Stephen Mejias

When John Atkinson reviewed Sonos's original ZP80 Bundle, he fell in love with the company's CR100 controller which uses a full-color, 3.5" LCD screen to provide easy navigation of music files on up to 16 network devices and displays all the metadata associated with each track, including album art. JA wrote:

This controller is one of the neatest consumer-electronics products I have encountered: it is sealed to prevent damage from liquid splashes; it has modes for both deep and shallow sleep, from which it can roused by being picked up; and as well as a motion sensor, it has a light detector so that its control buttons are automatically backlit when the ambient light drops below a preset threshold….

Not only are its ergonomics superb; the sheer convenience of being able to browse my music collection from wherever I am in the house, and to control music for any system in the network regardless of what room I happen to be in, are boons.

Indeed, inspired by Apple's iPod, the CR100 is like an iPod for your home. But at 6.4" by 4" by 9.6", the thing is sort of big and clunky, and can't quite match the iPod's allure.

That may change today with Sonos's new CR200 controller. Compared to the CR100, it is smaller, cooler, smarter, and it includes a charging cradle. It feels much more comfortable in your hand than the large CR100, adding to that allure factor, and, while it's smaller, it maintains the 3.5" full-color screen. Touch the screen and it does stuff. You can search through your own music library or hit the Web for seemingly endless options. The Sonos CR200 controller puts you in touch with Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, internet radio, and downloads from any service offering DRM-free tracks. You can, of course, control the music from anywhere in your home, adjust the volume for all zones at once, or individually, and do so via SonosNet, Sonos's secure network, for supposedly fast, seamless wireless performance. The CR200 costs $349. Sonos's new BU250 Bundle ($999) includes a CR200, as well as the company's upgraded ZP120 and ZP90 Zone Players.

Sonos CEO, John MacFarlane, stopped by our office a couple of weeks ago to offer a brief demonstration. It went well. We were impressed. Only problem was MacFarlane had to constantly interrupt himself to enjoy the music. Can't blame him. In the middle of explaining the differences between the CR200 and Sonos's free iPhone app, MacFarlane paused to listen to "So What" from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue.

"I never get tired of that," he apologized and sighed.

The iPhone app is more of a personal tool, MacFarlane said, while the CR200 is meant to be a social device, one that is dedicated to the ultimate Sonos music experience, and extremely easy to use. MacFarlane handed it to me and, within moments, I had quickly scanned the CR200's resources, and played some Brazilian samba, New York City salsa, and a track from Sonic Youth's Dirty. Cool.

For more info on the new CR200 controller, you can watch this short demo. For more info on the iPhone app, click here. I was delighted to see that Rob, Sonos's Design Director for User Experience, is also a fan of Nashville Pussy.