Sonos turns your iPhone into music player remote, streams new stations
Sonos, a company specializing in multi-room wireless music players, has launched an application that turns an average iPhone or iPod Touch into a remote control for its sound system. It also announced that its ZonePlayer product — which lets you set up wirelessly networked speakers throughout your house — has started streaming music from Internet radio stations Last.fm and Pandora.
The remote control app is available now through the iTunes App Store, and works on devices running software version 2.0 or later. It will actually end up lowering the overall price of Sonos sound systems, which used to require the purchase of the Sonos CR100 Controller for about $400. The app has almost identical functionality.
Previously, the system had provided music from Napster, Rhapsody and Sirius for a subscription fee. With the additions of Last.fm and Pandora, the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based company has introduced a database (provided by web radio company RadioTime) of 15,000 free web radio shows that can be streamed to speakers on-demand.
These changes may give Sonos a leg up over its competitors in the streaming audio field. Apple’s AirPort Express and Apple TV products allow for multi-room music play, and can clearly be controlled by iPods and iPhones as well. However, they are closely tied to iTunes, and don’t offer as much to those interested in non-Apple material. The major contender now and in the future is likely to be the Logitech Squeezbox, a bit cheaper than Sonos’ ZonePlayer, and with similar bells and whistles — except the iPhone/iPod remote, that is.
Next Story: Third time’s a charm: Free Wi-Fi at AT&T hotspots for all iPhone owners
Previous Story: Martha smiles on event manager Pingg, leads $2.8M round
About the Author, Camille Ricketts
Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.
-
thecolor