Roku Unveils New Award-Winning Network Music Players; Roku SoundBridge Features Sleek Design, Large Display, Apple iTunes Support.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers 2004 International CES LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 2004 Delivering on its promise to make digital media more enjoyable in all areas of the home, Roku introduced its second product line today -- Roku SoundBridge network music players. The new Roku SoundBridge M1000 and M2000 products won 2004 CES Innovations Awards for excellence in design and engineering in the audio category. Now with Roku SoundBridge, consumers can listen to digital music that's stored on their computers, in any room of their homes, whether from the comfort of the couch or the convenience of the kitchen. Roku SoundBridge integrates easily into any home computer network, either through a Wi-Fi adapter or built-in Ethernet so that customers can listen to music, from their computers, on dedicated speakers or though any stereo system. Roku SoundBridge can access playlists from both Mac- and Windows-based computers, and supports more digital music than most network music players, by streaming music in MP3, WMA (Windows Media Audio) An audio compression method from Microsoft. Known originally as MSAudio, this proprietary format competes with the MP3 and AAC methods. WMA encodes rapidly and is known to be especially effective at low bit rates. , AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) An audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 standards. AAC, especially MPEG-4 AAC, provides greater compression and better sound quality than MP3, which also came out of the MPEG standard. , AIFF AIFF - Audio IFF and WAV formats. Roku SoundBridge has a bright vacuum florescent flo·res·cence n. A condition, time, or period of flowering. See Synonyms at bloom1. [New Latin fl display (VFD VFD abbr. volunteer fire department VFD (US) n abbr (= volunteer fire department) → freiwillige Feuerwehr f ) and a remote control so consumers can browse and select music by artist, title, album, or genre from across the room. "Roku SoundBridge is the best network music player on the market. It supports a wide variety of music formats, is easy to use, and has a huge display that can be read from across the room," said Anthony Wood, Roku founder and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "We are proud to give consumers innovative products that exceed their expectations for today's networked digital home." Roku SoundBridge works seamlessly with Apple digital home entertainment technologies such as AAC, an audio file format An audio file format is a container format for storing audio data on a computer system. The general approach towards storing digital audio is to sample the audio voltage (which on playback, would correspond to a certain position of the membrane in a speaker) of the used by iTunes 4 software jukebox. Roku SoundBridge is one of the first network music players to play music saved in AAC and parse native iTunes playlists, enabling Roku customers to stream iTunes music located on both Mac- and Windows-based computers. In addition, Roku SoundBridge supports Rendezvous, Apple's networking software that connects computers and devices automatically so that Mac users can easily network to their Roku products. Roku SoundBridge network music players are so sleek (M1000 is 10 inches wide x 2.37 inches in diameter and M2000 is 17 inches wide x 2.75 inches in diameter) and stylish that they can fit in any bookcase bookcase Piece of furniture fitted with shelves, formerly often enclosed by doors. In early times the ambry, or wall cupboard, was used to hold books. Bookcases were included in the medieval fittings of college libraries in Britain. or AV stack, and can even be mounted on a wall or under a cabinet. Tonight, Roku will demonstrate SoundBridge and the HD1000 high-definition digital media player at Pepcom's Digital Experience media showcase from 7-10 p.m. in the Las Vegas Mirage. In addition, Roku's products will be on display at the 2004 International CES Innovations Awards Showcase located at Silver Exhibits No. 70311. Pricing and Availability Roku SoundBridge M2000 will sell for $499.99 and Roku SoundBridge M1000 will have an introductory price of $249.99. Roku SoundBridge can be ordered from www.rokulabs.com beginning today and is expected to ship as early as February. Those who order a Roku SoundBridge from www.rokulabs.com before March 1 will receive a 10 percent discount, either $50 or $25, respectively. Roku SoundBridge will be in consumer electronics stores nationwide beginning in March. About Roku Roku is a privately held consumer electronics company located in Palo Alto, Calif., and founded by Anthony Wood, the inventor of the digital video recorder See DVR. (DVR (1) (Digital Video Recorder) A device that records video onto a hard disk from one or more ceiling mounted video cameras. Part of a security system, the DVR typically supports 4, 8 or 16 separate camera channels. ). Roku designs sleek digital media products that maximize the digital home entertainment experience. Roku's award-winning products include the Roku HD1000 high-definition digital media player for HDTV (High Definition TV) A set of digital television (DTV) standards that offer the highest resolution and sharpest picture. Although some HDTV sets are available in standard (rather square) screen sizes, the overwhelming majority of sets are wide screen, which eliminates and the Roku SoundBridge network music player. Based on open platforms, Roku's digital media products create new opportunities for developers to broaden the ways consumers enjoy digital home entertainment. For a photo of Roku Soundbridge, please send an email request to roku_soundbridge@arpartners.com. |
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