Macsense MP-100 HomePod

• Standalone unit plays MP3, Internet radio and is upgradeable to support AAC, WAV and WMA very soon.
• Access and play music from 10,000+ Internet Radio stations.
• Streams music to home speakers, headphones or built-in stereo speakers via an existing wireless or wired Ethernet network.
• Compatible with Apple iTunes, MusicMatch Jukebox, NullSoft WinAmp, and many other media management applications.
• Play music from any USB storage device like a Flash Drive, via the USB Port.

Don't be fooled by the "Mac" and "Pod" in the name, nor the iPod white case, and iPod-like wheel. This is a product made by a distributor of Apple computers and not Apple themselves. Had Apple made it, it would undoubtedly have been a much more pollished product, and a lot less fragile in it's interface.

As it is the HomePod is a workmanlike gadget for reading your MP3s across a network and playing them remotely. Setup is easy-ish. With only a single previous experience of setting up a wireless computer, the wireless setup on the HomePod took half an hour or so and a careful reading of the instructions. Server software is required on the PC (or an Apple), and this could be better explained. For instance loading an iTunes library file and the MyMusic folder from the PC, causes the HomePod's library listing to become a little garbled, and the HomePod to crash sporadically. This could definitely be handled better. There are also Linux servers available for the HomePod available on the internet.

The HomePod itself comes with an old version of the firmware and software, and upgrading the software is well worth the effort, for those with some technical savy.

Using the HomePod is easy and satisfying: the music files are listed by artist, author, trackname, genre and playlist, and the software interfaces well with iTunes. Reportedly it also works with Real Player and the MS Media Player, although I've never tried these.

There is also an FM radio tuner built in but the reception is so bad that this is completely worthless. There is also an internet radio facility which appears pretty neat, but I have used it only briefly.

The homepod includes its own very low quality speakers but also has 3.5mm ear plug, and phono plugs to attach external speakers.

The software does have numerous areas where it falls short of reasonable expectations, for instance the wheel scrolls either very slowly, or too fast, with no happy medium; the music cannot be played while the menus are being navigated; many of the HomePod settings can only be changed from the PC; and the software does crash occassionally. However, the software is open source, and can be downloaded from gloolabs.com for free, and those with some technical experise can customize to their hearts content.

Bottom line is the HomePod finally lets me play my mp3s from my PC harddisk anywhere around the house, something I've wanted to do for some time. It is not perfect, but it is a relatively cheap solution and after working through the kinks does a fine job.

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I am extremely happy with my purchase of the Macsense Homepod. At this price I wasn't expecting much but I was wrong.

I have a wireless lan in my home, and was attracted to the Homepod for the following reasons

1) I was looking for something could easily and occasionally switch between Kitchen and Living room. I didn't need to bring it skiing!

2) I listen to radio quite a bit, and the FM tuner was a definite plus

3) I liked the idea of an open platform with an active developer community finding ways to improve the product.

Here's whats good about it

1) It works beautifully and simply once it's set up

2) It is a solid, well thought out design.

3) I love being able to browse & shuffle-play my music in the kitchen

4) The product is being improved all the time via firmware updates

5) It's very compatible

6) The Internet Radio feature is a lot of fun, and works without a "server" PC.

Here's what's weak

1) Wireless setup was quite easy, but I did have some trouble getting the supplied server software working (I eventually downloaded MusicMatch). My problems were probably down to the fact that I'm still using Windows 98

2) The FM Tuner isn't great OK for strong signals only

3) The built-in speakers are on a par with typical laptop speakers i.e. useless for all but emergencies. You won't understand the quality of this equipment without connecting decent speakers (mine are modest Altec Lansing 2.1).

Summary I love it, and I'm looking forward to more (free) enhancements in the future. It gave me a low cost entry into the world of MP3/Digital media using my existing PC, WLAN, speakers etc.

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I've owned the Homepod for over 1 year now. To get the features I wanted I needed the Release 2 Beta firmware. This has been Beta for 2 years now! (written 4/2005) The system will hang after it's been on for several hours if you do anything besides just let it play. I find this particularly true if a shuffle operation is attempted. The system has to be power cycled. That wouldn't be a really big deal if it weren't for the 37 second startup time! I've found the overall experience to be a bit frustrating.

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I feel sorry for the people who paid over 100.00 for this unit but for 20.00 it is a really cool gadget. I get horrible FM signal at my home and dont have a 50 gazillion mp3 collection so my primary plans were for the online streaming. It works with Live 365 flawlessly once I added the beta firmware. It looks like the people behind the "GLOO" software are MIA so I dont expect any more software updates or support for that matter. It does lock up pretty hard when trying to stream Shoutcast though but for 20.00 what can you expect?

Its a great concept and I had big expectations but to no avail. the Homepod server.exe will not work with Windows 7 x64. i tried to update the firmware but the version is back from 2004.

I have decided to return the product and my recommendation is not to buy it unless you want to try is out with Windows XP.