Product Reviews

The Wireless DJ might sound like your parents' attempt to describe Terry Wogan, but it's actually an audio-streaming device from Logitech. Rather than connecting to an existing wireless network, the set comprises a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver, and a smart-looking remote control.

It's easy to get working. You connect the receiver to the line input of a stereo or a set of amplified speakers in the room where you want to hear music. The transmitter connects to a free USB port on your computer, after which a blue status LED on each indicates a successful connection. Before you can play music, though, you need to install Logitech's StreamPoint software, which helps catalogue your computer's music and streams it to the Bluetooth receiver. It can import music libraries from popular music players such as Windows Media Player and iTunes, or create its own from a selected file folder. It takes time to update

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your library if you have a large audio collection, but the process runs in the background while you work or play music.

The Wireless DJ's receiver has no controls at all, but it acts as a recharging dock for the set's remote control. This is an advanced device with its own display and a rotating control that makes it easy to scroll through a list of artists, albums or songs. You can select music for immediate playback or use the DJ button to build up a longer playlist. Unfortunately, there's no way to skip pages or index letters in a list, so it can take ages to scroll through to artists near the end of the alphabet. Although there's no digital audio output, sound quality was fine using the supplied phono cable. At first, playback tended to stutter a little, but moving the transmitter away from our test computer's wireless antenna cured the problem.

The Wireless DJ can play back standard file types compatible with the supported audio software, but we found it wouldn't play unusual formats such as OGG Vorbis even after we installed suitable playback and library plug-ins to Windows Media Player. Luckily, you can switch StreamPoint into PC Control mode, so it transmits whatever your PC is playing.

Although it has a couple of rough edges, the Wireless DJ is handy for anyone who wants to stream music without a wireless network. The remote control's screen means you can choose songs from the sofa without squinting at a distant display. However, there are cheaper alternatives.