How to stream music to every room…

If you’ve always wanted to fill your home with music, then you need a multi-room audio system that allows you to listen to your favourite tunes in whatever room you care to be in.

You know about the Sonos, it’s been around for ages, and was one of the pioneers for multi-room audio. Well, the technology they brought into the market has come on in spades and, especially now, it’s more affordable than ever.

So, if you’re after a music-streaming device that won’t take up your whole pad, looks stylish and still won’t send your bank under, then allow us to guide you through the music-streaming mine field and pluck some of the best units…


Apple Airport Express Base Station
Music streaming is just one of several strings to the Apple Express’s bow (as the name suggests.) You can also use it to boost your Wi-Fi signal and share a printer over a home network. It’ll work with both Windows PCs and Macs, but you still have to use iTunes. That said it’s tiny, compact and as cheap as they come at around £50. Nifty!


Logitech Squeezebox Duet
Designed for the music maestro who has already amassed a whopping library of digital tunes, you’ll be glad to make this your current squeeze (Arf!). As the name suggests it’s a two-part set-up – the Wi-Fi-enabled Squeezebox which plugs into your hi-fi via digital or analogue cables – and the remote control. Just install the software on your computer and your tunes get imported from iTunes or Windows media Player. Natch!


Philips WACS7500
Okay, not exactly budget, but if you don’t have a hi-fi or a PC ,and you’re about as technically minded as, say, your grandmother, then this media streamer is probably worth its weight in gold. It’s incredibly easy to use, see. Just set the main and secondary units up, power them up, and hey presto – they connect wirelessly. Then just rip your entire Enrique Iglesias collection to the 80GB hard drive and you’re away. You can even add up to four more units. Be warned, they cost around £180 a pop though! Stylish!


Sonos Bundle
The granddaddy of the music streaming world, the Sonos is far from having to wear incontinent pants just yet. It’s still expensive, but that said, prices have come down quite a bit since it was first launched. The Sonos multi-room system chucks audio from an audio source to any room with a Zone Player, allowing you to control sound levels via the click wheel remote, PC software or even an iPhone! You can hook up to the internet for a choice of thousands of radio stations. Best of all, you can add up to 32 units to fill every room in your mansion, including the orchard, Daddy Warbucks! Awesome.

Music streamers coming soon…
Nokia Home Music
Coming soon is Nokia’s entrance into the home. Nokia Home Music won’t stream music to other devices or speakers, but it will play tunes from your PC or phone without the need for cables. It’ll also play tracks from Comes With Music and tune into the internet! Nice.

Cisco Music Streamer
The Cisco music streamer is a potential Sonos assassin. Many have tried, few have succeeded. The secret weapon here, see, is the lack of hub, so you don’t even need a computer. It just hooks up to any device capable of being networked (hard drives, PS3s, Xbox 360s, mobiles), and even comes with an iPod dock.

Get chatting about media streamers on the PriceRunner forums.

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