XYZ Computing take a look at the Sonos Digital Music System.  Sonos is a multi-zone digital music system which allows users to play their music through a network. This is accomplished by placing Sonos' Zone Players around a home and then connecting them to the home's network, either with an ethernet connection or wireless. The music data stays either on a local computer (PC, Linux, or Apple) or a network-attached storage device (NAS) and is then made available, via the network, to the ZonePlayers. Because each ZonePlayer is recognized as a separate device, each can be used independently of the others, so you can be listening to classical music in the kitchen while your kids rock out in the basement. The interface which controls all this is the uncreatively called the Controller, a handheld wireless device which allows the user to have full control of the Sonos system from anywhere within range.

Overall, the Sonos system is impressive. Every aspect of the device seems to have been carefully planned out and gotten just right. Some small details which show this are that the ZonePlayers are passively cooled so they create no noise, the entire household can be muted by holding the mute button on any ZonePlayer for three seconds, and thst the unmute and mute ramp up/down the volume for a comfortable transition.

Quality like this does not come without a considerable price. The upside here is that the requirements are for Sonos are very easy to fulfill and are things which any digital music fan probably has: a computer or NAS device, and network. After this though, things get scary. A ZP100 ZonePlayer sells for $499 and a controller is $399, though most users will probably opt for the starter kit (two ZP100s and a controller) which goes for $1199. The same starter kit with two pairs of speakers is $1499. So no matter how you cut it the Sonos system is going to be a serious investment.