Posted by: David
Roku Soundbridge - 11/08/2004 08:30
My much-awaited Roku Soundbridge arrived this morning. Have only played with it a little, but it's pretty nice. I've got the M1000 model, which has the smaller screen.
It's completely plug-and-play and connected to my iTunes shared music instantly. Works well, but it buffers each track before it plays it and it doesn't seem to buffer upcoming tracks, so skipping tracks results in a pause while it fills the buffer. I think/hope this is something that will probably get addressed in a future update.
The interface is simple and efficient. Browsing for music is easy - you can search by artist, album, song, etc and jump through the alphabet with the left/right keys, then skip through the list with the up/down keys. It also picks up playlists from iTunes and provides the option to skip songs in iTunes that are unchecked.
The visualisations are a little disappointing, but that's coming from someone who is used to Toby's excellent work, so maybe my expectations are a little higher than the average consumer.
Build quality is very good - the aluminium is finished very well, the plastic endcaps are ok. The remote control is solid and well designed.
The VFD display is clear and bright; unfortunately the edges of the panel are clearly visible through the front panel - maybe tinting the front panel would have helped hide this, but it's a very minor cosmetic issue.
Overall, I'm very impressed. Having seen the effort that was required to get the first empeg players out the door, I can appreciate the hard work that Roku has put into this and understand the delays. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking to replace their ageing Rio Receiver.
It's completely plug-and-play and connected to my iTunes shared music instantly. Works well, but it buffers each track before it plays it and it doesn't seem to buffer upcoming tracks, so skipping tracks results in a pause while it fills the buffer. I think/hope this is something that will probably get addressed in a future update.
The interface is simple and efficient. Browsing for music is easy - you can search by artist, album, song, etc and jump through the alphabet with the left/right keys, then skip through the list with the up/down keys. It also picks up playlists from iTunes and provides the option to skip songs in iTunes that are unchecked.
The visualisations are a little disappointing, but that's coming from someone who is used to Toby's excellent work, so maybe my expectations are a little higher than the average consumer.
Build quality is very good - the aluminium is finished very well, the plastic endcaps are ok. The remote control is solid and well designed.
The VFD display is clear and bright; unfortunately the edges of the panel are clearly visible through the front panel - maybe tinting the front panel would have helped hide this, but it's a very minor cosmetic issue.
Overall, I'm very impressed. Having seen the effort that was required to get the first empeg players out the door, I can appreciate the hard work that Roku has put into this and understand the delays. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking to replace their ageing Rio Receiver.
All I can say is WOW WHAT A MACHINE!!!!!'
