Sonos Digital Music System BU130

[ Music ] ^M00:00:09 >> I'm John Falcone, senior editor at CNET.com and this is the Sonos wireless system, the BU130 edition. This is the latest bundle in Sonos' product line and it's yet another Editor's Choice. In terms of hardware, this is exactly the same hardware that Sonos has offered in the past. And this is a two-room system expandable up to thirty-two rooms as you buy more of these two bay stations. This one, the larger one, the ZP100 zone player, has a built in amp so you just hook speakers to this and this one is ready to go. The smaller one the ZP80, is obviously a lot smaller, does not have a built in amp and you need to hook it to a AD receiver or a boom box or a set of powered speakers so as you can hear music from this one. But the idea here is that you can put these anywhere in the house, they wirelessly communicate with each other and with the key part of the equation, the Sonos remote. What's really great about this system is that it has compatibility about as far and wide as the eye can see in terms of digital audio. Plays pretty much every audio file formats out there. And it even works with several for the online music stores. It also has Rhapsody and Pandora compatibility. Both of those services you can access right through the remote and all that is accessible and controllable through the remote which is really easy to operate. So what's the down side? There are just a few. The remote doesn't have a removable battery and it always makes us a little nervous. And while this is a wireless system one of them does need to be connected with an Ethernet cable to your existing home network so it has access to the network and the internet at large. The last problem is of course no matter how compatible this is, it can't play the iTunes protected music. That being said, and despite it's somewhat high price we still think for multi room digital audio system the Sonos BU130 is pretty much the best option out there and that's why it's our Editor's Choice. I'm John Falcone for CNET and this is the Sonos BU130 digital music system. ^M00:02:42 [ Music ]