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Sonos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the music device manufacturer. For the computer memory system, see SONOS.
| Sonos | |
 |
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | |
| Headquarters | Santa Barbara, California |
| Key people | John MacFarlane, CEO |
| Industry | Audio equipment |
| Products | Sonos Digital Music System |
| Employees | 80 (2006 approx.) |
| Website | www.sonos.com |
Sonos is a private company founded by John MacFarlane, who previously founded Software.com, that makes the Sonos Digital Music System.
The Sonos Digital Music System is a modular set of digital appliances that replaces a home stereo system. The appliances work together to form a zoned hi-fi in which different zones may play the same or different sounds.
The main appliance is a "ZonePlayer", a small computer and wireless network hub with analog audio outputs. Each ZonePlayer takes the place of a traditional component stereo amplifier, but with only a minimal control interface (controls on the ZonePlayer faceplate are limited to volume-control and a Mute button). The stereo is controlled mainly via wireless network, from a separate controller module or from an application on a home computer. ZonePlayers supply analog line-in and line-out RCA jacks, just as a conventional stereo. The flagship "ZP100" player includes a power amplifier and can be connected directly to loudspeakers. The "ZP80" player, in addition to analog line-in and line-out connections, has digital toslink and digital coax outputs that must be connected to a conventional amplifier.
Multiple ZonePlayers in a single household will auto-detect one another and form a synchronous mesh network, so that music can be played simultaneously in separate zones. The line-in port on each player may be played simultaneously in all the zones. The system is intended to play music from a digital repository such as a Microsoft Windows or Macintosh file share, or a Samba server. It can also stream audio via MP3 and WMA streams, internet radio stations such as Shoutcast and subscription music services such as the Rhapsody (online music service). While the user can specify streaming from an arbitrary URL, the system is shipped with several hundred stations in a preset list.
The ZonePlayers include ethernet jacks, and can be used as a virtual ethernet connection for normal network traffic: network traffic is bridged silently between all the ZonePlayers in a single system.
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