So I have to admit, although I am the Nero Dude, I am not that experienced with Nero Media Home.   Heck, I wasn't even 100% sure what it was for until I decided to blog about it this week, and grabbed a copy for research.   That's right, folks, as long as I say it's for " research " they give me whatever Nero software I want for free!   And by " free " , I really mean for five bucks.   And by " give " , I really mean lend.   It's not as sweet of a deal as you might expect.

But I digress.   Media Home 4 -- the latest version -- is actually a pretty darn slick program, that's great for people who have tons of digital media files on their hard drives (we're talkin' MP3s, digital movies, photos, etc.).   It allows you to stream the content you want from your PC (or various other devices) to compatible receiver devices, like an XBOX 360 or just about any other UPnP gear.   Even better, it allows you to do this wirelessly (provided you've got the hardware on your PC), so you can do all sorts of cool stuff like watch a movie from your PC's hard drive on your television across the room.  

Now, I will say it took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to make the whole thing work, and get my devices to talk to each other, but Media Home 4 comes with some helpful tips and, as long as you're fairly savvy with electronics, you should be able to get stuff up pretty much lickety split.   Keep in mind that you WILL need to ensure that your computer (and/or any other devices you're wanting to use) has wireless capabilities.   Additionally, you may want to use something like Nero Move it to ensure you've got all your files organized and collected in a centralized location, to make your Media Home experience a bit less hectic.  

However, one of the best features about Media Home is that it will convert your files to a streaming format that's compatible with whatever device you stream to, automatically.   You will NOT need to worry that your .avi movie file won't play on your PS3 or that your MP3's won't work with your stereo.   If you have supported devices, Media Home will make sure everything talks to everything else in a common language.   That's a lifesaver, both in terms of time and effort, and in terms of simplicity.  

I'll dig a bit deeper into Media Home 4 in my next entry, but my initial impressions after a weekend of use are very positive -- this thing can save people a lot of pain, and that's what software's supposed to do!