Digital Trends

Roku SoundBridge M2000 December 14th, 2004 | by Ian Bell

The more advanced user will love the fact that the SoundBridge is compatible with so many services and software because it gives you more freedom of choice. But for the novice user, it would have been a good idea for Roku to include software of their own packaged with the system; even if the software is not proprietary. Forcing the user to download the software from the Internet is an extra step that we could do without. Many people still do not have broadband in their homes, so having to download additional server software from the Internet can be time expensive, causing the setup process to be much longer that it needs to be.

In our opinion, streaming Internet music from an Internet radio station needs to be an absolute must for any networked media player. This can be very difficult to do if you are using Windows Media Connect. Since Windows Media Player 10 does not allow you to bookmark Internet radio stations in the same way that other media players do, you have to try and save the stream as a playlist, making it a little complicated to play it through the SoundBridge. iTunes user will have to do this as well, but it is much simpler to do. If you use SlimServer to interface with the SoundBridge then you can browse Internet radio stations using the Shoutcast listing, and it will show you the artist and ID3 information while it streams the station. We would like to see better support for Internet radio in upcoming firmware updates.

Apple iTunes and SlimServer

For iTunes users, the SoundBridge can play non-protected AAC, WMA, MP3, AIFF and WAV formats. As we mentioned before the SoundBridge is not compatible with DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected iTunes files. Because the SoundBridge interfaces directly with your iTunes software, you can browse by albums, artists, composers and use keyword searching. If you have more experience using iTunes with the SoundBridge please post either in our message boards or as a user review.

You will need to have SlimServer 5.2.1 or lower if you want their software to interface with the SoundBridge. The latest versions of the SlimServer software are not compatible unless you upgrade to the currently beta 2.1 firmware for SoundBridge. The SlimServer software is a little rough around the edges as far as how it works and interfaces when compared to Apple iTunes, but it will give you more features such as playlist creation and storage, features iTunes does not support. SlimServer supports non-protected MP3, WAV, AIFF, AAC plus WMA FLAC, Ogg and Apple Lossless. You can also customize the menu and look of the SoundBridge using the SlimServer software to include cool features like turning the SoundBridge into a clock radio or browsing Shoutcast for Internet radio station listings. And because SlimServer is open source software the community is always adding updates to the software.