4. In Use, Continued

As I worked my way through the configuration program and got both of the ZP80s set up, I was impressed by the quality of software. It appeared well thought out and professionally designed. Note that only the first ZP80 has to have network connectivity. Others (32 maximum) can connect wirelessly to the first (more on this later). Once the configuration was complete, a desktop controller program was available, (Figure 5) which let me play music with the ZP80.

Figure 5: The Sonos Desktop Controller

The desktop controller was a nice little program that did what you'd expect; I could choose and play music by song, album, artist, genre, etc. The device supported a number of different music formats including MP3, WMA, AAC (MPEG4), Ogg Vorbis, Audible (format 4), Apple Lossless, Flac (lossless), uncompressed WAV and AIFF.

Of course, DRM encrypted files, such as those purchased from the iTunes music store or stores that sell content for Windows Media Player, i.e. Microsoft"Plays-For-Sure," cannot be played. WMA Lossless files aren't supported, either.

For Windows users, Sonos does have a tie-in with the subscription-based Rhapsody service that allows you to play music from Rhapsody's servers. While the desktop application was well designed, the real attraction of the Sonos system was its remote controller.