Gadget That 'Streams' Music Around House Is Terrific but Pricey
Dozens of companies offer gadgets to "stream" the music that's stored on your computer over a home network so you can hear it in other parts of the house. But most of these products are deficient in some way or another.
Many are too hard to set up on a typical home wireless network. Others have a lousy interface for controlling and selecting the music in the room where you plan to do remote listening. And nearly all of them assume that you have good audio systems in the rooms where you want to do remote listening, and that you know how to hook up the streaming devices to these audio systems.
But I have been testing a new music-streaming product that handily overcomes every one of these problems and limitations. It's called the Sonos Digital Music System, and it comes from a start-up company, Sonos Inc., in Santa Barbara, Calif. (
www.sonos.com)
Sonos can be set up quickly, without any technical knowledge, because it contains its own secure Wi-Fi wireless network, which co-exists with your existing wired or wireless network. It works with both Windows PCs and Apple Computer's Macintoshes. It has a gorgeous wireless remote control with an embedded color screen. The system works in multiple rooms of a home, allowing you to play different songs, or the same songs, in each room simultaneously.
And each Sonos module, called a ZonePlayer, is a stand-alone audio-playback device, with a built-in amplifier that sounds great. So you don't need an existing audio system in every room where you want to hear music, and you don't have to know how to hook up audio gear.
The Sonos system is easily the best music-streaming product I have seen and tested. It's the Lexus of the category.
Unfortunately, like a Lexus, Sonos is also costly. A starter system with two ZonePlayers and a remote costs $1,199. Each additional ZonePlayer costs $499, and each additional remote control costs $399.
And that doesn't include speakers for the ZonePlayers. The company assumes you'll supply these yourself, though it plans to offer its own optional speakers, for an unspecified charge, starting next month.
The Sonos remote control
I tested the Sonos starter system with an HP Pavilion computer running Windows XP. The computer is in an upstairs bedroom. At least one Sonos ZonePlayer in any system has to be wired directly to the networking device, called a router, that typically sits atop or next to a cable or DSL modem. So I placed one of my two ZonePlayers on a desk next to the PC and plugged it into my router by wire.
Next, I installed the Sonos software on the PC and followed the directions for connecting the ZonePlayer. This simply required holding down the player's Volume and Mute buttons simultaneously. In less than a minute, I was done.
Then I set up the second ZonePlayer, with the optional Sonos speakers, downstairs in my dining room. This one would have only a wireless link to the system. Again, I set the software upstairs to connect a new player and held the two buttons on the dining-room player. It worked perfectly.
Finally, I connected the wireless remote to the system by calling up its setup screen and once again holding down buttons on the dining-room player. Again, this process was flawless.
Back upstairs on the PC, the Sonos software had found and indexed all the song files on my computer, and had even located and imported the play lists I had set up in Apple's iTunes program. Sonos works with all the main types of music files -- MP3, WMA, AAC and WAV. And it can use play lists that have been set up in iTunes, on either Windows or the Mac; Windows Media Player; Musicmatch Jukebox; or WinAmp.
But Sonos can't stream or play back music files that contain copy-protection encryption. That means it can't handle files purchased from legal online-download sites, such as Apple's iTunes music store.
Each ZonePlayer has only two control buttons -- mute and volume. But you can control what's playing on them using the remote or the software on the PC.
The remote control is a thing of beauty. Its bright color screen shows the track title, artist and album of the song that's playing, along with the album-cover art. It has an iPod-like scroll wheel for navigating through lists of songs, albums, artists and genres. Backlit buttons control volume, play, pause, back, forward and mute.
A built-in rechargeable battery powers the remote. The company estimates it will last about five days in typical use. A wall charger is included.
With either the remote or the PC software, you can control each player, or "Zone," separately. Or you can group the "Zones," so several receive the same music simultaneously. And you can mute or pause all the players in a house at once.
The system also can play back music from Internet radio stations. And you can plug any outside music source, like an iPod, into any one of the ZonePlayers and hear its music throughout the system.
Next month Sonos plans to add another function to the product: the ability to receive streaming music from RealNetworks' Rhapsody online subscription music service.
If you can afford the price, Sonos is a great choice for those who want to hear computer-based music all over the house.
让音乐流淌到你的房间
要在一套房子的其他房间里面听到另一房间电脑播放的音乐，需要一种提供音乐'流式服务'的电子设备。制造这种电子设备的公司有十几家，但绝大多数产品都存在著这样或那样的缺陷。
许多此类产品在普通的家用无线网路中安装起来十分困难，其他一些产品存在的问题是：控制及选择音乐的遥控器介面设计非常糟糕。而且，几乎所有这些产品的假定前提是：在你希望收听乐曲的那些房间都配有良好的音响系统，并且你知道如何让音乐流设施与之相连接。
但是，我一直在测试的一种新型音乐流式服务产品却几乎克服了上述所有的问题和局限。该产品叫Sonos数码音乐系统(Sonos Digital Music System)，是位于加州圣巴巴拉的新兴公司Sonos Inc.推出的。
Sonos安装迅捷，不需要任何技术知识，因为它带有自己的无限保真(Wi-Fi)安全网路，可与你现有的有线或无线网路并存。Sonos在Windows和苹果电脑(Apple Computer)的Mac机上都能运行。它有一个漂亮的彩屏无线遥控器，能在多房间的居室里使用，因此你能用它在多个房间里面同时播放相同或不同的音乐。
每一个Sonos播放器称为一个ZonePlayer，是一个独立的音频播放装置，带有内置的功率放大器，使其达到非凡的音响效果。因此，你不需要在每个你希望能播放音乐的房间里都安装音响系统，而且也不需要知道如何连接音响装置。
Sonos System显然是我所见过并测试过的最出色的音乐流产品，在同类产品中的地位可与汽车中的□志(Lexus)相媲美。
不幸的是， Sonos像□志一样价格不菲。一个启动装置加两个ZonePlayers以及一个遥控器，共售价1，199美元。每多购买一个ZonePlayer要多花上499美元，多购买一个遥控器要多花399美元。
而且，这其中还不包括那些ZonePlayer的扬声器。该公司假设你会自行配备这些装置，但也拟定于下月开始推出自己的扬声器供你选择，其价格尚未确定。
我用一台装有Windows XP操作系统的惠普(HP)Pavilion电脑测试了Sonos的启动装置。该电脑放在楼上的卧室里面。必须有至少一个Sonos ZonePlayer与网路装置即路由器直接相连，路由器通常都安装在有线DSL调制解调器的上方或后面。因此，我将两个ZonePlayer中的一个放在了电脑后面的书桌上，通过电线将它与路由器连接了起来。
随后，我在电脑中安装了Sonos的专用软件，并开始按照说明安装ZonePlayer。我需要注意的只是同时按下播放器的音量和静音钮。还不到一分钟，就大功告成了。
然后，我开始在楼下的餐厅里安装第二个ZonePlayer，以及自选安装的Sonos扬声器。这一个采用无线连接就可以了，因而我再一次设置了楼上电脑中的软体，按下餐厅播放器中的那两个按钮，顺利完成安装。
最后，我再次启动安装软体并按下餐厅播放器的两个按钮，把无线遥控器也与整个系统连接了起来，整个安装过程完美无缺。
我回到楼上的电脑前，Sonos软体已经找到了我电脑中所有的歌曲档并做出了索引，甚至找到并输入了我在苹果的iTunes程式中建立的播放列表。Sonos能播放所有格式的音乐档──MP3，WMA，AAC和WAV。它还能使用在iTunes上建立的播放清单，无论在Windows作业系统还是Mac机、Windows Media Player、Musicmatch Jukebox或WinAmp上均可。
但是，Sonos无法对带有版权保护密码的音乐档进行流式播放或重放。这意味著它无法处理那些从苹果公司的iTunes音乐商店等合法收费站点下载的文件。
每个ZonePlayer只有两个控制钮，即静音和音量。但你可以通过遥控器或在电脑的软体中进行调节。
遥控器造型十分美观。它亮晶晶的彩屏上能够显示歌曲名，艺人和该曲所在的专辑名，以及专辑封面。它带有一个类似iPod的滚轮，以便从歌曲清单、专辑、艺人和流派中进行流览。Backlit按钮控制著音量、播放、暂停、向后、向前和静音。
遥控器用的是内置型充电电池，还配有一个充电器。Sonos公司估计该电池在一般情况下可使用五天。
无论是使用遥控器还是个人电脑软件，你都能对所有的ZonePlayer播放器进行分别控制。你还可以对它们进行分组管理，以便几个播放器同时播放相同的歌曲。你也可以在一套房子里同时暂停或关闭几个播放器。
该系统还能播放互联网广播电台中的音乐。你也可以在任何一个ZonePlayer中接入iPod之类的外界其他音乐来源，同样能在整个系统范围内收听。
下月，Sonos计划给它的产品增加一项功能，即从RealNetworks的Rhapsody线上订购音乐服务中接收音乐流。
对那些喜欢在家中任意房间里欣赏电脑播放的音乐的朋友来说，只要能承受得起高昂的价格，则Sonos不失为上佳的选择。
