March 15, 2007

D-Link DSM-120 review

With the DSM-120 D-Link has released a product that doesn't really know what it is. It can access music in two ways. It has the ability to wirelessly connect to your PC and with the help of the included server software, stream music to your stereo. The other option is to either install an internal hard drive into the device or hook up a USB hard drive to the back of it. This way it has direct access to all of its music

Looking at the specs you can see that D-Link didn't really seem to put a lot of effort into this device. It supports only MP3 and WMA music formats for for starters. While this might work for some people they seem to have completely ignored the iTunes users and last we checked they make up a HUGE percentage of the people with digital music.

Another glaring problem with this device is that it only supports 128 bit WEP encryption. I know it has been out for a few years, but that is no excuse. WEP has been exposed as an insecure standard for some time now. We get so frustrated when companies continue to release products with no thought of security. You shouldn't have to downgrade the security of your home network just to stream some music to your stereo.

We decided to look past some of the obvious issues and find out what other people had to say about it. After just a few minutes we came across so many people saying that this product just isn't worth the money. Common complaints ranged from inability to connect to wireless networks to the software not handling artist/album folders correctly.

So after some research on the D-Link site and on Amazon.com we have come to the conclusion that this is not something to spend your money on. Amazon is selling it at a huge discount right now and we think we know why :)

We do applaud D-Link for releasing a lot of products in the networked media space and we look forward to seeing what they come up with next.