Wi-Fi home system convenient

A personal computer in the middle of an entertainment center is overkill, but it would be nice to hear all those songs and view those pictures from the comfort of the living room.

Those with wireless home networks can find help in the Wireless-B Media Adapter from Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. The gadget, costing about $165 after a $15 rebate, plugs into a television set and pipes pictures and tunes from a networked home computer.

You connect it to the TV with composite cables much like a video game console or video recorder. You can adjust volume, zoom in on pictures and click through a slide show using a simple remote control.

Setup is easy, even though it’s in two parts.

First, the host computer must be set up to share media files, and the adapter configured — typically via a temporary wired Ethernet connection to the computer.

Any folder containing music or pictures can be used. The installation wizard also adds a program called "Adapter Utility," which always runs in the background and lets the device know what’s available.

The second part of installation involves setting up the adapter next to the television. The adapter plugs into the wall socket and into the television (as well as a stereo, if one is available nearby).

The television, when switched to an open video input line, will show the Linksys program loading over the Wi-Fi network. After a few minutes, the main menu appears with songs and pictures that can be selected.

For some reason, I had to switch the adapter on and off before it recognized my wireless network, which at the time was running on an older Netgear access point. After upgrading to a newer access point, the problem disappeared.

Songs are sorted by artist, title, album and playlists. Digital pictures can be viewed as slide shows, with music accompaniment, if desired. A button on the remote even allows users to zoom in on a picture.

Overall, it’s a simple system that worked well and added value to a wireless network that otherwise has been used only for surfing the Web with a laptop.

The software for running the songs and pictures resides on the computer and currently supports only MP3 and Windows Media Audio songs and pictures in jpeg, gif, tiff and bmp formats.

It also can be set up to communicate securely.

My biggest complaint is that it doesn’t support the various copyright protection schemes built into the tunes purchased at iTunes Music Store, Napster 2.0 or any other legal online music service.

Those services are still in their infancy, as are home Wi-Fi network devices. Such capabilities would add value both to the music stores and the wireless adapter.