Direct Access to Millions of Songs via Rhapsody Online Music Service is the Biggest Thing to Happen to Music at Home Since the CD Player
Sonos, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the digital home, released Sonos System Software 2.0, a revolutionary software update to its award-winning digital music system. As a direct result of close technical collaboration with RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) Rhapsody Web Services, Sonos 2.0 enables music lovers to connect directly to millions of songs and thousands of radio stations without ever installing an application or turning on a computer. By eliminating the time-consuming hassles of downloading or ripping a personal music library, this key innovation opens the world of multi-room digital music to anyone with a broadband connection. The one-button software update includes plug-and-play support for RealNetworks’ Rhapsody online music service, alarm functionality, improved multi-national Internet radio, additional language support, and other feature enhancements.
Sonos and the Rhapsody music service now provide music lovers direct access to millions of songs from the palm of their hand via the wireless Sonos Controller. The computer-free, direct-to-service architecture of Sonos 2.0 allows users to instantly browse and play music the moment they pick up the Controller. In tune with this innovation, every Sonos 2.0 user in the United States has access to a free 30-day trial of the Rhapsody music service, which features millions of songs from hundreds of genres, more than 100 commercial-free, professionally-programmed radio stations, and the ability to play customized radio stations based on your favorite artists.
“If there is one thing we consistently hear from our customers, it is that they enjoy more music with Sonos than they ever have before,” said John MacFarlane, Chief Executive Officer, Sonos, Inc. “Together, Sonos and Rhapsody now allow music lovers with a broadband connection to instantly access millions of songs all over their house.”
“Rhapsody and Sonos 2.0 gives consumers the best home digital music experience ever,” said Rob Glaser, chairman and CEO, RealNetworks. “For the first time, music lovers can easily choose and listen to any of Rhapsody’s 2 million songs anywhere in their home. They don’t even have to turn on a PC. Our collaboration with Sonos is a key step in our efforts to empower consumers to enjoy their own personal music experience anywhere, anytime, and from any device.”
“The time spent ripping and managing a digital music collection leaves a lot to be desired for many music lovers,” said Mike McGuire, Research Vice President, Mobile Devices and Consumer Services, Gartner Dataquest. “This is particularly true of those users who have huge music collections, but no interest in investing limited free time fiddling with technology to digitize their libraries.”
The new Sonos plug-and-play experience with Rhapsody offers music lovers a variety of industry-first features, including:
- Mac, Linux and PC users can now enjoy Rhapsody in every room. With Sonos 2.0, Mac, Linux and PC users alike will be able to access the world-class Rhapsody experience anywhere in the home.
- Discover new music with Rhapsody’s Artist Radio. Just pick your favorite artist and Rhapsody creates a radio station with music from that artist as well as similar artists–to play all over the house.
- Built-in music charts. Sonos 2.0 provides access to Rhapsody’s charts of the top 100 songs, artists and albums in hundreds of music genres, making it faster and easier to find and play great music–from the bedroom to the backyard.
- Create an instant music library. When you hear a song that you like in the Rhapsody Music Guide or on Rhapsody Radio, you can instantly add the song or entire album to your music library– right from the palm of your hand.
Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.0 include the following:
- Alarm feature turns every Sonos zone into a musical alarm — providing clock, snooze, sleep timer, and scheduling capabilities that allow you to wake up, fall asleep or work out to your favorite music or Internet radio station.
- Expanded Internet radio guide with more than 300 pre-programmed stations, organized by country.
- French, Italian and Spanish language support.
- Automatic indexing of your music library, allowing you to schedule updates on a daily basis–ideal for enjoying daily Audible.com content or podcasts.
- Improved scroll-wheel performance for selecting single items from ever larger lists of music.
- The maximum local library and queue size has been expanded to 50,000 tracks.
- Support for the album artist tag; plus, the Apple iTunes compilation setting, making it easier to browse through your music library.
- Gapless MP3 playback (of files encoded with Lame).
- Gapless Ogg Vorbis playback.
For more information about the features of Sonos Software 2.0, please visit: http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates/.
The Sonos Digital Music System is the first and only wireless multi-room music system with a full-color Controller that lets consumers enjoy digital music all over the house. To learn more about Sonos, to place an order or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer, please visit www.sonos.com.
About Sonos, Inc.
Sonos is the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the digital home. By partnering with audio services like Rhapsody, eMusic, RadioIOSM, Audible.com, and more, Sonos gives music lovers instant plug-and-play access to millions of songs and books that can be enjoyed all over the house. The award-winning Sonos Digital Music System is available at more than 500 retailers and custom integrators in North America, including Tweeter, Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy, Magnolia Audio Video, Amazon.com, and Crutchfield, or direct from Sonos at sonos.com. Sonos is also sold in more than 30 countries around the world. Sonos is a privately-held company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA with offices in Cambridge, MA and Hilversum, Netherlands. To find out more about the company or the Sonos Digital Music System, please visit: www.sonos.com.
