECT DON,T DO NOTHING
4.DISCONNECT EVERYTHING AND GO STRAIGHT TO YOUR ROUTER CONNECT THE ETHERNET CABLE TO YOUR ROUTER AND THE CABLES TO THE RECEIVER OR MUSIC MEDIA
5. ON YOU COMPUTER PRESS CONNECT AND TOUR ARE READY TO GO
IS SO EASY TOOK ONLY 5 MINUTES
|
Feb 2008 will not support VISTA, February 14, 2008
By user (Arizona, USA)
After searching the web and being on hold with Linksys for 50 minutes, I was told by technical support that my brand new WMB54G will NOT WORK with VISTA. Ouch. Yikes. The setup hangs at a missing cmaudiow.dll file. This as of Feburary 2008. Now the hassle of returning and finding something else . . .
|
Does not work with Vista, February 1, 2008
By user (WV)
The documentation says to download the Vista driver from Linksys. Their website says the driver is "coming soon". I contacted Tech Support and they admitted there was no driver available. Do not buy this product!
|
Doesn't work under Vista, January 30, 2008
By user (Tacoma, WA)
Despite having a "Vista compatible" sticker on the box, the product isn't. Going to the Linksys web-site will tell you that the Vista drivers are "Coming Soon". Checking the Linksys forums reveals a sorry tale of purchasers waiting for Vista drivers for over a year and being unable to get any kind of release date from technical support. A hugely frustrating afternoon and two sessions spent with (contradictory) technical support personnel left me no nearer to getting the Music Bridge installed. Linksys should be ashamed of themselves to so blatantly mis-inform customers and to support their product so badly. This is going back and will be the last Linksys product I purchase.
|
Question?, January 29, 2008
By user (Hamilton, Montana)
Hello, Does anybody know if the Music Bridge can be configured to work with a MacIntosh computer? If so how?
Thanks, Bill
|
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 of Total 7 Pages
|
|
| Copyright 2001-2008 WiFiReview.com |
|