In a raft of announcements, Sonos today confirmed the existence of the $US99 ZoneBridge 100, and launched two more PC-free music-store options on the system, including Napster and Best Buy's new Digital Music Store.
The cute little ZoneBridge is actually the best part of the news to me: rather than paying for a $US350 ZonePlayer to connect to your router (which may be somewhere that will never need music), you can drop $100 to start the connection. As we told you earlier, ZoneBridges will also be good for fleshing out the mesh network in big-ass homes.
The addition of the two music programs means that the Sonos now has a heady number of music-source choices. Both Rhapsody and Napster offer free anonymous no-credit-card one-month trials, so you'd be dumb not to try out both for the duration before making a decision. I've traditionally favoured Rhapsody, but Napster is coming in $3 lower, at $US10 per month, so that's going to make it a contender.
The Best Buy Digital Music Store is a Rhapsody-powered service that will cost $US15 per month and won't have a free trial. However, it is a way for Best Buy to promote Sonos systems in the store, so I guess it has its purpose. Sonos also has Sirius and Pandora on the dial, for still more options. At some point, does it get too crowded in that Controller? I am starting to wonder. [Sonos]
