I recently purchased a Roku SoundBridge M1000 Network Music System from Amazon and it was one of my best purchases ever.
I have a subscription to Rhapsody and I also have a HP Media vault which can stream both audio and video to compatible devices. Roku worked with nearly Zero configuration with Rhapsody. This is all I did
1) Enable or start the Rhapsody server
2) Connect Roku to my receiver and switch on the device. It asked me for the language and timezone and then the wireless settings. I have a Belkin wireless router which can support data transfer rates of upto 300 Mbps.I had to enter my WEP key and it was really a pain to navigate through the keyboard.
3) As soon as Roku was able to connect to my wireless network it automatically updated itself .
4) Then it searched for compatible streaming inputs and it recognized both my Rhapsody and media vault server.I stored only my Rhapsody tracks in the rhapsody server and all other songs in my media vault to be streamed by the media vault server.
5) The display is cool and precise. It displays the time when it is switched off and it is sitting really pretty in my bedroom on top of the TV. My amplifier is right below the TV so all the wires are neatlly tucked in the back
6) Ok . Here is the cool part my wife finally fell in love with an electronic device I bought. She wanted to listen to Elliot Yamin’s songs . All I had to do was go over to my rhapsody and download the subscription tracks. I went to Roku and searched for the artist and then played the songs . All this happened within a span of 5 minutes
The audio is crystal clear . I did not even use the Digital Out which was provided as an option as I am using the Digitial In in my receiver for the DVD player.
The most efficient way to use Roku is to create your own categories as playlists and use the Roku device just to play them. Navigating through thousands of songs is not going to be easy.
My verdict : Roku Soundbridge rocks !!!
