News

Sonos Releases Feature Update Including Desktop Controller for the Mac and Support for Windows Media Audio Internet Radio Stations (28/7/2005)

Sonos Update Adds Support for Podcasting and Power Scroll Feature

Sonos, Inc., the developer of the award-winning Sonos Digital Music System, today announced the immediate availability of a software feature update that gives Sonos customers more ways to control their digital music and more content to listen to in every room of the house. Version 1.2 Sonos software includes the addition of a Sonos Desktop Controller for Mac(R) users and support for Windows Media(R) Audio (WMA) Internet radio stations.

The Sonos Desktop Controller for the Mac gives users full control over the Sonos Digital Music System from a Mac desktop. The Sonos update also adds support for the latest Apple iTunes(R) 4.9 release, allowing iTunes users to access their music collections, podcasts and iTunes playlists on the Sonos system.* The Sonos Desktop Controller for the Mac is compatible with Apple Mac OS(R) X 10.3 and 10.4.

On the content side, Sonos has added support for WMA Internet radio stations as part of the new update allowing Sonos users to add and listen to thousands of streaming Internet radio stations (MP3 or WMA) throughout their homes. The Sonos Digital Music System comes pre-loaded with more than 100 Internet radio stations, now including select BBC stations, KFOG-FM (SF), WBUR-FM (NPR-Boston) and WLS-AM (Chicago). Users can easily add more MP3 or WMA streaming stations by using the Sonos Desktop Controller for the Mac or the PC.

"Sonosâ mission is to bring the joy of multi-room digital music to as many people as possible," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "With the additional control and content features we have introduced, more digital music lovers, including Mac users and Internet radio fans, can get the most out of their Sonos system."

For digital music lovers with large music collections, Sonos has added a feature called "Power Scroll" which is unique to the Sonos Digital Music System. It gives Sonos users a shortcut for scrolling through large music libraries via a "scroll by letter" feature on their Sonos Controller. This allows users to easily navigate through their large music libraries to quickly find a specific artist, album or track name.

The latest Sonos update also provides a number of power user features, including:

á Increase in the systemâs library index capacity from 30,000 tracks to 40,000 tracks. á Support of volume normalization settings for iTunes (MP3, AAC files), Windows Media(R) Player (WMA, MP3 files) and FLAC encoders using ReplayGain. á Added ability to view tracks within playlists. á Support for additional sample rates, including: 48KHz, 32KHz, 24KHz, 22KHz, 16KHz, 11KHz, 8 KHz sample rate for both local files and Internet radio streams (44.1 KHz already supported). á New user preference settings, including line-in level settings and adjustable backlighting. á Support for bitmap album art.

Support for the new software feature update is available to all Sonos Digital Music System owners via their Sonos Controller.

*Apple proprietary AAC (Fairplay) files purchased from the Apple iTunes Music Store are not able to be supported.

www.sonos.com