Sonos Digital Music System BU130 Video

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Created: 06/22/2007

Video description: The Sonos Digital Music System BU130, with new firmware that lets you use Rhapsody and Pandora, remains a slick, affordable solution for distributing music throughout your house.

Sonos Digital Music System BU130 Video Transcript

[ Music ] ^M00:00:09

>> I'm John Falcone, senior editor at CNET.com and this is the Sonos wireless system, the BU130 edition. This is the latest bundle in Sonos' product line and it's yet another Editor's Choice. In terms of hardware, this is exactly the same hardware that Sonos has offered in the past. And this is a two-room system expandable up to thirty-two rooms as you buy more of these two bay stations. This one, the larger one, the ZP100 zone player, has a built in amp so you just hook speakers to this and this one is ready to go. The smaller one the ZP80, is obviously a lot smaller, does not have a built in amp and you need to hook it to a AD receiver or a boom box or a set of powered speakers so as you can hear music from this one. But the idea here is that you can put these anywhere in the house, they wirelessly communicate with each other and with the key part of the equation, the Sonos remote. What's really great about this system is that it has compatibility about as far and wide as the eye can see in terms of digital audio. Plays pretty much every audio file formats out there. And it even works with several for the online music stores. It also has Rhapsody and Pandora compatibility. Both of those services you can access right through the remote and all that is accessible and controllable through the remote which is really easy to operate. So what's the down side? There are just a few. The remote doesn't have a removable battery and it always makes us a little nervous. And while this is a wireless system one of them does need to be connected with an Ethernet cable to your existing home network so it has access to the network and the internet at large. The last problem is of course no matter how compatible this is, it can't play the iTunes protected music. That being said, and despite it's somewhat high price we still think for multi room digital audio system the Sonos BU130 is pretty much the best option out there and that's why it's our Editor's Choice. I'm John Falcone for CNET and this is the Sonos BU130 digital music system. ^M00:02:42 [ Music ]

Sonos Digital Music System (Bundle 130) Review

Editors' rating

8.7

out of 10

Price range

$877.89

Amazon.com Marketplace

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The good: Two-room wireless digital audio system, expandable to as many as 32 rooms; wireless color-screen remote utilizes iPod-style scrollwheel; easy setup and installation; includes audio inputs for accessing third-party audio sources; streams the same audio to all rooms or different music to each room; excellent compatibility includes lossless file formats, Sirius, Rhapsody and Pandora premium streaming services, music purchased from PlaysForSure and Zune music stores, and free Internet radio stations.

The bad: Can't stream copy-protected music purchased from the iTunes Store; remote's rechargeable battery isn't removable; while the Sonos components are all wireless, one base station is required to have a wired network connection.

The bottom line: Recent firmware and feature upgrades cement the Sonos Digital Music System's position as the best multiroom streaming audio solution available.

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