New Software From Sonos Lets Music Lovers Find Any Song From the Palm of Their Hand, and Play it all Over the House

New Software From Sonos Lets Music Lovers Find Any Song From the Palm of Their Hand, and Play it all Over the House

Sonos Adds Search and Direct-to-Service Support for Napster & Best Buy Digital Music Store Strengthening Industry Leading Content Offering

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonos(R), Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the digital home, today released Sonos System Software 2.5. Sonos 2.5 is a feature-packed software update to the award-winning digital music system that enables music lovers to enjoy a multi-million song jukebox experience all over the house. The one-button software update features music search, plug-and-play support for the Napster(R) music subscription service and the Best Buy Digital Music Store and more.

Music search is a key component of the award-winning Sonos Digital Music System, allowing Sonos customers to fully enjoy the million-song jukebox experience. With millions of songs to choose from, Sonos search allows music lovers to find and play the songs they want from the Best Buy Digital Music Store, the Napster music subscription service, the Rhapsody(R) Online Music Service, as well as their own music libraries. With the wireless Sonos Controller in hand, music lovers can quickly search by artist, album or track.

Sonos continues to give music lovers more and more music right out of the box. Sonos customers can now connect directly to Napster's catalog of more than 5 million tracks without having to install an application or turn on a computer. With Napster on Sonos, you can enjoy music from Napster's massive catalog, plus easy access to its music discovery tools such as Billboard Charts, pre-programmed playlists, staff picks, new releases, music sorted by genre, and commercial-free radio stations. In addition, Napster's innovative automix discovery feature finds and plays tracks like the one you're listening to. With a single click, automix queues up hours of related music, streaming a customized playlist based on the Napster community's music preferences.

Each Sonos customer in the US, Canada, Germany and the UK will receive a free 30-day Napster Trial-no signup or credit card required. Following the 30-day trial, Sonos customers can subscribe to Napster for $9.95 per month.

"With Sonos 2.5, we continue our commitment to listen to our customers and improve the music experience in the home," said John MacFarlane, Chief Executive Officer, Sonos, Inc. "Our latest software release marks the arrival of a new way to enjoy music at home by fully realizing the dream of a giant jukebox where you can find any tune and play it in any room."

"Sonos is one of the few companies that really understands that music should be easy to get and that it shouldn't require a PC to make the solution work," said Rob Enderle Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. "The next generation of home entertainment is all about multimedia services in the Internet cloud. This move by Sonos represents the next big step in music towards making that vision a reality."

Sonos 2.5 also includes direct support for the Best Buy Digital Music Store powered by Rhapsody(R). Sonos customers with a Best Buy Digital Music Store subscription can seamlessly access all of the music they love on Sonos. Plus, Best Buy will be demonstrating the Sonos direct-to-service approach at locations throughout the country that feature a multi-zone Sonos display.

   Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.5 include:   -- Support for long track, artist and album names via text-scrolling on      the wireless Sonos Controller.   -- Better zone management.  It is now possible to drop all grouped zones.   -- More ways to queue up music.  It is now possible to add a track and      clear the queue at the same time.  This was one of the most requested      features by the Sonos community.   -- Improved compatibility with Microsoft Windows(R) Home Server and      Infrant ReadyNAS(TM) for centralized storage and organization.   -- Enhanced support for Apple Computer's Airport Extreme(R).   

For a flash demonstration of PC-free, direct access to music services on Sonos, please visit: http://www.sonos.com/demos/house_demo/en/. For more information about the features of Sonos Software 2.5, please visit: http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates/.

Sonos is the first wireless, multi-room digital music system that lets you play digital music all over your house -- and control it from the palm of your hand. With a wireless Sonos Controller, you'll have plug-and-play access to millions of songs -- including online music and radio services, and your personal digital music collection. And, with Sonos ZonePlayers in the rooms of your choice, you can play the same song in different rooms, or different songs in different rooms! To learn more about Sonos, please visit www.sonos.com.

About Sonos, Inc.

Sonos(R) is the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the digital home. By partnering with audio services like Audible.com(R), Best Buy Digital Music Store, eMusic(R), Napster(R), Pandora(R), Rhapsody(R), SIRIUS Internet Radio and more, Sonos gives music lovers instant plug-and-play access to millions of songs, unlimited radio and audiobooks that can be enjoyed all over the house. The award-winning Sonos Digital Music System is available at more than 2500 retailers in over 50 countries worldwide; or direct from Sonos at www.sonos.com. Sonos is a privately-held company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA with offices in Cambridge, MA, Hilversum, Netherlands and Penang, Malaysia. To find out more about the company or the Sonos Digital Music System, please visit: www.sonos.com.

Sonos is a registered trademark of Sonos, Inc. in the United States, Canada and Australia, and a trademark of Sonos, Inc. in other countries. Sonosnet, ZonePlayer and all Sonos logos are trademarks of Sonos Inc. in the United States and other countries. Rhapsody is a registered trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. All other products and services may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Sonos, Inc.

CONTACT: Thomas Meyer, +1-949-212-6201, Thomas.meyer@sonos.com; Rachel
Stagnaro, +1-805-965-3001 ext 275, +1-805-450-3570 (cell),
Rachel.stagnaro@sonos.com, both of Sonos, Inc.

Web site: http://www.sonos.com/
http://www.sonos.com/demos/house_demo/en
http://www.sonos.com/support/software_updates

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Profile: International Entertainment