Sonos on Thursday announced the release of Sonos System Software 2.0, a major upgrade to the software that drives its wireless multi-room music systems. Among the improvements is support for RealNetworks’ Rhapsody Web Services, which provides Sonos users with access to subscription-based music content anywhere in their house.
The Sonos system works with a combination of the ZonePlayer — a device that connects to a Mac or PC and streams audio content throughout a house over a wireless network; matched speakers; and wireless remote controls with embedded color LCD screens that provide you with playlist management capabilities and other features.
With Rhapsody Web Services support, Sonos 2.0 enables users to connect directly to RealNetworks’ Rhapsody service without having to go through a computer first. The service provides users with subscription-based access to millions of songs. What’s more, Sonos 2.0 users in the United States get access to a free 30-day trial of the service.
Also new in this release is support for alarms, an expanded Internet radio guide with more than 300 pre-programmed stations, French, Italian and Spanish language support, automatic indexing of daily music files, iTunes compilation support, gapless MP3 playback (for files encoded with LAM), gapless Ogg Vorbis file support and more.