Sonos Case Study

Here at Eye on Tech we’ve been thinking about the brilliant sonos system...again. We blogged a while ago about the sonos system and little has changed in the proceeding time, its still unique and we still want one.

So we thought to ourselves we know the sonos products can be expensive (unless you catch a bargain on spree4.) but how much would a full system cost? So we thought we’d have a case study. Lets say we are kitting out a 3 bed semi. We are sparing no expense but also not buying unnecessary high priced products when cheaper ones would be adequate. The sonos bridge will be connected to an existing wireless network that has an existing pc which will be used as the music server.

The house consists of 3 bedrooms, 1 bathrooms, 1 lounge, 1 dining room and 1 kitchen. We intend on placing a sonos wireless music system of some variety in each room except the 3rd bedroom.

First things first we need the sonos bridge that is simply placed with the wireless router. Than the lounge, in which we have an existing Hi Fi which we wish to connect to the sonos network. For this we will need the sonos connect which plugs into the hi fi as an auxiliary input. Next up the dining room which will need the power of the the Sonos play 5. The play 5 will be able to compete with the hifi in the lounge when playing different tracks, or compliment the hi fi when playing the same music. The Kitchen arguably the heart of the house and the place to be at any party. This was proabably the toughest call. You could argue again that the kitchen downright deserves a play 5. In the end we decided the play 3 would surfice, day to day the play 3 would only be used during cooking a play 5 seems excessive.

So now we head upstairs. The bathroom really has to be a play 3, anything else seems excessive for what is essentially a high functionality replacement for a shower radio. The bedrooms are much trickier. If we are talking a house with teenagers we may want another connect to attach to another non sonos hi fi, if its for lullabies for young children a play 3 would suffice for this case study we opt for the play 3. The master bedroom needs only a bare minimum of connection so again we suggest a play 3. Thanks to the presence of a media server on the nework and lets add sonos assume connection to a spotify account we dont require an iPod dock.

Finally how are we going to control the system? Sonos have now extended the support for their control apps. We are no longer limited to apple products or sonos' own custom controllers. Sonos allows the use of andriod phones and tablets as controllers. So the controllers are most definitly an optional extra. We do love the iPad control design though.

So whats the bill

Bridge	£34.00
Connect	£300.00
Play 5	£350.00
Play 3	£250.00
Play 3	£250.00
Play 3	£250.00
Play 3	£250.00
Total	£1,684.00

At around £1700 (or over £2k including an iPad) it isn’t small change, but not really exceptional for a high end music system. Sonos is an aspirational product, its not necessary something we would go without food to afford. If however you’ve got a spare 2 grand there are a lot worse things to spend it on.

Spoke to soon about Kindle Fire?

Did we dismiss kindle fire to soon. Only yesterday we blogged about the lack of a Kindle fire uk release date. Today rumours started to abound that an announcement is imminent. Apparently someone stumbled on a place holder page for the fire on amazon's uk site. This page is now gone but suggests they may have been getting it ready for its release. While in true Amazon fashion they are keeping schtum, but lets be fair most of the people we have access to will only know for sure when we do. It's been long rumoured that the release would be in January but as January evaporated as months tend to do it looked less and less likely, but perhaps they are going to sneak it in before the 1st of February.

Bad news is that its also been rumoured that Amazon has requested less fires be made in readiness for a drop in sales thanks to the rumoured iPad3 in the next few months. While the fact that they are getting ready for reduced sales of a product that has sold very well and has not even been released in europe might seem counter-intuitive it also does not surprise. This is not the first time were corporate decisions are made on a purely American founding.

How this will effect the Kindle touch is also unknown. (As i seem to be the only one who is more eager for the touch than the fire.)

Again if you really really can't wait perhaps you like to buy the kindle keyboard which is currently available for less than 50% of its rrp at spree4.com in the currently live buy now auction. Or the excellent Motorola xoom which you can bid on in our lowest unique bid auctions.

Have you tried our new auction yet?

Spree4 has a new auction type, and that type is Lowest Unique Bid auctions.

So what are lowest unique bid auctions? In a lowest unique bid auction you win if you are...well...the lowest unique bid. If you bid 5p and your the only one who has, than your bids unique. If their are no unique bids lower than yours when the auction closes you win. At spree4 the auction closes when the number of bids reach a maximum bid limit. A bid gauge will let you know how close the auction is to closing. We have created through much pain, sweat and tears an auction interface that we hope you'll love and will make the auction experience as fun as it can be.

If you'd like to try it we have created a mock auction that you can try for free and without registering on our how it works page (but unfortunately you wont be able to win it.)

We've also added tons of new products for you to buy at our usual extreme savings. For example we now offer the Sony 3d hd camera, the iPhone 4s and a fantastic Samsung tv. Bids cost only 10p why not give it a go. We'll even give you your first 2 credits free.

Tablet Rumours

As was the case in January last year, the rumour mill is quite fixated on tablet PCs. While the kindle fire has made good in roads in to breaking Apple's strangle hold of to be fair the Apple created market (in the US only). The rumoured immanent release of the iPad 3 may go somewhere to reversing the slide.

The iPad 3 is apparently already in production, so we shouldn't have any worries of no UK release (subtle dig at Amazon). First rumours on the specs are that it will boast a screen with a retina like 2048x1536 resolution, a quad core processor and the ever elusive micro sd extension slot.

Also the rumoured google tablet. This may be a true google product or a nexus styled re badge. It seems that corporate Google are laying heavy hints but the manufacturing arm is denying which suggests the re badge. Details are that it will be a small tablet and retail for around $200. Which sets it as a direct kindle fire competitor.

I've got to say i'm more open to the idea of the tablet than i was this time last year. Mobile media has become such an important part of everyone's life and a tablet is by far the best way to consume it. I've not decided if i should wait for the iPad 3, Kindle Fire (sigh) or the google tablet, or if i should grab the excellent Motorola xoom right now.

Decisions decisions.

Has Kindle Fire missed the boat?

Recently our friend The Kat wrote an impassioned, erm shall we call it an appeal? About the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Fire. Specifically about the lack of a UK release date. Like him we at spree4 have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the Kindle fire to appear on the horizon.

Have Amazon shot themselves in the foot though? Rumour is that google are about to wade into the market with their own small tablet. Prices are rumoured to be around $200 dollars making them competitive with the kindle, what's more we can't see google making the same mistake to not release their product to the European market. So if this rumour is true are Amazon making a large mistake? Well yes but they are making a large mistake anyway. Lots of our customers are eagerly awaiting the time they can get a Kindle at our low prices. They won't wait for ever. Like The Kat says many of them will end up snapping up the kindle keyboard for as little as £10 from us.

CES 2012 Bag of Rhythm

One of the most fun items at this years CES has got to be The house of Marley’s Bag of Rhythm. A ghetto blaster for the iPod generation. It looks pretty cool, channelling bongos for its design.

This product would not look out of place at the stone circle at Glastonbury festival or pride of place in a students bedroom. Using earth friendly materials boost its likely hood of being seen at Glasto 2013 as it will appeal not just to the “trendy crowd”/”welly washers” but to the eco friendly crowd to.

Indications are that the sound quality from its “Twin 1" tweeters, twin 4.5" high-definition woofers and a powerful amplifier” are worth the modest price tag of $350.

CES 2012 Highlights - Pure unveils Sensia 200D Connect

The original sensia was one of those products that on paper should have been a major seller. The sensia was supposed to be your one stop shop for radio. Boasting DAB, FM and internet radio if you couldn’t find the music you wanted on the sensia it didn’t exist. It had a cool design and included many features/gimmicks such as a touch screen and facebook/twitter apps. It failed to set the world alight though, personally I felt the price tag may have been to much for its target demographic and it never quite became the must have gadget it promised.

So let's fast forward to this weeks CES in Las Vegas and Pure have decided that now is the sensia time. They announced the release of the updated model the sensia 200D connect. The new model is generally a polished version of the original, but with the rather cool new features of recording onto any usb stick and the ability to stream music from your home pc.

I think pure may have made the grade this time. While the price tag is still high for a radio its not massively more than its competitors while trumping their features and looking so much better . Also its target demographic “the facebook” generation are a little older now and pure hope a little better off.