OK, so this is what ended up working for me. So far it's almost perfect!
MC 11 on PC in office - wired- P4 xp- approx 250 gig of wave/mp3/ape files on usb 300G HD - running music server.
MC 11 on Laptop den - wireless G- 2.4 Centrino Duo (cheap Dell) - getting library from MC server (office)
and upnp server. Also running Linksys Util. (auto detect).
Den Audio - Linksys WMG54G Music Bridge - wired - TOS output to rec. -
How it works: Start MC in office, Library server starts at startup.
Start MC on den laptop ( loading office library from server) start upnp server (automatic device setting) and make sure the linksys util is running.
Turn on audio system.
At this point I can control what is playing on the den a/v from the den laptop (wireless), all of which is being served from my office pc.
It seems to work great. I have complete control of the a/v stream from the wireless laptop. MC even controls the volume. Wha Hoo, I can sit and choose, play whatever from across the room. This thing actually works!
Questions...is there a way to min HD activity, since I assume these things are working all the time as servers. Can songs be loaded into ram when play requests are made? Is this already happening?
OK, so the office server has the files, the den laptop requests play and the Linksys bridge intercepts the files. Are the files ever sent to the laptop (requesting computer)? If so, does this config double the network traffic (Server-Laptop-Bridge)? Since the laptop is at a much slower link (54mps) compared to wired Ethernet (100mps) I would expect to see heavy bandwidth use, but I don't, and yet these same files are being playing simultaneously by the a/v (Linksys WMB54g) AND the laptop.
If I'm being a total rube, sorry. I just think this is really cool, that it works....
I tried the Soundbridge but the control from the laptop was roundabout. It worked, but not as a control station. Although I did find a nice util that lets you control the Soundbridge from PPC or web called Visual Media Remote. I think I'm going to end up putting it next to my bed to listen to TAL audible files (good morning).
Bottom line, so far I'm in disbelief! It's a totally cool way to explore your music library.
Keep up the "insanely great" work j river...