Roku Network Music Player

After a good deal of research ... I'm thinking the Roku Soundbridge will be my next gadget purchase.  I was originally leaning towards an iRiver or Zen Micro Photo to replace my iPod now that I'm using the Yahoo Music service.  My main objective was to have a way to play downloaded tunes (WMA DRM files) through my 6.1 home theater system and secondly to have a portable player.  Then I got to thinking...my commute is only 3 miles and our family doesn't travel much so I decided I don't really need something portable at this time.

My search then moved to devices that would stream music over a home network.  The big players turned out to be the Roku Soundbridge , Slim Devices Squeezebox, and Apple Airport Express.  I have an Airport Express, but of course it doesn't handle WMA DRM files...turns out the Squeezebox can play WMA files but not DRM'd WMA files.  So the Soundbridge is the leading device if you're using Yahoo Unlimited.  The Soundbridge is iTunes compatible (as is the Squeezebox), but like everything else not made by Apple it can't play music purchased from iTunes (which doesn't effect me).

The Soundbridge built-in wireless card to pull tunes off your PC/Mac and run them to your amp via coax, RCA or toslink cable.  A remote (yep, add another remote into the mix) talks to the Soundbridge to let you navigate through your music which is displayed on the Soundbrige screen.

There are 2 "issues" however.  1)  No wireless WPA encryption available yet, so you're stuck with WEP.  I already have cat6 running from my router to my Tivo so I won't need the wireless.  Roku says the next firmware should add WPA.  2)  No Yahoo Lauchcast internet radio support.  This is a bummer as we enjoy listening to the "Big Hits of the 80's" station.  The Soundbridge will however stream regular internet radio "channels" even when the computer is turned off.  Neither of these issues are show stoppers though.

Now my remaining deliberations involve trying to decide if the larger display unit is worth the extra $200 to make sure I can see it from across the room...go large or go home right?...and wondering if a newer model might appear as the holiday shopping season nears.

So I'm probably going to wait until right after Thanksgiving to snatch a Soundbridge.  They have a 30 day return policy so if a new model comes out before Christmas I should be able to upgrade easily.

What's your next gadget purchase???

Comments

[Brian Glass]

I can't tolerate DRM. If I buy music I want to use it the way I want to. So the only music service I use is iTunes.

I use sharpmusique as my iTunes client since it doesn't add the DRM stuff after the download (which is when iTunes adds it). A quick conversion to mp3 makes it playable on my cheapo Lexar mp3 player.

And as long as I don't go redistributing the music I just bought, I'm not doing anything illegal.

[Chris Marsden]

My next big purchase will either be an iPod (either 4G used or 5G video) or a Palm. Now that I have rid myself of all devices except my cell phone, I really miss having a complete address book and calendar with me. The iPod will do this, plus play music, and the Palm, of course, does this tons more effeciently. I guess it will just come down to cashflow and sales.

[Jim Boling]

Those of you that, like me, are still budget-constrained gadget-wise might be interested in the following little utility that I wrote. Free to a good home. (Handy if you carry your music around on a thumb-drive and just listen via your laptop or desktop at work:
http://home.midsouth.rr.com/hopebaptist/rjuke/
)

By the way, I do recommend Palm. I have a Tungsten E which includes Realplayer MP3 player for the Palm. On those rare but pleasant days when I get to actually work at my desk long enough to "use up" all the music on my thumb-drive, my backup is my Palm. I've "ripped" most of the best of my LPs (using http://www.goldwave.com) and have them stored there. :)