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4.0 stars
"The focus on audio only pays off"
Pros: Built in access to internet radio, Good audio file support
Cons: Menu system could be better. Display could be better.
Summary: I've been looking for a way to share my audio files with my stereo for a few years now. It seems that 2005 is the year of digital receivers. At Best Buy alone, we had more than a few choices -- some using the TV as the display, some using higher the 54g standard. But Roku promised the most audio formats of all, so we thought we'd start with it.
Configuring the device took longer than I would have liked. It turns out that Roku's WEP implementation only works with a key index 1. Once that was figured out, Roku automatically connected to the web, and applied the latest firmware patch.
Style over function prevailed in the Roku design offices -- all the cables snake through the ends of the cube, but the downside to that is that the jacks are too crammed together for high performance cables to fit. Honestly, I think they could have put the jacks on the back of the tube with little affect on the aesthetics.
The M500 has the most primitive display of the line. In fact, I wanted to get the 1000, but my Best Buy did not carry it. I'm happy to say that the display turns out to be great. There is plenty of room for title and artist. You can't see this display from across the room, but then again, I wouldn't want to.
I was concerned that the slower 11b standard would be too slow for steaming audio and radio, but wow -- I have yet to encounter a buffering problem.
The neat thing about Roku is that it can stream internet radio directly from the unit. It does not need a computer in the house to do this.
Another net trick is that you have limited control of the Roku from your computer. You can type internet stations directly into the unit, and you can also go back and forth between tracks of playlists/albums. Unfortunately, you can't swith playlists/albums from this interface. I hope they improve on this feature more.
While Roku handles a number of formats, keep in mind that it cannot handle files purchased from Itunes (although the packing makes it look like it can). It handles protected WMA files pretty well, but there are a few complaints on their website that DRM files sometimes stop playing ( I ran into this, myself. For half an hour, ROKU refused to play my DRM files, then it started working ). An engineer from the company said that this can sometimes be a timing problem between Roku and the Windows Media Server.
The menu system is decent. If you use Windows Media Server, you have to first nestle into the server, then from there you have the choice to open up playlists, browse artists/albums. It's not the best organization -- to get to my intetnet radio, I have to go all the way up to the top of the menu hierarchy -- I would rather a direct approach to the stations, so I can toggle from radio station to playlist.
I am quite happy with the audio quality. The files do not stutter, and the audio is as smooth as the file can deliver (I'm a fan of the variable bit WMA).
The build quality of the unit is quite good. The unit is dead silent -- there are no fans. The remote control is basic. In an ideal world, it should have an lcd display ( great idea, creative labs ), but I would have settled for more buttons such as a direct to internet radio control, and a return to the last track played button.
