Orb Music MP-1 Wireless Music Streamer
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The Orb Music MP-1 is a music streamer that helps you stream your music wirelessly straight to your speakers or other devices that don't have built-in WiFi or Bluetooth compatibility. The Orb Music streams music using your iPhone or Android device and essentially turns those devices into your remote for controller the music that is played. Find out how well the Orb Music MP-1 performs right after the cut.
In the growing market of wireless devices and streaming capabilities, the Orb Music is somewhat behind for what it has to offer. Speakers today already have built-in WiFi and Bluetooth features and that also goes for TV's, speakers docks and even multimedia players. But not everyone is so up-to-date with the latest and greatest. The Orb Music could be the right tool for you if you've got a great set of speakers or a home theater setup without no wireless connection what so ever. It does one thing and one thing only, streaming your music library off your iPhone or Android smart phone. But how smoothly does all this go you may ask, well while using the Orb Music I thought things would go much quicker and that I wouldn't need to use more than one app to start streaming my music over to my speakers.
It turns out that in order to use the Orb Music you will always need to have the Orb application running on your Mac or PC after you've setup your Orb device by connecting it via USB to your computer in order to pair it to your wireless network, which worked great on first try. The biggest issue I have with the Orb Music is that it will not work just by using the Orb app with your iPhone or Android device because for some reason it needs the Mac or PC application running at the same time and that is just making things tougher. Not to mention the Orb application for the Mac is not so user friendly.
There are not buttons to be found on the Orb Music which looks like a round puck. Like I mentioned before, once the Orb application is opened in your computer, the Orb Music connect to your wireless network and the orb light indicator turns to green and that means you're ready to stream your music using the Orb app with your iPhone or Android device. The Orb app is still buggy but does work. You have all the functions of pausing, skipping and volume controls. There is a bit of a lag of a few seconds between selected a new song to play and it starting to play. The Orb app is to blame for these bugs including one that while playing a song and multi-tasking between apps, if you want to close the Orb app even when you have a song playing the song will not stop even when you fully closed the Orb app. You must always pause a song and then fully close the app.
The Orb Music only has two ports, a mini-USB input port and a 3.5mm audio outport. You can use a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable to connect the Orb Music to your speakers or other devices or you can use the supplied 3.5mm to RCA audio cable. It's a shame that a simple 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable isn't included.
The Orb Music MP-1 does work well for streaming music over your wireless network and the quality isn't effected. $69 will get you one of these if you're seeking this specific method of streaming your music. The Orb Music works as advertised but does need improved application support on both the Mac and iPhone front. Price $69.
