Turtle Beach Shows Off Digital Audio Appliance

I like the idea of Internet radio. The problem with it is, it's more like listening to the Internet than listening to the radio. You can download MPs, store them on a player, or burn them onto a disc, but if you want to listen to streaming audio, you're going to need a really long Cat 5 cable to take Internet radio stations to the beach. It's just not portable enough. A few companies are working to let you listen to Internet radio somewhere else besides at your desk and Turtle Beach is one of them. The company's AudioTron digital audio appliance ($299 estimated street price) organizes and plays digital audio files stored on a network-connected personal computer and can stream Internet radio broadcasts to your home stereo. The Turtle Beach AudioTron supports MP3, Wave files and Windows Media Audio. Using either the included remote control or buttons on the base unit, you can play digital music without the need to interface with or be in the same room as your PC - as long as the gadget is hooked up to the network. You still can't take streaming audio with you to the beach, but at least you can listen to it in your living room. Maybe if you combined this gadget with a wireless network, you could at least take your music with you into the back yard.