Expert: Steven L Smith - 6/29/2008

Question
Hi ya,

I am just about to open a new shop. During construction the electrician has wired speaker cables in the walls leading to every room. Problem is he has terminated all of them  at the end of a hallway in the back of the shop.
I need to be able to control the music being played from the shop front which is now in a different room from where the cables terminate. I have not yet purchased any of the required audio equipment.
I would be happy if I could control the whole thing from the computer in the shop front and stream the audio wirelessly to the AMP/Stereo that I will connect to the speakers or maybe if there are stereos that comes with a remote that would work through the walls I could live with that, as long as we can stop and start the music without leaving the shop front.
I have been searching the web and seen lots of things that kind of do what I want but I get the feeling that because I havenīt bought any equipment yet there might be a simple and cost effective solution.

If you can offer me any advice I would really appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance

Sean McBirnie

Answer
Hi Sean-

Probably the two cheapest things I can think of would be either:

1.) A conventional stereo, which has a radio-controlled (RF) style remote, or one fitted with an IR to RF converter, such as this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Technologies-LF-IRX-Leapfrog-Extender/dp/B000069EV0

2.) If you wanted to go the computer route, you could get a computer to serve as your "stereo" and control it remotely over a wireless network with a computer in the front of the shop.  There are a variety of options here, including a few ways to control iTunes remotely:
http://them.ws/itrc/
http://www.engadget.com/2005/12/13/how-to-control-itunes-from-any-web-browser/

Or, you can do the same type of thing with Winamp.
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=226945

Finally, you could use something like VNC or Remote Desktop to literally control the computer that has the music on it, as if you were sitting right in front of it.

Hope this helps!

-Steven L Smith