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Sonos Play:3 review
Sonos may not inspire the sort of high-end audio lust that a company like Polk can, but it doesn't draw the ire of serious audiophiles the way Bose does either. It straddles a fine line between respectability and gimmicky, and rightfully so -- Sonos isn't really an audio company in the purest sense of the term. Rather than loading up its components with vacuum tubes and gold-plated connectors, units like the recently launched Play:3 make their mark by incorporating wireless streaming -- a feature that's actually painless to setup. They're for people who have embraced the digital music revolution, but don't want to be stuck sitting in front of the computer or tethered to an iPod when the mood to groove strikes. The Play:3 also happens to be the first accelerometer-packing speaker we've ever tested that dynamically changes the EQ based on its orientation. As usual all the details -- from connecting and controlling the player to whether or not it produces the sound quality to justify its somewhat lofty $299 price tag -- are after the break.%Gallery-129581%
Mango quietly enables music streaming from SkyDrive, hides amongst your spreadsheets
Here's a little feature that Microsoft quietly sneaked into Mango -- you can stream music straight from your SkyDrive account. With the latest WP7 update comes some nice integration with Redmond's cloud storage service, but it's not just for pulling up spreadsheets. You can navigate to any folder and, if you tap on an compatible sound file, it'll start playing the tune in the music app. It's not a full fledged streaming and syncing service like Google Music or a tightly integrated ecosystem such as iTunes and iCloud, but it is a pretty neat trick. And, lets be honest, no matter how cumbersome, sometimes those unofficial solutions are much more gratifying. Check out the video of it in action after the break.
Sonos Play:3 compact streaming media Hi-Fi gets official for $299, we go ears-on
Chances are you've already seen the Sonos Play:3 thanks to the leaktacular thing we call the internet. Now the tiny streaming Hi-Fi system is official and ready to start beaming that shiny new Spotify account you just scored all around your home. Inside the relatively compact chassis is a trio of digital drivers, one tweeter and two mid-range, as well as three Class-D digital amps. Unlike its big brother, which has been rebranded the Play:5 (instead of the S5), there's no active subwoofer on board, but it does sport a passive bass "radiator" that adds a surprising amount of depth to this little shelf speaker. The $299 streamer requires a Bridge ($49) to actually kick out the jams but, once you've got the basic system in place, you can tack on additional Play:3s and even combine them as a stereo pair for better separation of those all important right and left channels. There's even an accelerometer built in that automatically switches from standard to mono and tweaks the EQ settings when the speaker is turned on its side. We only spent a brief period of time with the Play:3, but it was surprisingly loud and quite clear even at neighbor-annoying volumes -- though, we're reserving final judgment until our review unit shows up. In the meantime, check out the galleries and the PR below. %Gallery-128643% %Gallery-128645%
Sonos S3 / Play:3 all-in-one speaker system pops up at Amazon for $300, gets yanked post-haste
Sonos has proven to be quite the tease in its handling of the Sonos S3 (or is it the Play:3?). The wireless all-in-one speaker system made its first clandestine appearance at the FCC earlier this month, but gave little in the way of details, and now it's popped up in an (already pulled) Amazon pre-order page. This latest lift of the curtain hasn't given us much more to go on, but at least now we have a price -- $300 -- and confirmation that the speaker system is indeed rocking a "trio of drivers and amplifiers," as we previously speculated. Specifically, it's got one tweeter, two mids, and a single bass radiator on board. Amazon lists the system as PLAY3US1BLK, leading us to believe that we were also right in assuming that the S3 will come in the traditional black and white. As of now, we don't have anything confirming a shipping date, but you can bet we'll blast it your way when Sonos finally decides to give up the details. [Thanks, Charlie]
Sonos S3 / Play:3 wireless all-in-one speaker system leaked by the feds
Look what the FCC dragged in: it's a brand new, unannounced all-on-one speaker for inclusion in your Sonos wireless audio system. A mini S5, if you will, that goes by the name "Play:3" according to the black and white FCC labels -- a hint at black and white offerings just like the S5. Curiously, the FCC docs also refer to the Play:3 as the "S3" in keeping with Sonos' S5 nomenclature. Our friend Dave Zatz speculates that the diminutive size and name is a good indicator that the S3 / Play:3 will feature a trio of drivers and dedicated digital amplifiers, akin to the S5's five (two tweeters, two mids, and a subwoofer). And you know what? We'd have to agree. Now, given the S3's size and Sonos' proven ability to use software to perfectly synchronize audio across dozens of Sonos boxes, you'll have to forgive us for wondering if Sonos has a wireless 5.1 home theater solution up its sleeve. Well Sonos, do ya? Evidence of the Play:3 vs S3 naming conventions can be found after the break.
Apple's iCloud music service will automatically mirror your iTunes library using 'high-quality' tracks?
There's been so much chatter about Apple iCloud that you'd think the streaming music service had already been announced and the deals inked. But it's still just a rumor until an Apple executive takes the stage and unleashes the Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music competitor in a spate of superlatives. That hasn't stopped Businessweek from stepping up with a good summary of all that is "known" thus far, while giving us some insight into the particulars of how the service will work and the motivations to make it happen. One revelation, sourced from three people in the know, claims that Apple will scan customers' iTunes libraries (hello, LaLa) and quickly mirror the contents on Apple's own servers -- no massive DSL-choking upload required. And Apple will do you the solid of "replacing" any low bitrate tracks with the "high-quality" versions it stores in its fully licensed music locker for streaming to your connected devices. Of course, this value-add won't come free and will certainly require a subscription fee. The cost to the consumer, though, is still very much unclear as is the service's integration with Apple's $99 per year MobileMe sham. And you know those rumors about MobileMe being offered as a free service? We wouldn't be surprised if it stays at $99 with iCloud being announced as a "free" feature update; aka, an $8.25 per month music subscription that also provides web access to your synced bookmarks, contacts, email, and calendar. Regardless, it's this subscription model that has the major labels so enthusiastic as it will finally allow them to extort fees for all that pirated audio you may have stumbled upon since Napster was loosed on an unprepared music industry a decade ago. All signs point to WWDC for this to get official but we're sure to hear more -- much more -- before the event kicks off on June 6th.
Sonos now streaming MOG music at 320kbps
If you live in the US and own a Sonos whole-home audio system then the world of streaming audio truly is your oyster. You'd be hard pressed to name a single major domestic audio service not available to your S5 all-in-one or ZonePlayer setup. Today Sonos adds the MOG music service with high-quality 320kbps streams available on-demand or via customized artist-only radio stations. Better yet, you can sample the 11 million song library for free over the next 14-days before being asked to subscribe to the $9.99 per month Primo offering.
Google Music Beta to stream 20,000 songs for free, official! (updated)
It's not quite official but there's little doubt that Google will launch its Google Music service at its big I/O event later today. While the Wall Street Journal couldn't get a Google spokesman to admit it, Peter Kafka over at All Things D got Jamie Rosenberg, Director of Android Product Management, to spill the details a bit early. Google's service will essentially mimic the music locker functionality of Amazon's Cloud service, albeit without the ability to sell songs direct to consumers. Ouch. Unfortunately, Google's plans to launch a more feature-complete service were derailed when discussions with the labels broke down. According to Rosenberg, "A couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms." So, rather than putting the service on hold, Google will launch its music service with the ability to store up to 20,000 of your own uploaded songs for free which you can then stream over the web to your desktop or Android phone or tablet -- any device that supports Flash (don't worry iOS users, your time will come). Amazon's service, by comparison, offers just 5GB of free storage for about 1,200 songs stored at a mediocre bitrate. Google will also best Amazon with a feature that automatically creates playlists. Google expects to roll out the service to its US users within "weeks" with Music Beta invites going out later today to Verizon Xoom owners (others will be able to sign up at music.google.com). Keep it right here because we'll be bringing you the announcement live. Update: And it's officially official, called "Music Beta by Google" at this point. There's a simple presentation with artists, albums, and easy playlist creation. You can manually create them, or there's a feature called "Instant Mix" that will make you a playlist based on any single song. It'll automagically pick 25 different tracks to build a "truly ingenious mix." You know, kind of like another, similarly intelligent service. All of this syncs to the cloud, which means no wires needed to download anything. But, more importantly, songs can be cached locally. You can pick any song, album, or playlist to download onto storage, at an unknown quality. It's the same pinning idea that's in the new movies feature. That and more is demonstrated in the video below. The service is launching in beta today, allowing 20,000 songs, and it'll be free -- "at least while it's in beta." Also, the updated music app is available now, which will work with any music on your phone and any phone running Android 2.2 or above. To get full-featured you can request a beta and get in line, but if you happen to be reading this from I/O you're in the beta. Congrats, you lucky bums! %Gallery-123222%
Sony's Music Unlimited streaming service coming to NGP, will hit Xperia Play this year and PSP 'in a matter of weeks'
It may sound patently obvious at this point, but there's still cause to celebrate -- Sony's streaming subscription music service, Music Unlimited, is headed to both the PlayStation Portable and its pair of divergent spiritual successors the Next Generation Portable and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play. Eurogamer sat down with Sony Network Entertainment VP Shawn Layden, who spread the news readily, confirming that the service would be activated (at least in the UK) on PlayStation Portable "in a matter of weeks." Meanwhile, Android phones including the infamous PlayStation handset will get Music Unlimited "this year," and SNE "will make it happen" on the NGP as well, presumably sometime after the company reveals when its beast of a portable game station will actually come out. All in the name of taking your tunes with you wherever you happen to travel -- a concept that's getting rather popular right now.
Spotify now streaming over European Onkyo receivers
While Spotify still isn't available to US households, the streaming music service just made its first jump to European audio receivers with the help of Onkyo. Having already made its first move to the living room on Sonos systems back in September, Spotify Premium subscribers in Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK can now stream 320kbps audio while browsing their personal, what's new, and starred playlists from televisions connected to any 2011 networked home cinema receiver from Onkyo, starting with the new 7.2 channel TX-NR609. With any luck, Onkyo will soon be updating its Onkyo Remote iOS app to replace the need for a power-hungry TV just to browse Spotify's 10 million tracks. Sorry North America, at least you've still got dibs on Rdio.
Apple working on unlimited downloads of purchased iTunes music, setting MobileMe free?
You know all that rumor and speculation about Apple launching a subscription-based streaming music service? Forget it -- at least until the next rumor comes along. Bloomberg is citing three people with knowledge of private talks between Apple, Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music to make purchased music more easily accessible to iTunes users. Two sources claim that an agreement could be announced by midyear. Contrary to popular speculation aroused by Apple's purchase of Lala, they're not talking about streaming music from Apple's new North Carolina data center scheduled to come online in the spring. According to Bloomberg's sources, Apple is instead, planning to offer unlimited downloads to any device linked to the same iTunes account. So, purchase a track on your iPhone and download it again for free to your iPad without having to go back and tether the mobile device to your PC or Mac for a sync. Hard disk crash? No worries, there's a permanent backup in the cloud. Of course, there's nothing preventing Apple from providing unlimited downloads in parallel with a streaming service except for the labels and artists who prefer the higher revenues paid out by download services. Then again, if it was left to them we'd still be buying our music on $15 CDs. Incidentally, one Bloomberg source was also caught blabbing about Apple's plans to overhaul the MobileMe service to store pictures, video, and other online content sometime this year. Better yet, it could drop from $99 per year to free -- something already reported by the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago.
Sony Music Unlimited now streaming tracks to the US
Let's hope Sony's new streaming music service -- just launched today for the US, Australia, and New Zealand -- isn't as unwieldy to use as its "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" moniker suggests. The service features six million tracks from Sony Music Entertainment, Universal, EMI, and Warner and is available on Sony's own devices including the PS3, Blu-ray disc players, Bravia televisions, and VAIO PCs. It'll also be available on Android smartphones soon with an iOS app coming later this year, assuming Apple's new subscription debacle doesn't derail Sony's plans. A basic membership provides an interactive radio experience for $3.99 per month while a premium $9.99 per month service gives subscribers on-demand access to the Music Unlimited library with the ability to manage your music through playlists and the like. Sony also provides a useful service that scans your local library and playlists to "jump start" the organization of your Music Unlimited collection. Wonder how it'll work on the NGP and PlayStation tablet?
Shazam and Spotify team up on iOS and Android apps
In yet another sign that Spotify has gone mainstream the company has just announced a partnership with Shazam -- the ubiquitous mobile music identification service. Under the deal, Shazamers will now be greeted with a "Play in Spotify" feature for all music discovered. The feature will be fully integrated in Shazam's free app "soon" and is available now for the premium apps on Android and iOS wherever Spotify is available, namely, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Spain and the Netherlands.
Spotify comes to Logitech Squeezebox, makes non-Europeans mildly jealous
Spotify still won't say when its streaming music service will come to the US, but its 10 million songs will play on two more devices from here on out: starting today, the Logitech Squeezebox Touch and Squeezebox Radio can get their 320kbps groove on. (Sonos, eat your heart out.) A free beta version of the music app should appear on the MySqueezebox website at any moment -- though it doesn't seem to be there right now -- followed by "a full rollout expected in the very near future," a promise which we can't quite translate, but might mean support for even more devices down the road. Of course, Spotify's something of a given for Logitech's next Squeezebox, if it happens to run Android. PR after the break.
Sony unveils new HomeShare network speakers, iPhone docks, and Wi-Fi universal remote
We haven't heard much about Sony's HomeShare wireless networking protocol since the initial buzz in 2008, but based on today's announcements, it's fairly clear that Sony intends to ramp things up in 2011. The SA-NS300 and SA-NS400 are two new wireless network speakers designed to broadcast tunes from a variety of sources such as DLNA-enabled PCs or BRAVIA internet music services found on Sony's latest Blu-ray players. iPhones and iPods can join in on the streaming fun when placed in HomeShare compatible NAS-SV20i and NAC-SV10i docks. Since all of these components go beyond the realm of your average IR controller, Sony has kindly released the HomeShare-friendly touch screen RMN-U1 Wi-Fi universal remote, too. Using its activity-based control options, the remote allows those invested in the HomeShare system to send music throughout their network and a view a variety of eye-candy -- you know, like album art. Even more interesting is that Sony says all of the components will be available this March for between $200 and $300 depending on the device, which is far below the four figure price points of its early HomeShare gear. For more details, hit up the press release below. %Gallery-112877%
B&W announces Zeppelin Air with AirPlay
It's no secret that Bowers & Wilkins has a tight relationship with Apple -- so it was only a matter of time until AirPlay made its way onto the company's design-a-licious Zeppelin line. Now after being teased in Apple's own promos, the Zeppelin Air is official. On the outside, it looks virtually identical to its older blimp brethren, but internally the speaker has been completely redesigned and features new 24bit / 96KHz capacity DACs. B&W is so proud of the result that they're touting it as their best sounding iPod speaker ever. Another bit of good news is the Zeppelin Air is compatible with every current iPod and iPhone out there granted it runs iOS 4.2. A handy USB input also provides flexibility for streaming music directly from a computer and even syncing an iPod / iPhone without removing it from the dock. Price is still an unknown but based on the other Zeppelins we're guessing it won't be cheap. For the full details be sure to read through the PR after the break and drool over the included gallery. [Thanks, Steph] %Gallery-112734%
Siemens pumps streaming audio to hearing aids with miniTek remote
See that tiny black box? It's a streaming audio hub, designed specifically for the hard of hearing who have Siemens earphones buried in their lobes. Connect special Tek transmitters to traditional TVs and stereos, or hook it up directly to a phone, audio player or PC over Bluetooth or 3.5mm jack, and the matchbox-sized, two-ounce remote will wirelessly stream stereo audio from two devices for up to five hours a time. (It's also apparently got an integrated coil for induction loop audio.) Just don't expect it to come cheap -- it's a medical product, you know. [Thanks, Klaus]
TUAW Tips: Play internet radio in background on your iPad
Those of us who love to stream internet radio on our iPads can quickly turn into ogres when we switch to another app and the music stops. Until the iPad supports iOS 4 (soon) we're stuck with no background capability, which makes background streaming impossible.The folks over at FairerPlatform have come up with an easy way to listen to many of your favorite streams without a need to jailbreak your iPad or wait fruitlessly for Flash to make an appearance on the platform. While this trick won't work for every streaming Internet radio station -- Pandora is a perfect example of this -- it does work with others like Live365. What you need to do is find a radio-only stream that is playable in Safari, start playing the stream, and then go on to those other apps while listening to your music. As an example, FairerPlatform cites Soma FM, a San Francisco-based, user-supported internet radio station. Their music is available in the pls multimedia playlist format, which the iPad's Safari plays without a hitch. Once you've started the stream, you can do any other work you need to and the stream plays on in the background. If you're a fan of any of the live shows on the TWIT network, you can listen to those shows in background as well. Just point Safari to live.twit.tv, tap "Live Audio Stream," and then you can listen to their shows while doing real work instead of looking at Leo's face. TWIT AM uses the m3u format, which also loves Mobile Safari. It seems that most of the internet radio streams using pls or m3u work beautifully with Safari. Of course, this doesn't work with every radio station, internet or otherwise. I tried to see if a local radio station's coverage of the Colorado Rockies would stream -- nope, they use a Flash player. But this is a good trick to know until we're able to run the native streaming players as a background process on the iPad in a few days or months.
Netgear announces NeoTV 550 & 350 HD Media Players plus other networking goodies
This week Netgear made a battery of new product announcements related to home entertainment and Powerline networking. On the media side, the NeoTV 550 & 350 HD players look a lot like last year's Digital Entertainer Elite, minus the 500GB of internal storage and access to VOD services like CinemaNow. Both are however capable of playing a robust list of codecs in full HD from a variety of attached sources like USB, eSATA (in the case of the 550) or SD storage, as well as streaming content from UPnP, DLNA or WMP11 networks. The 550 adds in support for external Blu-ray drives and BD-Live too, all for $219, which should appeal any of the poor souls with an unused standalone drive. Three new Powerline kits -- AV 200, AV 500, and AV+ 500 -- were also announced to help consumers avoid the pain of stringing Ethernet in every direction. The entry level AV 200 appears to improve on the previous HDXB101 kit by offering the same theoretical 200mbps in addition to push button security enhancements and greener power consumption. The AV 500 kit provides the same and ramps the networking speeds to up to -- you guessed it -- 500mbps, while the "+" version throws in a pass-through filtered AC socket to avoid sacrificing precious outlets. Priced all below $200, every kit will available be by mid November for all the fall home networking your heart could desire. Peep the galleries and PR below for further details. %Gallery-100540% %Gallery-100541%
Raumfeld's 2Raumfeld multiroom audio system reviewed, deemed sweet but no Sonos
Despite the bevy of multimedia streamers beating down your door, there are still few options available for high-end multiroom audio, and until recently the ones you'd likely consider would go by the name of Sonos. Judging by a recent UK review, that hasn't entirely changed, but a two-speaker WiFi-based setup by Germany's Raumfeld reportedly offers a reasonable challenge to the Sonos hegemony. PC Pro said the 2Raumfeld package "knocks the equivalent Sonos 250 into a cocked hat" when it came to quality sound thanks to a pair of Adam Audio-designed speakers, and praised the minimalist design and ease of setup even as minor annoyances (like the pairs of 'wireless' speakers that have to be strung together) popped up. It seems the only real flies in the ointment are the limited media browsing options available -- that sexy silver knob and touchscreen aren't enough -- and the fact that you can roll your own Sonos mesh network for less than Raumfeld's €1,225 (about $1,575) asking price, which kind of defeats the point. Read the full review at our source link.
