Problems with Airplay and Music Share via Wifi

I've got an HP Desktop upstairs where all my music resides that is hardwired into the network. I have a Denon 1912 w/ airplay downstairs that is also hardwired into the network.

When playing music to the Denon from the Desktop via Airplay I have no issues.

I connected my Asus netbook to my network via WiFi and turned on music share and am able to play the contents of my library on the netbook speakers anywhere in the house. I would like to use the netbook as a remote of sorts to play the content directly to the Denon rather than keep going up and down the stairs to change songs playlists etc. When I switch over to the Denon speakers in Itunes on the netbook, the music plays for a second then hangss, then plays for a second then hangs....etc.

I've tried to increase the buffering, but that option is no longer available to me in the newer version of Itunes. I've increased the RAM in the netbook. Itunes is the ONLY thing installed in the netbook.

Any ideas? I'm so close I can taste it. I just need someone to point out the obvious to me.

Please help. My wife thinks I'm obsessing.