DLNA is the future!

I've always been interested in following the latest trends in technology. I've watched Apple as they announced just about everything since 2006. And I actively read technology blogs and watch all the coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas every year. One day I might actually go to it.

Many people believe that the future technology is having an internet connection in everything from cell phones and computers to TVs and refrigerators. While this may actually be true, I tend to believe that in the near future, WiFi will be available in all homes, schools, businesses, and public streets. Its often free WiFi in major places downtown, and of course on college campuses. And internet speeds are getting faster and less expensive. We can expect that trend to continue. And streaming media will be everywhere.

The up-and-coming technology that I hope catches on and becomes mainstream is called DLNA. It stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Its a standard for moving movies, music, photos, and other media from device to device. It un-complicates network configuration and DRM issues. Basically you have a server device and a client device. The server device, usually a Network Attached Storage (NAS) or a PC on your network, is where the media is stored, and the client device could be a cell phone, TV, another computer, etc.

Sony just announced a new toy coming out this year. Its a series of network-enabled speakers. They are DLNA certified. It makes it easy to take your music from your DLNA compliant Blu Ray player and play it in another room using the same home network your computers use. They call it Home Share Audio. There is one that doubles as an iPod dock so you can play the music from it anywhere in your house you want it. And there is also a function called Party mode that puts the same music on every speaker in the house. Or you can choose to have different music playing in every room. There is also a handy app that runs on Android devices or iPhones and iPod touch or iPad to control the whole system, including volume levels, playlists, and song selection. All pretty cool stuff.

Most households these days have multiple computers where the media is stored. And in the past if you wanted to play something in more than one place you had to copy the media to a second or third place to play it. But with DLNA there is no more need to burn CDs or have three copies of the same song on computers in your network. Just put them all in one place and stream it where you want it. The solution that I think makes the most sense is a network drive or NAS. That way you don't have to have a computer "always on" to stream whenever you want. I don't have a NAS yet, but in the future I will. And I'll get one that is DLNA compliant. It would also be nice if it was an iTunes server since that's what I use to organize my music.

Photos are also DLNA shareable media. I've taken thousands of pictures that are stored on one computer. I've made backup disks of them all, but there is no easy way to show a large group of people vacation photos or whatever all at the same time. It would be awesome to tap into the media server where the photos are stored and show them on a TV through a set-top box or game console like PS3 or XBox. Or even on a DLNA compliant TV set. Some newer TVs have an SD card slot too, which is nice. But it's not the best solution for me since I delete the SD card after I transfer the pictures over to my computer.

A technology that Apple announced last year in conjunction with the new Apple TV is called AirPlay. Steve Jobs claimed it to be a new and magical technology. But it's just a copy of DLNA, except with Apple's proprietary DRM that allows it to use iTunes playlists. Although I love Apple, I think it would have just been easier to adopt DLNA in the Apple TV instead of making third-party systems reprogram streaming capabilities to use AirPlay. Sure, it's a good business move to hop on the Apple money stream and get your devices working with AirPlay. But it would have made more sense for Apple to change its own technology to be already compatible with everything else.

The beauty of DLNA is that you can have devices made by Sony, or by Denon, or Samsung, multiple kinds of cell phones, and they can all speak to each other without any additional configuration or setups or workarounds. To take a page from Apple, DLNA "just works."  And that is why I believe it is the future. People already spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on their home theater. Why buy more new devices by all the same brand just so they can be compatible. Its makes more sense to update the firmware on existing TVs, Blu Ray player, AV receivers, etc. to be DLNA compliant. Of course some devices have hardware limitations, but you probably knew that you couldn't play Blu Rays on your DVD player, or VCR. Then it makes perfect sense to get a new device that does the latest technology.

Another advantage to a DLNA compliant home network system is one remote to control it all. No having a basket or table full of ten remotes you have to switch to do different things, Just use your iPhone or iPad. Simple.