Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Huge Meridian News today - Acquisition of Sooloos!

I see. But is there a limit on the number of songs that you can add - like the Sonos?

"Of course it might be that I am completely missing the point...!"

Having just read the Stereophile review, it appears I was, and my worries were illfounded.

The system sounds great (though not cheap).

Here's hoping this is the start of a brave new Meridian world!

Neil

Neil,

According to the reviews, and the documentation on the (very lightweight) Sooloos website, you can rip your own CDs, and import existing digital music libraries into the system, including, presumably, downloaded music (although I don't know about iTunes files with DRM). The AMG metadata is retrieved automatically via the internet.

AMG even provides a service which recognizes individual digital songs by their "sonic fingerprint", and delivers the metadata based on that.

One thing I don't see with the Sooloos yet is support for streaming music services (Rhapsody, etc, etc), but I'd assume that's on the way.

The question for me is whether the base Sooloos system, as it stands, is worth $8K to all but a few of even M customers. I think Meridian could add some things - software based DSP or apodizing, multichannel support, control integration with M processors, perhaps - to add more unique core intellectual property to the value equation.

If a Meridian Sooloos supported our existing MLP/DVD-A content ripped, plus SD DVD and CD formats on file, and maybe even HD ripped or downloaded content then I think it would be worth a similar premium that was first spent on DVD-A playback. If it doesn't cover all bases and results in other boxes being required in addition to it then it breaks the simplicity of the model. I hope that M 'pull-out-all-the-stops' with this and make it a 'must-have' solution.
M should now be in a position to provide far better quality of video playback now also via this route.

Not that I know of. Sonos limitation has more to do with system memory and processing limitations for indexing very large libraries. The Sooloos system uses some pretty decent hardware to keep the interface lightning quick so, as a side benefit, it can accommodate very large libaries.

In fairness to Sonos though, their current limit is pretty big - 65,000 tracks.

Jeff

With Rhapsody being added to Sooloos shortly, I don't see why this couldn't be possible. The challenge is that many services can not cross territory boundaries, so you need to be able to support more than one for a truly international product. That's easier said than done, but it's certainly possible. I have to believe that given Meridian's UK base, they will want to see that happen.


I doubt they will do this. As an all in one solution, they are making money by selling you the various components - including the storage piece. Beyond that, there are technical issues that would NAS solutions in my own network over the years. Even with stated support for official protocols, they don't always work like thy are supposed to and stream hiccups, NAS access problems, etc can be a resulting consequence. One key selling point of the system is going to be its reliability and ease of setup. When you allow 3rd party hardware as part of the mix, you can't control that as well. It becomes a hassle for tech support staff and any problems that may occur, even if they are solely caused by the external NAS, will likely be blamed on Sooloos by the customer.

That being said, Sooloos currently does allow importing of your existing collection so you don't have to re-rip. That may not be ideal, but at least it recognizes the fact that many users already have digital music libraries.


This one remains to be seen. Sooloos did show video functionality at CEDIA and a video player is supposed to be shipping in the next couple of months. I don't know the details of how they will add content to the system, but it may be closed loop like several movie servers have gone recently (Kaleidescape, Escient's Vision, ReQuest's IMC, etc). In most cases, they offer a legal exception to the DVDCCA CSS Licensing rules but additionally protect the content with their own encryption layer. You can't export content off of the system and, in an attempt to prevent legal troubles, they won't support importing of content that you have ripped on your own (different set of legal issues on that vs what they do to rip the content).

Some companies will do the BYO decryption thing. Basically, their software gives you the interface and playback functionality, but they won't include the ripping software for commercial DVDs with CSS (see Fuze Media as an example). Instead, you have to either install such decryption tools onto the system yourself or rip the content on your computer and then import it onto the server.

Given Meridian's status as a mainstream player, I have a hard time seeing them agree to the latter. Not only is it not novice customer friendly, but it occupies murky legal territory. I think they'd much rather sacrifice ultimate format and existing ripped content support flexibility for ease of use and firmer legal ground.

We'll see what happens though.

Jeff

Sounds interesting and could be something that covers a lot of bases... just some ponderings though: -

1) multiroom- i have 4 airports and 2 apple tvs set up as multiple zones via wireless, i wonder it Sooloos is going to be just hard-wired?

2) i am all Mac - does it support?

3) I also use itunes (Applie Lossless primarily) which is free - is the Sooloos premium genuinely worth it...

4) using an iPhone or iTouch (which i do) to control the system it is going to have to be remarkable for that price...

It does look great though, with video it would swing it for me!

I have used it wireless.

Kal

Here is another review of the Sooloos server.

http://www.avguide.com/review/the-sooloos-music-server

Note the subtitle "I Have Seen the Future" and the date of the review, December 5th 2007. The reviewer here, Robert Harley, knows and reviews M's products. Bet he didn't then see M in the future. But we should call him Robert the prophet!

Let's enjoy planning and preparing for the M and S future.

I would love to see an M server product with a smaller, wireless screen say the size of the MSR plus remote. It would be real nice to sit in the listening position and scroll through all the content and control from a touch of a button where ever your sitting in a room. Then just have the main storage\backup units dressed in a nice G series casing.

I would never invest into a 17" screen solution like the Sooloos as its not convienient. I guess most people would have to store it with the rest of their equipment on a rack.

As a product of this nature is quite simple, the most important thing to get right is how the consumer will interface with it. User behaviour really needs to be analysed and the interface must be super simple. Just my 2 cents worth as a year ago I used to work for LEGO as an industrial designer and we used to have to analyse how kids interact with the products and play behaviour.


Regards,


Carl

Nice addition

Nice looking system interface

Not so nice price ($13000)

Good news.

Good product.

Too expensive at the moment.

I bought an I-Mac just for I-Tunes which cost only �750.

M need a breakthrough product that oozes class at the right price.

This could be it

Roger