I have a wireless network setup with my pc's. I have tons of music I play with media player. I want to get it to my receiver downstairs, but also be able to control media player. I've seen remotes for windows, but say for Vista or media center PC. I'm still in XP and don't plan to switch. what options do I have? I was looking at Linksys music bridge and I guess I need a RF remote. Is there a better way?

Why don't you get a network player and then just hook that to your receiver, that way you can navigate through your music library right there at the receiver? It seems that would be more user friendly then having a remote, because you'd be controlling the PC blindly and it would be impossible to select what music to play.

never knew of such a beast. any suggestions?

Foriambill,
Take a look at Slimdevice's Squeezebox. That will allow you to select and play music from your server with your stereo. Now, if you want to get fancy (album art, music selection on screen, etc.) take a look at AppleTV. The disadvantage is that you need to sync the audio to the AppleTV unit via iTunes and there is a semi-limited capacity (size of HDD on the AppleTV unit)..