Entered CNET Catalog: 03/09/2004
SKU: 0029610841094
Manufacturer: Roku Inc.
Manufacturer description
Finally, a digital music player that looks as good as it sounds! Roku presents the SoundBridge music players, featuring a unique design that fuses beautiful, large displays with compact, sleek enclosures. The SoundBridge connects your stereo or powered speakers to your computer's digital music library. The SoundBridge's attractive, contemporary metal enclosure looks great in your living room or bedroom, and features convenient integrated cable management that keeps everything neat and organized. The end caps are removable for plugging in cables, which are routed out the back through a hole in the end cap. There are no moving parts (like CD player, hard disk, or fan) so all you hear is your music. Bright, sharp vacuum-fluorescent displays are easy to read in all lighting conditions and from any angle - even from across the room! The music visualizer plays along with the beat of your music, with several display options. The SoundBridge players are designed to integrate smoothly with any audio system to produce the best possible sound quality. Both players feature a high-quality 24-bit DAC and gold-plated RCA analog connections. Or, use your existing system's digital processing capabilities with both optical and coaxial digital outputs. The easy-to-install software runs on Mac and Windows, and integrates easily with iTunes and other music programs. SoundBridge supports most major music formats, including MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, and Ogg Vorbis. The SoundBridge players stream your digital music library from your computer over your wired or wireless home network to any room in your house, so your music doesn't have to be tethered to the PC. (Wireless requires optional low-cost CompactFlash Wi-Fi adapter.) Playlist support, easy browsing and searching, and shuffle/repeat options let you tailor your music to your tastes. Browse your music by artist, title, album or genre. Control your SoundBridge with a custom-designed, ergonomic infrared remote control (included); or, if you prefer, from any computer on your network via a convenient web interface. One server computer can support multiple SoundBridge players, each controlled by a different listener, or synchronized between rooms of the house. Like the iPod, the SoundBridge is a good-looking way to enjoy your music in new locations away from your PC. Unlike the iPod, the SoundBridge doesn't have a hard drive built in, but instead plays your music straight from your Mac or PC, via Ethernet or WiFi network (optional Wireless adapter required). iTunes playlists and AAC files are supported seamlessly, so you'll never need to synchronize a separate set of music files or playlists for your SoundBridge. SoundBridge can be used to stream music from Internet radio stations. The SoundBridge comes with a table-top stand. With the optional mounting kit, the SoundBridge can be mounted on a wall or under a cabinet - perfect for kitchens. The M1000 is 17” wide and features a huge 12” 512x32 display.Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/15/2005
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6out of 6 user reviews
Prefer Slim Devices
Pros: Quality, formats supported
Cons: Price, lack of video
out of 6 user reviews
Easy, Functional, Fun
Pros: Easy to Install, Free's my music
Cons: None really - Would like some more visualization options
Next I tried out some preset online radio stations, they sounded great. It was very easy to change the presets via the web interface.
I then decided to get it to update the firmware via it's web connection and it did that in a snap with no user intervention.
It's now a big hit with the family and my ripped CD collection is no longer tied to my computer speakers.
The roku doesn't support realaudio streaming but apparently that support is coming. Not a big deal for me right now anyway.
I did get some RSS feeds to scroll across the screen with a 3rd party app. Very neat to see the news scroll by on the Roku. Would be really super cool if this was an integrated feature.
out of 6 user reviews
works great...solid product!!
Pros: display, speed, auto firmware update, stylish, sexy and fallic
Cons: does not come with wall mount brackets (considering its design)
I was a little confused about what it was at the start....it was given to me as a gift.
It was easy to set up...great for the kitchen...since my cpu is in the far side of the house...displays clock when off.
Out of the box...streaming music coming out of it in 2 minutes.....all i did was plug it in and put batteries in the remote. It updated itself with firmware and i just chose a station and presto!
Setting up my pc to play my music collection took about 30 minutes...but most of that time was spent deciding what server to go with..
Twonkyvision music server works great...5 minutes for a monkey like me to set up.
..now my cpu serves music files to my local wifi network...and hence the roku can pick it up and help me browse through directories from my kitchen.
Well worth the price for the big display...
Killer birthday present from my girlfriend!!!!
Best take her out on a date, hey?
out of 6 user reviews
a bit pricey
Pros: Works well within its limitations, quite easy to use and digital outputs are a big plus. BTW, the inability to play protected AAC file from ITMS is NOT a limitation, that issue belongs to Apple!
Cons: It's over-priced, especially as it doesn't support 801.11g. No front-panel controls for when you can't find the remote - and the remote is way too simple, it needs to be fully functional.
out of 6 user reviews
Incredible player
Pros: absolutely stunning industrial design, a real conversation piece when friends are over; super-bright screen and was pretty easy to set up. The UI is really easy to navigate and often it's easier to find your music with the SoundBridge's alphabetical listi
Cons: can't play iTunes AAC, but that's actually not that big a deal because it was easy to convert my existing iTunes songs to MP3 by burning them to a CD-ROM then re-ripping them as MP3s. All the new music I'll buy will be through Napster so I can play them o
out of 6 user reviews
The Best Network Music Player
Pros: This is the best looking, most stylish network music player. The large VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) is sharp, and it allows some customization of the brightness and text size. The Soundbridge has its own Blackfin DSP chip for decoding MP3 and AAC fi
Cons: The first Soundbridge 2000 I got was defective and wouldn't power up. An email to Roku's support department got me a replacement remarkably quickly. The Soundbridge won't play protected AAC files bought from the iTunes Music Store, but Roku are up-front
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