Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Sonos, wireless, music | Themes: Networking
3. ZonePlayer Setup and Installation
Now that the speakers were set up, I moved on to setting up the ZonePlayer 120. It came with a flat Ethernet cord, which I plugged into the back of the unit, and then into my wireless router. I connected the power cord, too. All that was left then was to install software on my computer so that the Sonos system could find all of my music—it lives on my PC, but if I kept my music on a network-attached storage drive instead, I could simply plug the NAS Ethernet cable right into the Sonos. A laptop would also work.
The Sonos system should be able to find music from any shared folder on any drive on your network. If you want to bypass finding music on your hard drives completely, Sonos will also connect to Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, Sirius Radio, and Internet radio stations to provide you with music. Free 30-day trials are available for these subscription services.
I prefer my own personal collection, though: high-quality FLAC (lossless audio) files painstakingly ripped from CDs—and mp3s from, uh, other sources—to various folders on my computer. I followed the prompts in the Sonos Desktop Controller software to force the ZonePlayer and SonosNet (wireless network) to see my music. The software found and recognized the ZonePlayer, and I named my zone (Office), but before I could move forward with the music-searching, the software prompted me to add the rest of my home’s zones before continuing.
Back of Zone Player 120
My next zone would be the living room—the home of my home theater. The ZonePlayer 90—without an amplifier—would plug into my two front speakers via my home theater receiver with digital amplifiers. The 90 doesn’t require a hard Ethernet connection (though it can use one), so I chose to use it with WiFi in the living room. Previous experience using WiFi with my SqueezeBox Classic has taught me that music signals sent over wireless can be flaky, but we’ll get to that in our tests later on.
The ZonePlayer 90 has ports to connect to the receiver via optical (digital TosLink), digital coaxial, and analog outputs. I chose optical, and connected the cable to an open optical slot on my receiver.
Optical Cable
Back of ZonePlayer 90
Having set up my second zone, I returned to the office PC to complete installation. The zone was recognized and I added it to the network as "Living Room."
After registering my hardware with Sonos, I was finally prompted to set up music. The Sonos network finds stored music via shared folders, so I set all of my music folders to shared status. By accepting the prompt to "Add music shared on this computer," the software began indexing my music library. You must go through this process with each music folder—I happened to have three, as I like to keep my CD-quality FLAC files separate from MP3s and other file types.
If you’re a big customer of the Apple iTunes music store, you’re pretty much out of luck. Remember that most tracks sold on iTunes are DRM-protected AAC files. Sonos won’t find these tracks, nor any other DRM-protected music files.
- Previous page What's in the Box and Speaker Wiring 101
- Next page Software Interface and Linked Zones
A couple of tips:
1) When scrolling through the artist list on the Sonos controller, push the soft button labelled "PowerScroll". This will allow you to skip straight to any letter in the alphabet, like the W you mentioned in the review. This function was added by Sonos a couple of years ago following customer requests.
2)Sonos can actually play some DRM protected files from stores that use MS Play for Sure technology.
3) Get your microwave checked out, the magnetron really shouldn't leak that much interference and may be unsafe. Getting a unit with better shielding won't just improve your wifi signals, it will help protect your husband's fertility more than getting that laptop of his thighs!
A couple of tips:
1) When scrolling through the artist list on the Sonos controller, push the soft button labelled "PowerScroll". This will allow you to skip straight to any letter in the alphabet, like the W you mentioned in the review. This function was added by Sonos a couple of years ago following customer requests.
2)Sonos can actually play some DRM protected files from stores that use MS Play for Sure technology.
3) Get your microwave checked out, the magnetron really shouldn't leak that much interference and may be unsafe. Getting a unit with better shielding won't just improve your wifi signals, it will help protect your husband's fertility more than getting that laptop of his thighs!
On the price comparison: With Logitech yet get two unamplified Zones for $599, to compare with the Sonos bundle you need to figure in the cost for an amp as well, which is included in the ZP120
Another note: Sonos does offer a "jump to" option to jump to a certain letter. It is on the left soft button (below the screen).
A couple of tips:1) When scrolling through the artist list on the Sonos controller, push the soft button labelled "PowerScroll". This will allow you to skip straight to any letter in the alphabet, like the W you mentioned in the review. This function was added by Sonos a couple of years ago following customer requests.2)Sonos can actually play some DRM protected files from stores that use MS Play for Sure technology.3) Get your microwave checked out, the magnetron really shouldn't leak that much interference and may be unsafe. Getting a unit with better shielding won't just improve your wifi signals, it will help protect your husband's fertility more than getting that laptop of his thighs!
Thanks Ro53ben, great advice about the microwave. It is likely an old machine.
The powerscroll function worked for me, but it still requires the gesture of scrolling, which can get tiresome, I found, If I was making a long list of songs.
On the price comparison: With Logitech yet get two unamplified Zones for $599, to compare with the Sonos bundle you need to figure in the cost for an amp as well, which is included in the ZP120
Thanks Avee. If you do another read of my review, you'll see that I did factor the amp into the price comparison. I said you'd need to pay (at the absolute least) $200 for an amp for your extra SqueezeBox unit, which would bring the price difference down quite a bit. I am assuming the consumer owns at least one amp (Sonos makes the same assumption with its bundle).
-Rachel
I know that this is a Sonos review, but since you brought up SB and Roku, I would like to see a more detailed comparison between them. SlimServer is a very powerful piece of (free!) software that is open source and has several plug-ins available for it. I haven't used SqueezeCenter yet. I don't know how the Sonos server compares. Also, since Roku can connect to SlimServer, it can reap all the rewards of it *at a much lower cost*...
I agree, you are giving Slim Devices the short end of the stick when overlooking its openness. There are alot of plugins. At least a year ago, this was not the case with sonos. This along with price is why I choose it over the Sonos. I am using a wireless PDA to control the slimserver. You can use your cell phone too. Why bother carrying another control when you cell is always right there?
Get your microwave checked out, the magnetron really shouldn't leak that much interference and may be unsafe. Getting a unit with better shielding won't just improve your wifi signals, it will help protect your husband's fertility more than getting that laptop of his thighs!
I have yet to see ANY microwave(high and low powered) not have some amount of impact on wireless B and G. A would have been a better choice(unless I missed it in there somewhere). We have gone through many a microwave so I can confirm that this is a normal behavior for a 2.4 GHZ device. 2.4 GHZ phones will static if they are analog skip if they are digital unless they are extremely powerful units.
Even the manual on many wireless routers warns about 2.4GHZ interference from phones/bluetooth and microwaves.
I can sit my laptop between 2(Yes 2) microwaves running and music is fine, but video is a lost cause. The router is fairly high powered.
Bottom line, you should have have to worry. Getting your access point higher may help. Changing the channels and seeing whats best is also a good idea.
Oppsy
you should NOT have have to worry
Just realised that you never mention how the Sonos controller is splash proof. I took the testing of this to the extreme...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqHdxVK9cvI
I have had Sonos for three years now. I have two Russound whole-house audio systems that are tied together giving me 12 zones throughout the house. I added a Sonos zone controller and have four hand held Sonos units. I could not be happier with the setup. I have Siruis radio and it streams in all 12 zones if I want. Also, I have found Sonos' customer support to be one of the best. It will be interesting to see if they keep it up as they grow.
Software in Sonos is pretty boring. eJukebox is better for parties.