OTHER TECH

Any iPod with a dock connector can interface with the MZC-66 via Ten Technology's naviPod remote-control kit ($75 see tentechnology.com for compatible moddels). Plug the small naviPod infrared (IR) receiver into the top of the iPod, attach the IR emitter to the front of the MZC-66 so it can send control signals to the iPod, and connect the emitter to the MZC-66. Your music goes from the iPod to the controller via a supplied miniplug-to-RCA cable. While you can do all of this yourself, you'll probably want to have an installer download the EZ-Tools program from SpeakerCraft, find the function codes for sending IR commands from the keypads to the naviPod, and download that programming into the MZC-66.

The small, five-button naviPod remote controls your iPod. Point it at any SpeakerCraft keypad to send a command to the MZC-66, which relays it to the iPod, which in turn sends back an audio signal to the MZC-66 to send to your speakers. The naviPod remote handles functions like volume, play, pause, and going forward and back between tracks. For more options, you use the keypads, which control 17 functions including mute, next/previous playlist, and next/previous chapter.

Unfortunately, you can't sort by composer, artist, or genre or engage the iPod's EQ presets. There's also no remote visual display, so your playback options are limited to wading through your playlists, listening to the beginning of each track to find the one you want, or surrendering to whatever track the iPod's shuffle mode offers up. That drawback aside, SpeakerCraft's system offers a straightforward way to get your iPod into every room of the house.

Sonance Sonance's iPort ($598) lets you use an iPod as part of just about any multiroom music system. Plugging your player into the wall-mounted white-plastic docking station instantly jacks it into your system as a music server. While the iPod is docked, you can operate it using its click wheel, but you'll want to have a separate control mounted nearby to adjust the volume. There's also a video output so you can use any TV in your system to view images stored on an iPod photo.

The iPort comes with three bases and back plates for the iPod photo, iPod mini, and 20- and 40-gigabyte (GB) iPods with a click wheel. (The iPod photo and 40-GB iPod use the same mount.) But once you've installed the iPort, you can only use it with players that fit that mount. Also, the iPort isn't water-resistant, so don't get any ideas about installing it out on the patio.

You use in-wall keypads to control the iPod in any room other than the one with the iPort. For example, Sonance's Navigator K2 keypad ($550, not included) has buttons for selecting sources like a DVD player, a satellite TV receiver, or an iPod and for adjusting the volume. And you can use its LCD touchpanel - which has a menu that's a simplified version of the iPod screen and click wheel - to control basic iPod functions like play, pause, shuffle, and repeat. You can also use it to move through songs, albums, and playlists one selection at a time.

But, as in the SpeakerCraft setup, you can't use the K2 to select EQ presets, sort tracks by composer, artist, or genre, or perform any of the other functions normally accessed through the iPod's click wheel. And since the K2 is IR based, it can't handle two-way communication with the iPort. But Sonance says it plans to offer an upgrade this summer that will allow two-way control with Crestron and AMX systems.

If you already have a multiroom system, adding an iPort is a no-brainer. And if you don't, being able to slip your player into an iPort after a grueling commute might be a good enough reason to get one.

Neither the naviPod nor the iPort allows for more than basic control of your iPod in any room other than the one where you have the player. But it's inevitable that both companies will continue to tweak their systems for greater remote control. In the meantime, Sonance and SpeakerCraft have taken admirable first steps toward morphing the palm-size iPod from portable marvel to musical master of the house.