Thursday, December 6, 2007

Roku SoundBridge M1000/M1001


Product summary

The good: The Roku SoundBridge M1000 is a network audio receiver that offers a sleek attractive design, bright front-panel display, and excellent compatibility with digital music files, including DRM WMA files purchased from online music stores and premium subscription services such as Rhapsody and Yahoo. Digital and analog outputs provide connectivity to any stereo or speaker system, and it will work with any wireless or Ethernet home network. Setup and navigation are simple and straightforward, and it can stream music from Windows or Mac systems.

The bad: While it seamlessly interfaces with iTunes software running on a networked PC, the Roku SoundBridge can't stream secure AAC files purchased from iTunes store. It can connect to WEP-encrypted wireless networks but not those running WPA. Also, its screen can be hard to read at a distance.

The bottom line: Striking looks, easy setup, excellent compatibility, and an improved design put the Roku SoundBridge at the forefront of the digital audio receiver category.

Specs: Product type: Network audio player; Sound output mode: Stereo; Network player: Network audio player - AAC, MP3, WAV, WMA, AIFF, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis See full specs >>

Price range: $132.99 - $179.99

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