[selowitch]

Hi, all. I would really like my ten-year-old son to be able to play some music in his room and also have access to some quality audio podcasts (I prefer educational stuff; he'd probably prefer mindless junk -- I can't win). I know there are wirelessly networked boxes out there, like this one, but wouldn't I be better off getting him an iPod and some speakers? What represents the best value? An iPod Touch would be great, because I can shoot him content from the iMac downstairs wireless, but that may be more than I'm willing to spend right now.

Any thoughts?

[tinkered]

An iPod and speakers is a perfectly good boom box alternative, assuming the speakers are quality. I have speaks in my kitchen and garage I connect my iphone to for listening while doing other stuff, it works great. With luck, he'll use head phones and you won't even need to hear the junk he is listening too.

I am not sure by what you mean by shoot him content wirelessly, syncing still needs a cable.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by tinkered 

I am not sure by what you mean by shoot him content wirelessly, syncing still needs a cable.

Oooooh. Well, that's actually an important feature for us. We live in three-story townhouse, so schlepping all the way down to the basement office to sync is definitely too much exertion ;-) I had assumed an iPod works the same way as our AppleTV, but I guess not, eh? That would argue more in favor of the Wi-Fi radio.

It's too bad the iPod Touch has Wi-Fi but doesn't sync with iTunes over that connection. Not what I would have guessed.

[seanc]

Ethernet over Power sounds like a good bet for you assuming your wiring is good, this way you can easily network your house without having to drill holes or mess around with wireless routers and repeaters. It's literally plug and play.