tuned your home stereo on!
When most people think of home stereo, what comes to mind is usually basic information that's not particularly interesting or beneficial. But there's a lot more to home stereo than just the basics.
What am I talking about here? Consider that when you’ve got a Sonos ZonePlayer connected to your home stereo system, and you’re sitting in front of that system—rather than in front of your computer—it doesn’t really matter where music is stored: on your computer, on a network drive, or somewhere on the Internet. Nor does it necessarily matter whether or not you “own” that music or if you can transfer it to your iPod. What matters is that you have instant access to the content—you just want to be able to call up a track and play it, or stick it in a playlist, right then and there in your living room. In this context, not only does a subscription service work, but it’s downright attractive. For $10 a month—less than the cost of a single CD, or the same price as an album on the iTunes Store—you have instant access to somewhere in the neighborhood of a million tracks. Feel like hearing David Bowie? You can listen to him all afternoon. Have a playlist of 80s favorites you’ve set up? Press play and they’re
streamed to your stereo. It’s a bit like on-demand cable television—you pay a fee in order to have instant access to virtually any music at any time through your home entertainment system.
I trust that what you've read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.
Sure, the quality of subscription-service audio isn’t as good as music you’ve ripped yourself (although that’s true of iTunes-purchased music, as well). And if you’re a heavy portable-player user, subscription services still have significant flaws. But if you listen to most of your music while at home, being able to instantly play back nearly any song you can think of is a compelling feature. And in this particular case, the Sonos system, with its Controller’s large, clear display and iPod-like scroll-wheel interface, makes accessing that content easy and allows you to listen in every room where you’ve got a ZonePlayer. And at only $10 a month, the cost of the Rhapsody subscription is low enough that it’s easy to justify using both Rhapsody and a for-purchase service such as iTunes or eMusic.
Sometimes it's tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you'll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.
What am I talking about here? Consider that when you’ve got a Sonos ZonePlayer connected to your home stereo system, and you’re sitting in front of that system—rather than in front of your computer—it doesn’t really matter where music is stored: on your computer, on a network drive, or somewhere on the Internet. Nor does it necessarily matter whether or not you “own” that music or if you can transfer it to your iPod. What matters is that you have instant access to the content—you just want to be able to call up a track and play it, or stick it in a playlist, right then and there in your living room. In this context, not only does a subscription service work, but it’s downright attractive. For $10 a month—less than the cost of a single CD, or the same price as an album on the iTunes Store—you have instant access to somewhere in the neighborhood of a million tracks. Feel like hearing David Bowie? You can listen to him all afternoon. Have a playlist of 80s favorites you’ve set up? Press play and they’re
streamed to your stereo. It’s a bit like on-demand cable television—you pay a fee in order to have instant access to virtually any music at any time through your home entertainment system.
I trust that what you've read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.
Sure, the quality of subscription-service audio isn’t as good as music you’ve ripped yourself (although that’s true of iTunes-purchased music, as well). And if you’re a heavy portable-player user, subscription services still have significant flaws. But if you listen to most of your music while at home, being able to instantly play back nearly any song you can think of is a compelling feature. And in this particular case, the Sonos system, with its Controller’s large, clear display and iPod-like scroll-wheel interface, makes accessing that content easy and allows you to listen in every room where you’ve got a ZonePlayer. And at only $10 a month, the cost of the Rhapsody subscription is low enough that it’s easy to justify using both Rhapsody and a for-purchase service such as iTunes or eMusic.
Sometimes it's tough to sort out all the details related to this subject, but I'm positive you'll have no trouble making sense of the information presented above.
