Wireless obstacles in your home network

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I've had a number of technology changes at home in the last year:

1. I bought an iPhone 3G, which has curbed my using a laptop at home (in bed mostly)
2. My TiVo died and I replaced it with a Media Center Extender
3. The flat panel on the family computer in the kitchen died and I replaced the three year old PC with a all-in-one PC running Vista Media Center (coinciding with and facilitating number 2)
4. I added an Apple Airport Express with AirTunes my home network allowing me to stream music from my Vista Media Center PC and control iTunes playback with my iPhone

So, yesterday when I read Kevin's article, 3 Reasons People Aren’t Streaming Music , it hit home and made me thing about the problems the average person faces with technology in the home. Kevin refers to a piece by Mike Wolf about Sonos' music streaming hardware; in that piece Mike suggests that cost and alternatives may not keep Sonos alive. Kevin suggest that lack of knowledge is a third contributor to hindering wireless music streaming at home. I believe both arguments have their merits, but I'm going to add a fourth point of struggle.

Most people use wireless at home to connect computers to the Internet and that's it. Kevin makes that point very clearly and he's right. I have a printer connected to my network wirelessly, so that any computer in my house connected to my network can print it it -- so long as they have the appropriate printer driver. My home computers have the driver installed, but if I'm using my work laptop, the one owned by my employer, I have to install my personal printer's driver to print to it. Therein lies the problem. Installing a driver is an obstacle.

As I stated in number 4 above, I added an Apple Airport Express with AirTunes to my home network recently. This is an amazing little wireless router that lets me stream music from iTunes on my Vista Media Center PC in my kitchen to my stereo in the living room, and if that weren't cool enough, I can also control the music playback and volume from my iPhone, which also connects to my wireless network. I had been wanting to do this for ages! I have over 600 CDs ripped onto my computer's hard drive and prior to using the AirPort Express, I used my Toshiba Gigabeat MP3 player connected directly to my stereo to listen to music -- my then, simple alternative.

Having the Gigabeat connected to the stereo was simple, but not convenient. I had to either generate a playlist prior to having a party, or keep returning to the stereo to play the next one or two songs only to return again, etc. The AirPort Express liberated me from having to keep returning to the stereo -- I can create a playlist, use iTunes DJ, or use my iPhone to select the next songs that will play, and my guests with iPhones can make requests. Having all my music stored in iTunes in my computer is great, but the rub is I have to be logged in and have iTunes running in order to make the streaming function. There should be an iTunes music streaming service that runs whenever you turn on the computer. Having to be logged in and have iTunes running is an obstacle.

Obstacles. Things which obstruct or hinder progress. That's what I think is the problem with streaming music, and technology in general, at home. Why is installing a driver necessary? I don't want the advanced functions available from my printer -- the scanning or the card reader functionality. Just give me the ability to print without a driver; if I want more functionality, I'll install the driver. And is it really necessary to keep a user id logged in and an application running in order to stream music? Make a service that provides this connection, or a hidden user id, like the media center extenders use, to provide the connectivity. Get rid of the obstacles. Progress depends on it.

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