New Options for Networked Audio
Your guide to wireless music players for the home.
Aug. 20, 2010— -- Some time after they debuted on the Web, Internet radio services such as Pandora and Slacker attracted millions of listeners via smartphones.
Pandora was an early app for the iPhone and Slacker formed a partnership with BlackBerry provider Research in Motion. Last December, Tech on Deck discussed dedicated Internet radio options for these services, but higher-end home audio systems can deliver them -- and a lot more -- to multiple rooms of a home.
Since its debut in 2007, Sonos has led the way in wirelessly delivering audio to multiple rooms at the same time using its own networking standard.
The company has produced compact white boxes called ZonePlayers intended to connect to speakers customers already had or purchased separately, but now has taken the next step in producing a compact all-in-one device that integrates the speakers called the ZonePlayer S5.
The $399 ZonePlayer S5 comes in black or white, and would be at home in a Bose showroom. It produces the most brilliant sound and satisfying bass ever delivered in a natively networked unit with integrated speakers and proves remarkably resilient to distortion at high volumes.
Like other Sonos devices, it can be controlled with Sonos' own controller or well-designed software that runs on an iPod touch or iPhone. In addition to playing music files on a PC or networked storage device, Sonos has created partnerships with a number of services, including Rhapsody, Sirius XM, Napster and Pandora.
Unlike the Sonos system, the $299 Logitech Squeezebox line uses a standard wireless Wi-Fi network. The Squeezebox Touch supports the Wi-Fi Protected Setup standard, which can make setup as easy as pushing a button on an appropriately equipped router.
Logitech had produced its own (albeit less fancy) screen-based remote a while ago in a product called the Squeezebox Duet. However, the company has now moved the color touch screen into the unit with the Squeezebox Touch. And while Logitech does not provide any free software for an iPod touch or iPhone with which to control Squeezebox playback, two third-party options are available from the iTunes app store for less than $10.
