SoundBridge: Music Streaming Done (Mostly) Right

Every January, a small army of we PC Worlders head to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show. And every year, we have to remind ourselves that the show is an exercise in delayed gratification: Much of the coolest stuff we see won?t actually hit the market until much, much later in the year.

Back in January 2004, one of the slickest products I previewed was Roku Labs? SoundBridge, an elegant device for streaming digital music from a computer to a stereo system. Nine months later, I?ve finally had the chance to try it. And after living with it for a little bit, I?m excited about it all over again, despite a few quirks.

I tried the $250 SoundBridge M1000, a cylindrical device with an LCD display, a Wi-Fi adapter (a non-Wi-Fi version is $200), and RCA ports for connection to a stereo. The M1000 is the little brother of the $500 M2000, whose large pricetag is explained by its large size?it?s an oversized unit with a 12-inch display for easy reading across the room.

The niftiest thing about both SoundBridges?and something that sets them apart from most of the countless music streamers on the market--is how they talk to a computer. Rather than making you install proprietary software, they?re simply clients for Apple?s free ITunes?a software product which sensible digital music lovers already have and use. Which means that setting up the SoundBridge is remarkably easy (it took me about five minutes), and ITunes music and playlists are instantly available via the SoundBridge?s nicely-designed remote control.

All of this makes the SoundBridge feel like ?ITunes over your stereo.? Mostly, that?s terrific, although it supports only unprotected songs, not ones you've bought from Apple's ITunes Music Store. And it does mean that ITunes? limitations?like its sparse format support?are also SoundBridge limitations. There is a way around this: The SoundBridge also talks to Slim Devices? SlimServer, the open-source software client for the Squeezebox music streamer. SlimServer supports music formats like Windows Media and Ogg Vorbis, works under Linux, and generally offers more tweakability than ITunes. (I haven't tried the Squeezebox, incidentally, but my colleague Matthew Newton owns one and loves it to pieces.)

The hitch is that when the SoundBridge talks to SlimServer, its LCD/remote user interface is different, and less intuitive, than when you use it with ITunes. And Roku doesn?t seem that keen on its users trying the SlimServer option?it says it?s not officially supported (which is an odd stance considering that it?s promoted in advertising for the product, and the company offers a downloadable PDF with tips on using it). I'm an ITunes aficionado these days, so this isn't a deal-breaker for me, but it could be a problem if you prefer flexibility over simplicity.

The only other gotcha with the SoundBridge is temporary, I hope: It?s still not readily available. Though it finally started officially shipping, Roku?s site says that it?s now back-ordered until late October. If that?s because it?s popular, I?m not surprised?if you like music, use ITunes (but haven't bought a ton of music from the ITunes store), and have a home network, it?s a joy to have around the house. Look for more on it in the upcoming December issue of Digital World.