"Listen without limits," declares the website of the MusicGremlin, a new MP3 player that uses WiFi connection to access its own music store. The $300 device comes with an 8 GB hard drive and

The importart part here is the Gremlin cuts out the middleman -- the computer. The $15-a-month music service allows subscribers to access over two million songs without the need of a computer to facilitate the transfer of files. Files can be transferred via a USB; the Gremlin supports only MP3 and WMA formats.

Reviews of the Gremlin have been mixed. CNET complained that $15 is too much for a monthly subscription (although that's the standard price for a music subscription service) and did not like the cost/storage ratio of $300/8 MB. The Wall Street Journel's main complaints were about the Wi-Fi connectivity and the cumbersome manner of searching for songs, though it did acknowledge its "fresh approach." Wi-Fi Net News ripped it for poor security.

Even if the Gremlin fails to catch on beyond the curious early adopter crowd, the device is still an important first step and it symbolizes the quest for what is called the "heavenly jukebox" or the "celestial jukebox," or access to all the world's recorded music. The best celestial jukebox is one that is portable and not tied to a personal computer, thus the significance of a portable device that incorporates a subscription service. Retailers are trying (so far without much success) to work toward part of this vision. In-store digital kiosks will cut out the personal computer and allow consumers to upload directly to portable media devices.

In a piece at Wired, Eliot Van Buskirk realized the potential of the MusicGremlin.

"A Wi-Fi-enabled subscription service would lead to all sorts of impulse listening. While reading a music magazine in bed, you could queue up downloads of the artists mentioned without getting up. Or if a friend tells you about a band they think you'll like, you could listen to it on the way home (provided there's some Wi-Fi nearby, as is increasingly the case).

The celestial jukebox, which will famously follow you around reacting to your every musical whim, could be enabled by mere earthbound internet cables and Wi-Fi hot spots."