Roku SoundBridge M1000/M1001 Network Music System
by Roku
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List Price: Category: Receiver or Amplifier See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Roku SoundBridge M1000/M1001 Network Music System
Customer Review: Great product - why aren't there more of these?!?
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had a Soundbridge (M1000) for over a year now. Wanted music in our living room, but as it's a 100-year old farmhouse, a stereo stack was not an attractive option. Wanted unobtrusive presence, but good sound. We're pretty picky on sound. Here's the solution...
Had an older Onkyo receiver that had been made obsolete by 7.1 DTS, etc. But still a very good receiver. Moved it to the basement. Got a Soundbridge, a small powered subwoofer, and a couple good satellites (Mirage Omnis) and drilled holes through the floor near the walls just large enough to feed (a) speaker wire, and (b) the audio plug for the Soundbridge. Now the soundbridge feeds its signal to the receiver, which provides a very high quality output to the sub/sat setup. Almost invisible, except for the sound. Wires strewn across (old) basement ceiling, not living room floor. Love it. Immediately found my music, playlists, etc. on my music server (i.e., my laptop) upstairs using wi-fi.
Now for the problems...
- Remote is funky, dated-looking, and necessary. Get used to it, or get a multi-function remote. (We have a Logitech Harmony for the home theater setup, and it's great.)
- On occasion, the Soundbridge looks like it is playing what you want, but no sound comes out. Have to restart (a 1-minute process, +/-) and everything is fine. Not a big deal, but seems to happen when trying to just get some background music for dinner, while everyone is waiting... (No occurrences since most recent firmware upgrade.)
- Entering the 128-bit WEP key for out network with the interface provided is awkward; an alphanumeric setup on the remote would be much easier (think T9 for texting on a phone keypad) Would also make it easier to actually browse for artist, etc. rather than scroll...
All in all, once I got the volume set to the range I wanted, sub output just right, etc., it's a very good solution to what had been a pretty big dilemma. Even made use of "old" technology instead of landfill / recycling, or trying to get $20 on craigslist for an old receiver.
Now, if only there was more on the market in this arena. Want to do the same kind of solution in another room, but would like a larger screen, maybe an LCD remote that show track / playlist info, etc. Don't want to have to buy a media PC and pull down the movie screen / turn on the projector just to see the on-screen display that shows my music choices!
Customer Review: New way of listening and managing music
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok. I know this is not really a 'new way'. It is, after all 2007 and I've been streaming radio for at least 7 years now but I have never really linked the computer with my home stereo until now.
I had two full CD towers and giant speakers from the 90's. Soundbridge put things in motion.
First when I got soundbridge the installation was a snap. I already have a wireless router in my house. I answered less than 10 questions on the display and the radio connected to the internet and retrieved hundreds of stations from around the world.
I scored bennie points with my wife by finding her favorite Czech station. Given that we live in Maine and she can now listen to it on our stereo is huge.
Then I took all my CD's and over the weekend while reading a book I mindlessly ripped them all in WMA losless format to maintain great quality.
Then I discovered Soundbridge on my network. Right clicked it and entered it's own web site. There I followed a few links. Some were clear and some were not but after a few days of intermittent playing I now have the device registered on my own rokulabs web page where i maintain my stations.
The quality of the music is great. Losless WMA's are great too. MP3 - not so much as Borat would have said.
I spent a few hours editing my Windows Music Library and eliminated all songs/artists/albums labeled unknown. Good move.
Then I found my local stations I listen to. Local college radio and local NPR. Now I don't even need an antenna for local stations.
The whole setup prompted a chain link reaction where I got rid of my giant speakers, giant CD towers, giant TV and saved a lot of space. Bought satelite speakers and subwoofer... well I'm straying from the main topic.
The end result is that I LOVE this little unit and wholeheartedly recommend it. My loves the Czech stations so much that I bought her the Soundbridge Radio too. This way she doesn't have to fiddle with turning on the receiver, switching to the right source and then turning on the soundbridge unit... you know what I mean... some of this stuff is for geeks. The soundbridge radio she pushes one button and that's it.
Ok. Done with the review. Thank You Roku. Now make something for videos that is better than Picturebridge.
Customer Review: Great little gadget
Summary: 4 Stars
Being able to play the music in my PC anywhere in the house is killer. My CD collection is in the basement and that's where it's going to stay. In the past I'd connected my mp3 players to my home system, which worked well, but they had to be loaded and recharged, and they couldn't carry ALL of the music stored on my PC, which made them somewhat limiting. All of that is over. With a wireless network music player, I can listen to EVERYTHING, whenever I want, anywhere within the range of my network.
The Roku Soundbridge is a great addition to my collection of gadgets. It was easy to set up and connect to my PC. I initially connected it through Itunes, which allows any Itunes radio station to by played through it in addition to all COMPATIBLE format music files. I have also installed Windows Media Connect in my PC, which also works very well for sharing files on a wireless network (which the Soundbridge is connected to). Media Connect starts with the PC startup and runs in the backround, and it doesn't eat a ton of memory like ITUNES does. So if you don't have or don't like ITUNES, that won't stop you from using the Soundbridge. But I haven't spent any time yet trying to get internet radio through Windows Media Connect, so I can't tell you how accessible internet radio is. For now, when I want to listen to internet radio, I start ITunes, then shut it down when I've finished, even though my PC can easily handle Itunes in the backround. I just don't like to keep it running when I'm not using it (just a personal preference).
Wiring the unit to the stereo system is very easy. Browsing the Soundbridge is fairly easy, and it has a great sound. You'd never know it's wireless. The adjustable volume feature is KEY, because you don't have to keep the volume control for the reciever handy. Just keep the receiver set at the loudest you want it to get (with the Soundbridge at 100%), then control the volume with the Soundbridge.
It has a cool, compact look and bright (dimmable) display, which allows it to be either the center of attention, unobtrusive, or hidden, depending on your preference. I like gadgets, so mine will be very noticable.
JUST DON'T LOSE THE REMOTE!!
Customer Review: Way better than wrestling with CDs
Summary: 5 Stars
After about 22 years of collecting Music CDs the physical act of selecting a CD to listen to and cleaning up the clutter the cases created was a huge burden. I had heard about using a media server to play all my CDs so I bought the Roku Soundbridge specifically for this purpose. This device will allow you to tame your CD collection with only a few computer hardware upgrades and the reward is so worth it. You will rediscover your music collection again and can instantly play any song, artist, composer, album or playlist you want. Here is what I did:
1. Using Windows Vista 32bit and Windows Media Player 11 with Media Connect enabled.
2. Added a 500gb internal hard drive as a dedicated music drive for my CDs.
3. Ripped all my CDs into WMA lossless format (My PC knew I was in a 'rip' mode so it would eject after the rip to start another CD).
4. Connected the Roku Soundbrige to my Onkyo Receiver via digital connection.
5. Allowed the Roku to connect to my home wi-fi network (WEP) and connect to the WMP 11 Library.
6. Play anything in your ripped-CD collection from the Roku remote in a high quality format (I listen on Klipsch Tower speakers and the sound quality is as good as the original CDs). FYI - I only use iTunes for my phone since the 128kps squashed file sounds terrible on my full-range system.
The ROku is not as sophisticated as the PC in making playlists but it is fun to ask it to play everyting with the word "Cry" in the title on a whim - you will be surprised how many songs fit that descrition. I also make my auto-playlists on WMP and the Roku can access any of these for song selection on demand.
So I would reccomend the ROku SOundbridge as a good choice for playing your lossless digital music on a system that is not connected to the PC.
Customer Review: Bill Gates eat your heart out
Summary: 5 Stars
Truly a novelty in this Beta version, wait for our patch, call customer service in India for 2 hours, no money back even though it does not work world.
A product that does exactly what it says it will. Sets up with ease, hooks up to your stereo, finds all of your music in Windows Media Player and plays it when you want in the order you want loud enough for me and most people.
I bought a 50ft RCA cable to allow me to have the Roku in front of the TV play my music through the stereo which is located 30ft across the room.
Cons are minor, 2 line screen that displays your song collection in the same format and order as in WMP is a little small, slight loss of volume (before the 50ft cable) my old 100 watt Sony rack system at 80% volume and the Roku at 75% is loud enough with more power if needed. Music Search is as slow as your finger-slower than in WMP but fine. It is a great product.
If this is not enough you get Internet radio through the Roku without your PC's help (as long as the wireless network is live) it is pretty cool playing radio on the internet from across the world through your stereo.
Don't forget the Roku works by joining your existing wireless home network it does not create a wireless network. Love it.
Someone should buy a Roku Soundbridge for Bill Gates and half the Technology retail world, show them what a well built, quality, well tested, product looks like.
UPDATE December 2010. I had to buy a new power adapter otherwise my Roku works great. The company appears to have moved on to streaming video and working with Netflix and the like. Nevertheless my Roku still works great. Especially useful for playing free mp3 downloads from Amazon on my home stereo.