It Plays MP3's, What Else Do You Want?
Written: Apr 29 '05 (Updated Jun 10 '05)
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Pros: Good Wireless connection, good price, Remote Control, easy to run SimpleCenter Software.
Cons: Set Up was really tough. USB/Ethernet Adapter didn't work. No fast forward or rewinding songs
The Bottom Line: If you can get the DMS1 for a reasonable price, buy this product. You won't be disappointed listening to your music on your stereo instead of your PC speakers.
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| deschmann's Full Review: Omnifi DMS1 Home MP3 Player |
I recently purchased the Omnifi DMS1 MP3 player in a package with 2 wireless adapters and the DMP1 Car MP3 Player. I will review only the DMS1 here, as that is all I have set up and used.
This item came packaged at a great deal for $200. I was looking for a way to play MP3s on my home stereo, and was planning on building and MP3 player myself out of an old PC when this solution presented itself.
About this review. There is a lot to inform you about the DMS1 so you can make a good decision on purchasing it. I divided the review into sections on What you get, how the software works, how the DMS1 functions, and most importantly how to set up the DMS1. The DMS1 is a fine little MP3 player, but be aware that set up may or may not be a bear. So read on.
Brief Overview
The DMS1 allows you to store all your MP3s on your PC, and play them anywhere you can find an outlet to power it and your stereo up. That's right, the DMS1 can function both wirelessly, and hard wired through a USB/Ethernet adapter.
The DMS1 comes bundled with a MP3 Server application which runs on your PC called SimpleCenter. SimpleCenter can be used to organize your MP3's, register your product, download updates, and turn your CDs into MP3's if you want to.
Do Not buy this product if you do not already have some sort of hub/router, wireless or otherwise to plug the DMS1 into. I don't want to give a computer lesson here, but you can't just hook up the DMS1 to your PC using the ethernet adapter and any old cable. You would need to have a crosswound cable in order to do this.
The DMS1 only plays you MP3s at the quality they were recorded at, so if they are low quality on your PC, they will be low quality out your stereo.
About the Software
SimpleCenter is easy to set up, and is automatically configured to run on your PC at startup. There will be a little icon in your system tray to show that it is in fact running. You can consider this good or bad. The SimpleCenter application must be running for you to use the DMS1 as it streams music from your PC using this application. However, if you are not always planning on using the DMS1 to listen to music, and you have a slower PC, it is probably in your best interest to disable the automatic SimpleCenter startup and only run the server when you are interested in listening to music.
When I installed SimpleCenter on my PC I was prompted that an update was available and selected to upgrade the product. The download went smoothly and the latest version of the application was up and running in no time. I used this application to sort my MP3s by genre, artist, and album title so that it will be easier to listen to a wide collection of MP3s. SimpleCenter also allows you to create MP3 playlists.
About the DMS1 Unit Itself
Now on to the actual DMS1. The DMS1 comes with a remote control and a USB/Ethernet adapter for plugging directly into your PC. You will need to supply your own ethernet cable though. The unit I purchased also came with a DWL-120R wireless adapter so I could connect to my wireless router to listen to music.
The DMS1 is small in size, approximately the size of a pack of 500 sheets of 8x12 paper. It is low profile so it will fit just about anywhere you have a DVD player VCR, or receiver. There are 3 red, white, and yellow AV jacks for hooking the DMS1 up to your stereo and/or TV. The DMS1 does not have any on board memory an all music will be streamed from your PC using the SimpleCenter application.
There are menus on the DMS1 for configuring the device, and for playing music. Music can be played by sorting through a list of songs, sorting by genre, artist, album, or simply selecting a playlist. If you hav many MP3s, it is important that you use SimpleCenter to organize them, otherwise you will have to search alphabetically through the text list for the song you want to hear. The display on the DMS1 is text only, and three lines at a time.
There are buttons on the DMS1 and remote to stop, play, go to the next song, and previous song. Unfortunately the DMS1 does not support fast forwarding or rewinding the current song. The volume is controlled by your receiver.
If you are using the wireless capability of the DMS1, be aware that it only supports the basic level of encryption known as WEP. The DMS1 supports up to 128 bit WEP, but not WPA. WEP has been hacked and is no longer a secure method for protecting your wireless network from determined hackers, but it will be adequate for keeping your nosy neighbors out.
About Setting Up the DMS1
I had a terrible time setting up my DMS1. I think this may not be typical of all users, and once I got everything set up, I have had no problems. But I will give you the worse case scenario, and hope you don't come accross this.
My DMS1 came with a faulty USB/Ethernet adapter. Not having another Ethernet device to try this adapter with I was not sure if my DMS1 was broken or if the adapter was broken. With the faulty adapter I was not able to hook up my DMS1 to my PC to listen to music. I was able to use the instructions and troubleshoot enough to finally figure out that the DMS1 was configured with the right IP Address and that the connection was just failing. The trouble shooting took me several hours and the Omnifi help line (that was advertised as being available 7 days a week) was in fact not available the Saturday Morning I tried to hook this up.
Since the hard wired ethernet method was not working, I attempted to hook up using the DWL-120R wireless adapter that came with my omnifi package. I followed the step by step procedure for hooking the DMS1 up wirelessly, but this also failed miserably.
After searching the internet and the omnifi news groups I read online that the DMS1 ships with old firmware that does not support the DWL-120R wireless adapter. I needed to download new firmware from omnifi. However, since I was unable to connect both wirelessly and with the Ethernet adapter how was I going to do this?
Omnifi will not allow you to just download new firmware unless you have purchased a DMS1 and registered it. I was able to register using SimpleCenter, but the software would not let me download the firmware because it did not recognize that I had a functioning DMS1 attached.
A second problem arose in that I only had one ethernet port on my PC and that needed to be hooked up to the internet to download the new firmware, but also needed to be hooked up to the DMS1 to be recognized so omnifi would allow me to download the new firmware.
Fortunately I bought my DMS1 with the car stereo option which also came with the DMP1 MP3 Player and the DWL-121 wireless adapter for hooking up your car to the SimpleCenter application wirelessly. So after the hard wired ethernet adapter failed, the DWL-120R wireless adapter failed, the third try DWL-121 adapter was successful. I was now able to connect to SimpleCenter and play MP3s.
At this point I was able to use the older DWL-121 adapter, which was recognized by the DMS1 firmware, and download the newest version of the firmware so I could use the original DWL-120R wireless adapter.
I now have the DMS1 hooked up to my stereo downstairs, have the wireless adapter hooked up, and my PC upstairs running the SimpleCenter Server.
Likes and Hates
I love listening to my MP3 collection downstairs. I have had no disconnects or hiccups listening to music wirelessly. The range seems good, and I have had no problems since the disaster at set up.
I hated setting this thing up. The only way I think I got through this was the fact that I am a computer engineer. I'm a little annoyed that there isn't a fast forward or a rewind while listening to a song, but I can live with that. I also wish it had better wireless encryption.
I hope you enjoyed this review and it has helped you in your decision to buy or not buy this product.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200.00
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
deschmann
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Location: Rochester, NY, USA
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
I am 32 years old and a Computer Engineer (RIT Graduate 1999).
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