Sony unveils CPF-IX001 wireless streaming music system

There are about a million ways to stream music from your PC to other locations in the house, and now Sony has added yet another solution to this lengthy list: the 2.1 channel CPF-IX001 wireless streaming music system. The compact device uses your existing 802.11b/g setup to pull tunes from iTunes, Windows Media Player, Sony Connect, or other applications, and creates a unique IP address so multiple units can operate simultaneously over the same network. To cut down on wire clutter, Sony employed a so-called power line transmission technology that allows the main component to send both juice and audio signals to its subwoofer over a single cable -- pretty handy, especially if you'll be moving the system from room to room.. Expect to see these in stores sometime next month -- although we don't actually know what to look for, because Sony is being a little stingy with the product pics -- for about $300.

Update: Thanks to Christopher over at ATRACLife for hooking us up with a pic.

[Charlie @ Jul 19th 2006 10:07AM]

I guess it won't play Apple Fairplay DRM'd files though.

[plake @ Jul 19th 2006 10:20AM]

Wait - wireless power?

...
Really?

[MK @ Jul 19th 2006 11:00AM]

You misread it, it says power and signal through the same cable. (Not wirelessly)

[maff @ Jul 19th 2006 11:31AM]

http://www.salonav.com/arch/2006/05/050-057.html i think some pics are on this russian site

[Jope @ Jul 19th 2006 11:38AM]

Tons of pics here:
http://news.sel.sony.com/en/image_library/consumer/home_audio_video/home_theater/detail?archive=0&asset_id=23604

[Rob @ Jul 19th 2006 11:44AM]

Plake, your comment got my attention! I was pretty excited to learn about "wireless power"... But you must have pulled that from thin air, it says it put power and signal over a single cable (which, in my opinion, is MUCH less impressive than wireless power).

[serpico @ Jul 19th 2006 12:03PM]

I think Apple's Airport Express is enough to do this and at a lower price. It may not have the power-line feature, but at least you get other features with the Airport Express.

[jwer @ Jul 19th 2006 12:44PM]

More importantly in this iTunes-dominated marketplace, will it play DRM-protected AAC? My guess is no, which still makes the AirPort the only widely practical system, even though it's nearly featureless otherwise.

[plake @ Jul 19th 2006 1:00PM]

Rob: Oh, dang. I re-read it like 3 times, but I guess I completely missed it. :(

[naren @ Jul 19th 2006 2:24PM]

Yes, iam really excited about this gadget. But when they are going to exibit. Lets wait & seeeeeeeeeee

[Jake @ Jul 19th 2006 3:05PM]

> More importantly in this iTunes-dominated marketplace,
> will it play DRM-protected AAC?

My understanding is that it will play whatever is streamed to it. The DRM is applied at the application level. Once it's playing in iTunes, streaming it to this device is just a matter of transmission.

Am I missing something?

[Christopher MacManus @ Jul 19th 2006 3:06PM]

Hey comment readers, there's a picture of it here:

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/07/19/sonys-entrance-to-the-home-wi-fi-audio-realm-cpf-ix001/

[Christopher MacManus @ Jul 19th 2006 3:11PM]

Hey comment readers, there's a picture of it here:

http://www.atraclife.com/2006/07/19/sonys-entrance-to-the-home-wi-fi-audio-realm-cpf-ix001/

[jwer @ Jul 19th 2006 4:01PM]

Jake: That would be great if it did; Roku, Squeezebox, and Sonos all connect wirelessly to music libraries, but stream the compressed media to the player, then decompress the song there. Apple has so far not allowed anyone to decode their DRM, so the aforementioned can see but can't play such songs.

[Eric @ Jul 20th 2006 12:15PM]

I'm pretty sure I saw this unit (another similar sony unit) at Target in NJ this weekend. It was stationed of all places near the alarm clocks. I was shocked about seeing a $300 alarm clock until I read closer that it was music streaming system and not a clock radio at all.

[Earl Bullock @ Sep 26th 2007 5:47PM]

Here we are a month to the year later that this unit was to be introduced. I purchased one. I like the sound and the audio streaming and limited radio stations, which are positives. The negatives are:
M-crew software for Vista is less than stable, keeps losing server and no way to regain it. M-crew software for XP is much better because it gives you the opportunity to manually select the ICF settings. The unit will not stream or play internet stations with out the correct settings. The other major problem is that the computer has to be on either to use the unit wired or wirelessly, and finally, it will only accept radio stations with the extension .asx at the end. Thanks to Roku's radio list for finding these stations out there. All in all a nice unit but not worth the near 300.00 price tag.