Re: updated soundbridge info; itunes integration

Mike Kobb <mjkobb <at> rokulabs.com> writes:

> 
> Glad to hear it!
> 
> It's not quite like Airport Express.  With Airport Express, you basically
> have a remote set of speakers, but the UI is still iTunes on your computer.
> With SoundBridge, you use the remote control and the built-in display.
> 
> Net result: you can listen to music in a different room from your computer
> and have full control.
> 
> Also, you can have up to 5 SoundBridge units in different rooms all playing
> from the same collection (but all playing whatever the person in that room
> wants to hear), whereas Airport Express supports only one remote set of
> speakers at a time.
> 
> --Mike
> 

Will the SoundBridge be able to access music files from a Network share much 
like the HD1000 does?  I have two HD1000's that access my music collection 
sitting on a NAS.  I do not want to have to run iTunes or SlimServer to play 
my music from the SoundBridge.

Also I am sad to hear no native WMA support for the SoundBridge (or even the 
HD1000)...With so many other hardware vendors able to provide native WMA 
support to their equipment I was hoping Roku would do the same (the SlimServer 
option is not a good fit for me - I do not want to have a PC running to listen 
to my music).  I use WAV for archival purposes (this is what the HD1000's 
access) and WMA for portable device usage.  Wave is not optimal because of the 
lack of tag support.  Ideally I would like your devices to natively play a 
lossless format (either WMA-Lossless or FLAC) so I could get rid of the Wave 
files all together (I am not a big fan of AAC - I don't want to get into a 
religious war with anyone it is just that AAC and iTunes do not fit into my 
current or future audio/video plans).  I know you support MP3 on both put I 
find it to be to fat and audio quality leaves something to be desired (at 
least on the HD1000's connected to my stereos - on my devices it would be fine 
but I still think WMA beats MP# and AAC in Aduio quality).