The sleek, small Squeezebox Duet sends music from your computer to the speakers you choose.

As a kid, I figured my future would include flying to work and having a robot clean the house (remember The Jetsons?). While reality hasn't quite caught up with cartoons, today's high-tech electronics can seem pretty magical. Last week I had a blast trying out the Logitech Squeezebox Duet — a smart new wireless music player that grabs digital tunes from your computer and plays them through the speakers of your choice. Pretty Jetson-esque, I'd say.

What a wireless music player can do for you

Storing your CD collection on your PC gives you easy access to your tunes and gets rid of all those mismatched cases and discs strewn across the living room floor. And your computer holds the key to a wealth of Internet music — you can listen to radio stations from all over the country, subscribe to online music smorgasbords, and add the latest hits to your digital library with just a few quick keystrokes.

So what's the downside? Your computer is probably tucked away in your home office, and its speakers are most likely not the best speakers in your house. Wireless music players or "streamers" let you play songs from your PC over the bigger, better home theater speakers in your living room, or through any set of powered speakers in any room.

Hook the receiver to your sound system, but carry the remote from room to room.

New main squeeze

The Duet is named for its two components: a thin, paperback-sized receiver that makes a Wi-Fi® connection with any and all of the PCs in your network; and a wireless handheld controller that lets you choose tunes as you roam around your home, without a detour to the receiver.

The controller has an intuitive scroll wheel, so it's simple to view menus and select songs. Your finger fits into the wheel's recessed groove, the controller is backlit, and audible "clicks" mark your actions — so even in a darkened room, you won't have to fumble or guess as you make selections. The large 2-3/8" high-resolution LCD screen is bright and easy to read, and it automatically displays any album art associated with a given song as it plays.

Setting it up

As soon as the Duet arrived here at Crutchfield, we decided to open it up and give it a test run. We set it up in five easy steps:

1. We went to slimdevices.com and downloaded the free SqueezeCenter™ software that would in turn find the music files stored on our network.
2. Although the battery came partially charged, we let it rest on the recharging stand until it was fully powered. Then we put the battery into the controller.
3. We plugged the receiver in, turned it on, and it identified the networks within our building. We clicked on the one we wanted from the choices listed on the controller.
4. This network is protected, so we entered our encryption password digit by digit using the arduous "scroll and select" method. Luckily, this was a one-time-only thing. Once the Duet added our network, we were able to subsequently access it without re-entering the password.
5. At the controller's prompt, we downloaded a firmware update that only took a minute or two.

Getting the Duet up and running only took about ten minutes. We were ready to hear some tunes.