Wired: Sitting somewhere in between plugging your laptop into a stereo system and installing multi-room audio into the walls of your house sites Sonos, which makes digital audio systems that I’ve likened to the “iPod Home” product Apple never made.
Sonos has upgraded its Digital Music System with the help of a Cal Tech professor, increasing the wireless range of its devices while shrinking their footprint. The amplified Sonos ZonePlayer 120 (pictured, speakers not included) is about half the size of its predecessor. And all the new units have about double the range, thanks to a third antenna and a new processor.
But of course, this product does not exist in a vacuum. Apple recently released a remote control application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that can control iTunes from anywhere in the house. Combined with an inexpensive Airport Express, Apple’s solution offers far cheaper sound system playback of digital music files than a typical Sonos system (amplified ZonePlayer, unamplified ZonePlayer, and color Wi-Fi remote).
But Sonos co-founder Tom Cullen told us he’s not too worried about competition from Apple, because its system can’t handle multi-room audio.
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