[Bob Russell]

Thanks Alex. That sounds like an interesting potential justification for buying the new XBox 360! But seems that I found a working solution for my Omnifi DMS1 with TwonkyVision.

Summary of what I've learned...

1. Omnifi DMS1 uses UPNP (Univseral Plug and Play) media servers.
   
   Support is available at http://www.omnifimedia.com/scripts/o...duser/home.php
   
   They surprised me by answering by email within a couple of hours on a Friday afternoon!
2. The included media server (SimpleCenter) looks very nice, but has a maximum of 10,000 tracks. It can be expanded to about 50,000 with some replacement .jar files if you are more adventurous than me. That can be found at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/omnifi/
   
   
3. I couldn't get Windows Media Connect or Nero MediaHome to work on WinXP with MP3 files. More media server info is available at http://www.media-servers.com/forums/
   
   
4. The best (and only solution for me) for a library of >10,000 songs and an Omnifi DMS1 seems to be TwonkyVision, which has a free music-only server, plus a commercial multimedia server that can even be installed on an NAS storage device. I don't want to spend that much money right now on an NAS, even though I drool over the TB-sized ones. Therefore, I guess I'll stick with the free version unless I really need the additional navigation options like "Artist/Album" instead of just by Artist or Album.
5. Comcast's free Rhapsody Radio service works great with the OmniFi DMS1. You just need to make sure that you have a recent version of the Rhapsody software, and turn the UPNP setting in options to "ON". Unfortunately, you have to turn the PC on and run the Rhapsody software as your server.
6. UPNP might need to be turned on at the router using the router's administration URL. Haven't tested turning it off yet.
7. A few other setup tidbits specific to the Omnifi DMS1...
   
   -- You can upgrade both the SimpleCenter software and the DMS1 firmware using SimpleCenter. I stuck with my original version of firmware because it was close to the current release.
   
   -- If using WiFi, you'll need to set both the SSID and the WEP key if you use one. Hope you are using Hex keys because the text keys are hard to enter with a jog dial!
   
   -- The instructions say you have to have the server running before turning on the media receiver. I doubt it, because I've done it both ways and never had a problem. But you might keep it in mind just in case.
   
   -- If you want to reset your Omnifi DMS1, hold down the power button on either the console or remote until the light turns red. Seems to be a "soft reset", but I can't guarantee that no settings will be lost. There's also a menu item to do a hard reset and return it to factory condition. (But probably not the factory firmware version if you upgraded it.)

What I would have tried next if necessary... orb.com

But don't have to! Yippee! Time to clean out the software that didn't work for me and then enjoy my new toy. (Of course, in true geek fashion, I had more fun making it work than I will using it!)

Hopefully this thread will serve as a good reference for Omnifi buyers that are searching for information. There doesn't seem to be any easy way to find out all this.

And the thread may also have served, I hope, as a way of introducing a few more MobileRead readers to the world of streaming content. I expect that streaming content at home and over the internet will be as common as iPods very soon, and the much of it will be streaming to portable devices!