From X10, the company that brought you those annoying pop-up ads, comes one of the cheapest ways to wirelessly link your computer-stored music to a home theater system.

Unfortunately, X10's Lola Wireless A/V package suffered from maddening installation problems that I only remedied with the aid of the company's software engineers.

Lola comes in three models – a $49.99 cable-connected version, a $69.99 wireless TV video model and a $99.99 wireless VGA, which is used if your PC has only a VGA output.

The $69.99 version I tried came with a well-made remote control, a 2.4-gigahertz wireless transmitter and receiver, cables and batteries. No software is included. The X10 Media Manager and other software must be downloaded from the company's Web site.

And that's where I ran into trouble. Before ever hooking up the silver, wireless USB transmitter to my PC running Windows XP Professional, the X10 Media Manager had trouble locating all the computer's available music files. RealPlayer and some other files registered fine, but Lola's software could only import four of 487 MP3s.

X10 support personnel said my problem was unusual, but they were responsive. Within a couple hours, the software was updated and the MP3s showed up inside the Media Manager. They weren't sorted by genre and artist properly, but they were playable on Lola.

After that, the installation of the wireless receiver on the stereo went as advertised. With Lola's RCA audio and video inputs plugged into the home theater system's A/V receiver, I could navigate a clear, legible playlist of the available computer music by remote control from as far away as 100 feet. The television picture is a mirror of the full-screen Lola directory displayed on the computer monitor, so selections can be made via computer or television.

The sound streamed from the computer to home theater system was about the same quality as when played on the computer. Transmissions can be affected by microwave ovens, cordless telephones and other household electronics operating inside the same 2.4 Ghz spectrum, so performance may vary depending on your home's population of wireless gadgets.