This Xmas my thoughtful wife gave me a Roku Soundbridge M1001 as a present. Nothing could have made this gadget-loving music-loving blogger happier!

If you are looking for an easy way to listen to online radio through your hi-fi stereo without having to turn on the stereo, this sleek device is for you. Furthermore, you can access your Rhapsody tracks and other audio content on your computer at the touch of the remote.

I installed TVersity as the media server and soon I was able to listen to online radios worldwide without leaving the sofa. Another great use of the device is to listen to your podcasts on the hi-fi stereo.

Anyway, this is one of the many devices showing the path towards living room convergence (one of my 2007 trends). To get your computer music to stream across the house, there are pricier devices like the Sonos and more rudimentary solutions like putting a cable from the computer to the stereo.

Although the Roku Soundbridge does its job very well with hardly any glitches, these devices are not yet ready for mass-adoption: you need to install software patches and servers, make changes to the firewall and the router and reboot the system from time to time…

But for now, this geek is very happy with his Xmas present.