A number of people have written me privately about the wireless MIDI
remote system which I described in 050213 MMDigest.  Since apparently
I did not make myself very clear on a number of points, I will provide
a few more details.  For those not interested in MIDI I apologize for
the length of this posting.

First of all, in reply to a posting by Meta Brown about the MIDIjet
wireless adapter:  The MIDIjet is comprised of two "black boxes";
for all intents and purposes it is wireless MIDI cable.  Its primary
function is to connect a MIDI player (on a PC, laptop, floppy drive)
wirelessly to a MIDI instrument.  It does not function as a remote
control.

In my particular set up I have several MIDI instruments, all hard-wired
to my computer.  Each instrument is set to a different MIDI channel.
The MIDI files and the software MIDI player _all_ reside on the computer.

Other than the remote control program itself, the only thing that
resides on the PDA is an index or list of all the MIDI files.  The
actual files are, as I mentioned, on the computer.  I use the PDA
simply as small wireless portable remote with which I can select and
play any one of hundreds of MIDI files

There are two basic software components to the setup:

1. The remote control software which is installed on the PDA;

2. The MIDI player/management system/MIDI files which are installed on
the computer.

I have found two different remote software programs which seem to be
compatible with MIDI:

"Net Remote Music" from http://www.promixis.com, and "Zerama" from
http://www.zerama.net/  Both of these remote control programs were
primarily designed to control Windows Media Player ver. 9 or 10.

In the case of Net Remote Music, this can also control a third party
MIDI player/file management system called "J River Media Center",
ver. 9 or 10, from http://www.jrmediacenter.com  To my knowledge it
cannot control any other MIDI player program.

I decided on the J River software and thus the Net Remote software
primarily because of a more user friendly interface.

Neither the Windows Media Player or the J River player is a perfect
MIDI player.  You cannot adjust the tempo on either.  You can, however,
add extra information about each MIDI file, such as composer, performer,
genre.  More importantly, you can sort according to these criteria and
the sorted list will be visible on the PDA

In this respect the both Windows Media Player and the J River player
are similar to the E-Roll player software available from Spencer Chase.
In the case of the E-Roll software this extra info is embedded in the
MIDI file as compared to a library file.  The developers of Net Remote
music also have other remote control programs.  Perhaps these might
work in conjunction with the E-roll player.

Just to clarify costs for this system, a wireless router is easily
available for under $50; a reconditioned HP iPaq 3115 with integrated
wi-fi, Bluetooth and IR control and 1 year warranty is $274; Net Remote
Music $20, J River Media Center $25.

One warning note:  If you download Media Player 9 or 10 from Microsoft
be careful during installation that you don't allow the program to
"steal" the MIDI file association from your default program.

I hope this clarification will be of help.

Phil Dayson