ON "SYMPHONY", A NEW ALTERNATIVE TO SONOS

MUSIC WITH A TWIST

Back in May, I had a glowing review for "Sonos", a product that enables the enjoyment of wireless music from multiple sources throughout your house.  The only major drawback to the system that I highlighted back then was the price:

The base system, which gives you two "Zoneplayers" and one Controller retails for around $1200, expensive, but not if you compare it to the cost of a traditional in-the-wall wiring through the house for an on-demand music system.  They're using that price umbrella because they can from early-adopter customers, much like how the Internet telephony companies like Vonage initially priced their all you can eat telephone services under the telco price umbrellas.  The prices will likely come down for this and other similar products as the technologies go mainstream.

Well, the mainstreaming has started.  There's a new kid on the block called "Symphony" by a company called Olive (via Om Malik), that offers a "Sonos like" experience for prices starting at $900 for the base receiver and $200 for each "Sonata" device that is placed in every room you'd like to hear different music. 

Also, what Om cites as a good feature, can potentially be a drawback for the majority of PC users out there.  As of now, the product ONLY works with Apple's Mac OS-X.  Nothing to see here for you Windows users.

The marketing seems a little confusing, since the home page highlights that "Symphony" is optimized for classical music.  It's not until one digs around the site, that it becomes clear that the system works for any music on one's PC or Mac, along with radio stations on the Internet.  But since the company since to have the backing/involvement of the "Olive Orchestra", a group of classical musicians, it seems to stress classical music over other genres.

This is not a bad thing, since most online music companies ranging from Apple's iTunes to Real's Rhapsody seem to stress every other genre except classical.  In general, the online music industry has not focused on the special needs of the classical music listener, and in that Symphony's focus is a good thing. 

But the marketing is a bit unclear on the web-site and they should clear it up.

The service also does not seem to support, at least for now, music subscription services like Real's Rhapsody and the like.  This is something I talked about in my earlier post, especially in terms of its convenience and appeal vs. buying music by the track a la iTunes. 

For now, the system seems to support up to five rooms vs. 32 for Sonos.  It's pretty easy to want a service like this in more than five locations in the house (I'm up to 9), once you get used to it.  This is an area they'll likely need to improve on.

A twist vs. Sonos is that the service seems to bundle a "CD pre-loading" service with the product.  Since the device has its own 80GB hard drive and a CD player (not clear if it's a burner as well), the company offers a "preload" service where you send them your CDs, and they load it onto the device for you before shipping.   Cool feature, but potentially limited in terms of  the relatively small hard drive. 

The web-site needs to explain all these features and pricing more clearly.  It's fairly complicated stuff for the mainstream user, especially in terms of choices of the quality level to use for "ripping" the CDs.  Stand-alone companies that provide this service charge anywhere from $0.50 to $1.00 or more for this service, depending on the options.

The other element to highlight, is that Symphony doesn't seem to offer a cool, wireless, hand-held, "iPod-like" controller like Sonos does.  That is a big difference for me personally, but its absence likely keeps the cost of the system down.

I've obviously not tried the new system and will keep an eye out for reviews, but it's an interesting new offering in the arena for wireless home music.  Now, I'm just waiting for more gadgets to offer wireless home video.

Comments

[Rathin Yagnik]

I considered Sonos (and Symphony), but in the end went with a simpler solution using Apple's AirPort Express. It works like a charm, and I now have access to all my music on my computer from anywhere in my apartment. For those complaining that you have to be locked into using iTunes only, check out an application called AirFoil which lets you access the AirPort express through any application -- and not just iTunes.