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The Wireless DJ consists of three major parts: a USB transmitter that plugs into your PC, a receiver/charging cradle that plugs into your home stereo (via the included RCA cables) and is powered by an AC adapter, and a handheld remote with a built-in rechargeable battery. The system uses adaptive frequency-hopping to avoid interference, but Logitech recommends placing the receiver and transmitter as far as possible from potential sources of 2.4-GHz interference (including Wi-Fi components, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, and microwave ovens) to maximize the effective range.

After you install Logitech StreamPoint software from the included CD onto your Windows-based PC, a wizard software system walks you through the setup process. The wizard lets you choose which music libraries you want the software to access, and whether to update its index automatically or manually. You can also set up the system to work with content from Rhapsody and Yahoo! Music Unlimited (support for more services is planned), as well as the iTunes Music Store—as long as you’ve actually downloaded the tracks to your machine and added them to your music library. No, Apple didn’t license its FairPlay technology; the Wireless DJ simply acts as a sound card to stream music, so it doesn’t need to have the appropriate codecs installed. Setup is fairly quick, although if you have a lot of music files, it can take several minutes for the software to index them all.

Next, the wizard walks you through the process of plugging in and setting up the hardware components, a simple, clear process. Once everything is hooked up and installed, you’re ready to start streaming music. The remote doesn’t require line-of-sight operation and is rated for a range of 165 feet. I did my testing in a New York City apartment, so the system had more than enough range to cover the entire flat. You can have up to four wireless receivers paired with the system and control each one via the remote. But you can stream music to only one receiver at a time, which is a significant drawback compared with the Sonos ZonePlayer system.— Next: How the DJ spins