Confused? You probably are. If you read my post from yesterday, you are expecting to read the conclusion to the story; my 'loss'. Looking at the title of my current post, you might be wondering what the connection is. The answer, my readers, is that the loss I suffered was the loss of my pc speakers. Everything I said was true. At first volume would suddenly drop then resume. After time the speakers became so low in volume that I would have to turn up the sound output to max and the physical volume of the speakers all the way up in order to get some kind of sound. I knew they would not last very long, and one day functionality was completely lost. I was not left without sound options, I was fortunate to have a decent pair of headphones with a very long cord allowing me to plug into my pc and still move around in my black leather office chair.
This was a temporary fix. In time I would need to be free from my headphones. I had two options; A: buy new pc speakers or fix old ones, B: find a way to connect my pc sounds to my stereo. Being that my video card connects to my tv for use as a second monitor, I went with option B. This was to be my attempt of having an affordable Home Theater Personal Computer (HTPC). I again was faced with more options; A: wired or B: wireless. This was the toughest choice to make. The internet was my first resource, followed by asking amongst my trusted peers which option might be in my best needs. Everything at first was pointing to go with a wired option. It seemed simple enough, plug a wire into my pc and connect to my receiver. I would probably need way over 6 feet of wires in order to reach and keep them out of view. That would have been a huge pain, but the main benefit of having a direct connection is quality of signal. My living room is by no means a professional sound or recording studio, so i thought a slight degradation of signal would be neither too important nor noticeable. When it comes to a wireless option I was told that the main downside is the quality and clarity of signal. In my mind going wireless was thinking outside the box. Through the use of some kind of FM transmitter I could tune into my pc's music in my living room and bedroom, and depending on the range the signal might even be picked up in different parts of the house. I could even wake up to the artist or song of choice by simply looping the tracks I wanted to have playing on my winamp and then set the alarm clock radio to wake up to a radio station. I knew there were FM transmitter devices available for the iPod, now I just needed to know if the technology was also available for pcs as well. Thanks to a few Google searches, I found exactly what I was looking for.
The choice I went with, as the title suggests, was the
RocketFM made by
Griffin Technology. Just so you know this product can be found new at
Amazon.com for less including free delivery. The device is aesthetically appealing and nice a nice blue glow which I like. The installation is simple, plug it into an available USB port and start using. Then came the fun part, testing it out. I set my sound options to output to the RocketFM device, and then start up my winamp and load up a few tracks. I turn on my stereo and tune in to 88.10 FM, turn on the volume and it works. I can clearly hear the music that my pc is playing through my stereo. Knowing that it works fine, I needed to test the range of the device. I got to my bedroom, where the only electronic device besides the lights is my alarm clock radio. I tune it to the same frequency and I also have great sound. Round one of testing now complete, moving on to round two. From the basement I go on upstairs to the living room of the house and decide to test out the stereo there. Again I have similar results, and can hear the music from my pc with no problem. I must be honest and mention that there was slight static on the line, but almost every radio station on that stereo gets some static. I was feeling lucky and decided to go for the hat-trick. I yelled up to my sister who lives on the second floor to turn on her radio and tune into 88.10 FM and tell me what she hears. She told me what song was playing and I was happy. Then I asked her how is sounds. She replied 'It sounds normal, why you askin' me all these questions for?' Then I explained that it was not a real radio station that she was listening to, they were the sounds being broadcast by my computer. I eventually ran up there myself to listen, and it sounded perfect.
My vision of having the ability to listen to audio from my pc throughout the entire house is now a reality. I am very happy with my new toy, and felt it was my duty to post this small chapter of my life. Hope you enjoyed your visit. Good Night.