Linksys by Cisco announced at CES that they are making a play for the burgeoning arena of wireless home audio (also called “distributed audio”) products.  Similar to products such as Sonos and the Roku Soundbridge, Linksys by Cisco’s line of wireless home audio products connect to your home WiFi network to stream music from your PC’s hard drive.

Though the devices run on a Linux kernel, the products require Windows to set up.  In addition to streaming your PC’s digital music files, the Linksys WHA products also work with the Rhapsody music service, and can stream Internet radio via the RadioTime service.

The line comes in a number of form factors, from the single Player, which is just a receiver to act as a bridge between your digital music collection and your existing home stereo equipment, to the Director, a standalone unit with an LCD screen.  The units can be mixed and matched, and controlled with the Controller–a resistive LCD touchscreen that can act as your go-between for each or all of the devices on the network.

If you don’t want to build your own system, several pre-bundled kits are offered: the Trio, a kit designed to just connect your MP3s to your home stereo; the Executive, which is ideal for small rooms such as dorms or offices; and the Premier, a multizone package with multiple remotes.

These work on a Wireless-N network, so if you have a compatible Linksys router you can use the WiFi Protected Setup (WPS) to connect all the devices with a couple of buttons.

Wireless home audio is a category that’s still finding its feet–there’ve been a few iconic products such as Sonos but many others have fallen by the wayside.  But Linksys looks like it’s got its act together here.  They’re not including storage media with the devices, which was the kiss of death to products like the Escient Fireball with their rapidly-obsolescing hard drives and expensive upgrades, and the range of price points means you can scale a system according to your needs, instead of being locked into a solution that the manufacturer thinks is sufficient.  All in all, it looks like a very promising start.