In the fast-growing arena that includes media hubs (appliances for distributing multimedia content) and digital media receivers, there's a new device with an interesting twist: the Onkyo NC-500 Net-Tune ($400 street). This media hub has AM/FM stereo receiver and an Internet radio receiver—most other media hubs let a separate device perform the receiver functions.

Against those attributes, three drawbacks will loom large for some users: the NC-500 has wired but not wireless Ethernet, doesn't display digital photos on your TV, and suffers from a clunky interface. But those who just want MP3 audio delivered reliably to their stereo systems may forgive the shortcomings.

To access MP3 or WMA files, you run Onkyo's Net-Tune software on your PC. The application finds and organizes songs, albums, genres, and playlists already created by your music-ripping software, then remains loaded as a server for the NC-500 receiver. Awkwardly translated dialog boxes may give you a negative first impression of the software, but after the initial installation, you don't have to deal with the PC interface much. Most of your interaction is with the 44-button remote control and the on-screen display (OSD) on your TV. Occasionally Net-Tune refused to recognize an MP3 file (bad ID3 tags do this to other music hubs as well); at other times it churned through more than 24 hours of music without a hitch. The NC-500 is built around the XiVA-Net platform, an emerging standard for network access and transfer of audio files. You can have as many as 12 NC-500s fetching and playing music from a single PC.

From the front, the 8-inch–wide NC-500 looks like a small bookshelf audio component, save for its big, four-line LED panel. In back you'll find an Ethernet jack, fixed and variable audio line outputs, a single line-level input for connecting a device such as a CD player, a pair of spring-loaded speaker connections, and a standard video output connector so that you can replicate the NC-500's four-line display on your TV. You can perform most functions with the remote control and the 15 buttons on the media hub's faceplate.

As a bookshelf stereo, the NC-500 is fine. Twenty watts per channel is more than adequate for virtually any audio loudspeaker and the quality of the radio tuner handily beats what's in your clock radio. As is typical of the bookshelf audio genre, this unit could replace your clock radio once you figure out how to program the alarms.

As a digital-audio device for the typical household, the NC-500 is a mixed success. You either need a wired Ethernet jack in your bedroom, den, or kitchen—the kinds of places where bookshelf audio systems reign—or you'll have to spend $100 for a wireless Ethernet bridge. Internet radio tuning works well; problems stem mostly from here-today-gone-tomorrow Internet radio stations rather than from oversights on Onkyo's part. You might go to sleep listening to Radio Belgrade Classical 2, but there's no guarantee RBC2 will be broadcasting in the morning.

Although legible, the OSD doesn't tell you much. The typical message wastes two lines reporting Music Server and Playing, but gives you no more than 24 characters of the song's title. There's no view that lets you see the artist's name, the album name, the full song title, the next songs, or the name of the playlist or genre, let alone album cover art. The remote gives you 40 presets for radio stations, but not for MP3 playlists.

Onkyo also sells the NC-500 with a pair of bookshelf speakers for $100 more. For $1,500, you can get the TX-NR900 (not tested), which builds the Net-Tune software and capabilities into a high-end surround-sound receiver you'd use as the flagship of your home-theater system.