Consumer device software user interfaces are critical; if they continue to be horrible, consumer electronics convergence will remain a pipe dream, and the gadgets will remain the sole province of the gadget freaks.
Convergence has been the official theme of the Consumer Electronics Show for a few years now, and I still can’t play music over my stereo in the living room without either plugging an iPod directly to the stereo or having to mess with a computer.
I don’t have or want a television or computer monitor in the Iiving room. The iPod is a decent solution, but it seems silly to use such a small device on a home stereo, especially one that requires me to get up and walk to the stereo to control it.
I want a small remote control, something no bigger than one of the Sony programmable remotes or an Apple Newton, that will browse the music library on my computer in another room and play it over AirTunes on the stereo in the living room, all for a few hundred dollars.