OTHER TECH

But the best way to incorporate existing music libraries is via NetSync and iTunes. Once the IMS and iTunes have hooked up (in the platonic, digital sense), all media from your iTunes library is imported into the IMS, and any changes made or music added in one will update the other. The IMS even features a dual media-encoding option that lets you rip high-rez tunes for listening at home while sending compressed versions to iTunes for your Pod. Podcast subscribers will love that new episodes are added instantly.

The system's large 15-inch touchscreen just begs to be played with, and while the panel's resolution is sufficient for the graphical user interface (GUI) and album art, digital images I loaded for the screen saver showed the limitations of the panel's 800 x 600 resolution, appearing grainy and a little smudgy. Operationally, though, the system is a treat. The home page displays the current weather conditions and tomorrow's forecast for your area - a nice touch - and ReQuest plans to add stock-quote updates as well as Webcam viewing support. More important, the interface makes finding and selecting your music a breeze, letting you quickly find and play whatever your ear desires.

Start by selecting the room you want to control - and I love that any controller can control any room. Then select your source. When controlling one of the four simultaneous streams from the IMS, you can browse by artist, album, song, genre, or playlist. Making a selection brings up a list of music that you can scroll through, or you can touch one of the A-Z buttons along the bottom of the screen and jump directly to that letter for rapid selection. When you know exactly what you want to hear and don't want to scroll through your music, a "Search" option brings up a virtual keyboard. Once you've got your music going, the "Now Playing" screen displays the album cover art and song title as well as the next song in the queue. The smaller iQ.TS35 touchpanel's GUI is very similar to the TS.15's, but it's scaled to the smaller screen and augmented by six hard buttons to make selection easier.

Beyond the four IMS streams, iQ currently interfaces with Polk Audio's XRt12 XM satellite-radio tuner as well as NuVo's NV-T2 dual tuners. I had a NuVo AM/FM and XM tuner on hand while evaluating the company's Grand Concerto system (see review), so I was able to add it to the ReQuest system with the iQ.RCK cable kit ($150). Once added, the touchpanel then displayed AM/FM station frequencies and XM metadata. Although legacy analog sources can be added and listened to on the system, they currently can't be controlled. To resolve this, ReQuest plans to offer an optional IR-over-Ethernet kit.

Although nearly every audio-distribution system includes some kind of "Party" mode - where all zones sync to the same source - the iQ system goes further, enabling you create multiple groups of rooms that can each receive different music. But I was surprised that, unlike many other servers, the system doesn't support CD burning from the iQ's drive. Even more surprising (and disappointing) is that the iQ offers no facility for IR remote control to let you browse the system from your couch without the touchpanel. Although a remote is supplied, it's used only to help obtain an IP address if the system can't find one automatically with its DHCP function.