I hope that in my post (earlier) I was clear in saying that I ultimately believe in the product and the company.

We had issues. Issues did not go away.
We needed the space to display products that we sell everyday.

My boss was at our disty the other day, and Buzz was visiting. My email had caught his attention. By all accounts, he was professional, understanding, and generally a great guy.

I wish we had known about the "known" issues (stated above) before we jumped. However, at the moment I don't regret the decision.

We are extremely busy, and although it may be true that mastering Digilinx installations may make for quicker installations/programming overall.... we simply did not have the necessary time available to chase down issues (ie firmware updates), troubleshoot, and get "behind" our store demo.

However, you may rest assured that we will have our eyes on Netstreams, and if the opportunity exists, to look at the product again in the future.

The last statement is largely due to the completely professional and timely responses displayed here by the people at Netstreams. Keep up the good work.

NOTE: an idea.... with escient, why not give the installers 2 options:

1.. use IP control AND audio streaming as is currently the case.
2.. if possible to deal with the latency issues, have an option to use IP control of the escient, but using a MediaLinx to use the analog audio from the Escient.

Wouldn't #2 allow for a theatre to listen to the Escient (using digital audio out/in) AND for the Netstreams to listen to the same song (using analog audio via the medialinx).

You wouldn't need any new components, just a programming option.
Also, this MIGHT allow for a zone to have both options available.

ie in the main floor kitchen, you could choose between:
- "Main floor music" - direct streaming from the Escient via IP
- "Lower floor music" - analog from the Escient via Medialinx, same as theatre.

Just a thought.

Thanks again for the responses.. and again: Good luck and keep it up!