Most of the sales pitch on the somewhat pricey CR200 matches that of the free iPhone/iPod Touch app: Wireless multi-room control of ZonePlayers throughout the house, quick access to music, automatic updates bring new features. With capacitive touch glass screen, 2-5 days of battery life, rugged body and removable battery, the thing beats hell out of the old-school scroll-wheel CR100, and is justifiable as a standalone product, if there wasn't a "free" alternative.

But there's one claim that seems to be a dig at that the iPhone app alternative: "100% dedicated to multi-room music." I don't know whether they think the delay getting from a iPhone's home screen to the Sonos options is annoying (k, it is a little bit) or whether they fear your significant other will go for a jog and take the iTouch with her/him, leaving you controller-less (it could happen), but they definitely view a single-function controller as a boon.

I am sensing two takeaways: The first is that, since Sonos sells a lot of product at the custom-installer level, those installers need some cool upgrades to go and sell to their rich clients who already have ZonePlayers in all 14 bedrooms of their mansion. God love 'em, that's fine. The other is that Sonos might spend more time on its potentially profitable CR200 than on its more populist iPhone app, and a divide may emerge.

So, Sonos: Please continue to support and develop the free iPhone app, which makes your product line accessible to people on a budget, and we will continue to write up things like this leaked CR200, which may not be for everyone, but makes sense in some cases. [Yanked Sonos Product Page via Engadget]

I say "you can start" your rig because one of the Sonos' main selling points is its ability to wirelessly coordinate ZonePlayers all throughout the house for flawlessly synced music playback. The idea is that you spend $300 on the ZP80 (or $350 on a ZP90 if you miss out on the clearance inventory) and then later on, when times aren't so tough, you can add more ZonePlayers as you go. What's great about the one ZonePlayer is that you immediately get the AirPort Express-like ability to grab music from your Mac or PC, plus the iTunes Remote app's ability to control it from a little handheld, but that's just the beginning. The ZonePlayer comes with the ability to serve up web radio, Rhapsody, Napster, Pandora, Last.fm and Best Buy Music, all without a computer.

In my house, it all plays out rather well:

When my laptop is awake and on the network, the ZonePlayer I have connected directly to my router (via Ethernet) and a stereo system can access all of my non-DRM tracks. I can sort through all those tracks via the Sonos Desktop Controller, which works on both Macs and PCs and whose setup was ridiculously easy. But I can walk away from the laptop (leaving it on) and instead pick up an iTouch lying on the coffee table, which lets me view the same exact tracks, and just as fast.

Say I close or power down my laptop, or my wife wants to get on the Sonos while I am away, laptop in tow. There are so many sources of music available via the Sonos Controller app, she may not actually even notice that my vast library is gone. (I could, obviously, load the Sonos control on her laptop so that it would serve her music, too, but based on what I'm telling you, that has so far proven irrelevant.)

My wife loves Fresh Air with Terry Gross. By searching for the show in the Radio section, she can not only find out when it's on next, but can listen to recent shows in full, at a much better sound quality than those damn Audible downloads, for zero money. She can also search for different radio stations and add them to favorites—we have both our favorite NYC and Seattle radio side by side. You can't yet bookmark actual radio shows, a la Fresh Air, in Favorites, but I'm hoping that's something that will be worked out soon.You probably now that Sonos offers free 30-day no-credit-card-required trials of Rhapsody, Napster and Sirius—the key, I think, is to try all three in a row, giving you basically 60 days of free on-demand music sampling, and a month of decent satellite radio, before you choose one, if any.

Controlling the system over Wi-Fi is easy, too. You kinda have to get used to the queue concept that goes back to desktop music jukeboxes of olde—once you add songs to the queue, they're there until you clear them, even after they've played. But you can add many songs and radio shows of differing sources to the same queue, making for a highly programmable audio experience: I can listen to the new-ish Coldplay, followed by Terry Gross's interview with Seth Meyers, followed by a classic mix playlist I devised in iTunes (automatically recognized by Sonos), all queued up in just a few minutes. The volume control is funny—on the iTouch, you have to tap to the left or right of the slider to make it go up or down, but once I figured that out, it was smooth sailing.After the super-syncability and the multiple sources of music, the third best thing about Sonos is the fact that it is constantly being upgraded. So even though there are some technical advantages to the newer hardware (wireless-N is the big one), the basic functionality is the same, meaning buying at clearance shouldn't be a problem.

What don't I like? I feel like this new setup has answered my biggest historical gripes with the system; though it would be nice for it to play iTunes DRM tracks, and it would be convenient for the first ZonePlayer to connect wirelessly and not via hard Ethernet (it does this so that it can create its own super-stable Wi-Fi network), the thing is getting better and cheaper at the same time—$300 for clearance ZP80s, potentially even less on eBay. If that isn't good news in these troubled times, I don't know what is. [Sonos]

Related: Gizmodo's Essential Iphone Apps

The Last.fm functionality not only brings personalized radio stations to the audio system, but also allows for full scrobbling capability for any digital audio played through the Sonos. The new radio stations ups the ante from the previous offering of 5000, which should keep radio junkies satisfied for quite some time. In addition, Pandora has gone from a premium Sonos service to a free offering. This comes on the heels of Pandora's move to ad-supported model. Both the Sonos Controller for iPhone (downloadable here) and the 2.7 software update are available now as free updates. [Sonos]

SONOS INTRODUCES THE SONOS CONTROLLER FOR iPHONE

Free Application Lets Music Lovers Control Leading
Multi-Room Music System from Their iPhone
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – October 28, 2008 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced the Sonos Controller for iPhone™ as a free download on the iPhone App Store. Music lovers with an iPhone 3G, iPhone or iPod® touch can now control the award-winning Sonos Multi-Room Music System all from their favorite portable device. A video demonstration of the free Sonos Controller for iPhone is available at HYPERLINK "http://www.sonos.com/iphone" www.sonos.com/iphone.
Sonos wirelessly plays all the music you want, all over your house, providing an unparalleled multi-room music experience. With Sonos ZonePlayers™ connected wirelessly in the rooms of your choice and a Sonos Controller for iPhone in hand, you can find and play the music you want with ease. Simply pick a room, pick a song and hit play. Play the same song in every room in perfect synchronization, or play different songs in every room.
By combining Sonos’ industry-leading multi-room control user interface with the iPhone’s large display and touch-screen technology, the Sonos Controller for iPhone lets you control the entire Sonos system and a world of music at the touch of a finger. The Sonos user experience allows you to quickly link and unlink rooms, without interrupting music playback. Select, Play, Pause, and Skip music in any room. Search for your favorite artists and songs by typing on the touch screen. Browse your collection by pointing and flicking. Change the volume in a single room, or in all your rooms at once, all from the Sonos Controller for iPhone.
The Sonos Controller for iPhone is the only iPhone Controller app that provides multi-room music control for the entire house and direct access to an infinite world of music including Last.fm, Napster®, Pandora®, Rhapsody®, SIRIUS® Internet Radio, 15,000 plus radio stations, shows and more. Plus, the Sonos Controller for iPhone gives music lovers control over their entire music collection* located on any computer on their home network, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) drive and even an Apple® Time Capsule. And, Sonos is the only multi-room music system that doesn’t require you to have your computer on or a piece of server software on the network to play music all over the home – just walk into your house, reach into your pocket, grab your iPhone, and turn on the music.
“The Sonos Controller for iPhone is another example of Sonos offering features and applications that make the system better, at no cost to our current or future customers,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “Today’s announcement enables all of our customers to use a great personal product from Apple to control the world’s best multi-room music system.”
Sonos was the first multi-room music system to deliver wireless handheld control and today offers more ways to control music throughout the home than any other multi-room product on the market—the handheld Sonos Controller CR100, Sonos Desktop Controller for PC and Mac and now the Sonos Controller for iPhone. You can mix and match Controllers for the ultimate in convenience and control.
The Sonos Controller for iPhone requires an iPhone or iPod touch and at least one Sonos ZonePlayer to operate. The Sonos Controller for iPhone utilizes your existing home WiFi network to communicate to the Sonos Multi-Room Music System. iPhone, iPod touch, and Sonos ZonePlayers are sold separately. The Sonos Controller for iPhone is currently available in English only. Additional requirements include Sonos 2.7 System Software and iPhone 2.0 Software. The Sonos Controller for iPhone is compatible with all generations of Sonos hardware.
In conjunction with the new Sonos Controller for iPhone, today Sonos introduced Sonos Software 2.7. The new feature update, which is free to all Sonos customers, includes brand new support for a suite of music content including free access to more than 15,000 radio stations and podcasts from around the world, Last.fm and Pandora. (Media alert: See accompanying press release.)
Sonos is the first wireless, multi-room music system that lets you play all the music you want, all over your house — and control it all from the palm of your hand. To learn more about Sonos, to place an order or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer, please visit HYPERLINK "http://www.sonos.com" www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS. For Sonos press kit information, please visit HYPERLINK "http://pr.sonos.com" http://pr.sonos.com.

SONOS INTRODUCES MULTI-ROOM ACCESS TO LAST.FM, PANDORA AND MORE THAN 15,000 RADIO STATIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD…FOR FREE

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – October 28, 2008 – Sonos®, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today released Sonos System Software 2.7. Sonos 2.7 delivers a world of music to every room of the house—free of charge—by providing instant, computer-free access to Last.fm and Pandora® personalized radio services, plus more than 15,000 radio stations and shows via Sonos Radio. The free one-button software update is available to all Sonos customers and is available now for download.
The Sonos Multi-Room Music System is a unique multi-room music experience that keeps getting better over time with free software updates that connect music lovers to new content, features and more. Sonos now offers an unmatched suite of both subscription-based services (Napster®, Rhapsody® and SIRIUS®) and free music services (Last.fm, Pandora and Sonos Radio) right out of the box. All of these services stream music directly from the Internet to the house so they work even when the computer is turned off – no need to download songs or have a server running.
“Sonos now brings music from every corner of the world to every corner of the house with control from the palm of the hand," said Phil Abram, President & COO, Sonos, Inc. “By offering our customers a suite of free content with this update, we continue to provide even more ways to listen to the music they love, all over their home."
Sonos’ new Radio guide, powered by RadioTime, lets you tune in to more than 15,000 free Internet radio stations, radio shows and more. You can browse easily for both local and international stations or use Search to find a specific station, show or host. When you find what you want, simply add it to Favorites for your future listening.
Last.fm on Sonos is a free global music service that lets you discover, play and share new songs and artists based on your unique musical tastes — right from any Sonos Controller.  After an account is created on Last.fm, Sonos customers can enjoy continuous music streaming all over the house. Simply enter the name of a favorite artist or tag keywords and Last.fm’s unique recommendation system instantly creates a personalized radio station featuring music you’re sure to love. Last.fm on Sonos also features the capability to scrobble all of the music you play on your Sonos Multi-Room Music System.  Every song you listen to on Sonos — whether it’s from your personal music library or a music service like Napster®, Rhapsody®, Pandora®, and of course, Last.fm — is automatically added to your personal music profile. This allows Last.fm to customize your music recommendations and open the doors to even more music discovery, in more rooms of the house.
Pandora, the popular personal radio service is now available for free on Sonos. After creating a free account on Pandora.com, Pandora lets you create and play up to 100 radio stations based on your favorite songs or artists. Using Pandora’s Music Genome Project®, Pandora’s highly-trained musicians analyze songs, one at a time, using close to 400 musical traits including melody, harmony, instrumentation, rhythm, vocals, lyrics, and more to automatically build a station with songs that share interesting musical similarities. With a Sonos Controller in hand, you can rate the music you hear to further refine the station’s playlist on the fly. Play the same Pandora radio station in each room, perfectly synchronized; or, play different stations in different rooms to fit the mood.
Other new features of Sonos System Software 2.7 include:
Updated Rhapsody support with improved sound quality. Rhapsody now streams at 192 MP3 (versus 128 kbps WMA previously).
Support for RTSP streaming protocol which allows for expanded Internet Radio coverage.
Dutch and Swedish languages are now supported in the Sonos system software. Sonos already supports English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
For more information about the features of Sonos Software 2.7, please visit: HYPERLINK "http://www.sonos.com/support/software_update.aspx" http://www.sonos.com/support/software_update.aspx.
In conjunction with today’s software update, Sonos also introduced the brand new Sonos Controller for iPhone™ which is a free download on the iPhone App Store. Now, you can use your iPhone, iPhone 3G or iPod® touch to control the best multi-room music system in the world. The Sonos Controller for iPhone is the only iPhone Controller app that provides multi-room music control and direct access to a world of music including Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody, SIRIUS® Internet Radio, 15,000 radio stations, shows and more. Plus, the Sonos Controller for iPhone gives music lovers control over their entire music collection* located on any computer on their home network, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) and even an Apple® Time Capsule. (Media Note: See accompanying release.)

Believe it or not, that's a slight drop in price, as the more expensive ZP100 replaces one of the ZP80s from the previous starter kit. But still, I doubt Giz readers would pay more than, what, $299? Even for that sweet simultaneous-play wireless goodness. Jump for press release.

SONOS NOW AVAILABLE AT BEST BUY

Sonos & Best Buy Team Up to Bring the Digital Music Revolution to Homes Nationwide

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - June 20, 2007 - Sonos, Inc., the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the digital home, today announced the award-winning Sonos Digital Music System is now available at more than 440 Best Buy locations across the United States. Sonos will be featured in more than 600 Best Buy locations before the end of 2007. Sonos will be spotlighted with a live, interactive multi-zone demonstration. Sonos is also now available at www.bestbuy.com.

Best Buy will carry the Sonos product line, including the new Sonos Bundle 130 (BU130). The BU130, which retails for $999, is the most convenient and cost effective way for new Sonos customers to get started playing digital music in two rooms of their house with wireless control from the palm of their hand. Now, in one package, a new customer will find a ZonePlayer 80 (ZP80) which can be connected to an existing stereo or home theater receiver to instantly make it part of a digital music system; a ZonePlayer 100 (ZP100) which can be connected to speakers and placed in any room; and a Sonos Controller (CR100) providing wireless multi-room control of all your music from any room in the house.

"The growing popularity of digital music at home means more consumers are looking for these types of systems at Best Buy," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "We are pleased to work with Best Buy to bring the magic of music all over the house to music lovers across the country."

"At Best Buy we are always looking for new and exciting solutions that can enhance people's lives," said Mike Vitelli, senior vice president of consumer electronics for Best Buy. "We know our customers love music and are looking for ways to get their collections from their computers throughout their homes. Sonos is a great example of a simple but effective solution that helps people realize the true benefits of technology."

"ABI forecasts that the networked home audio market will reach $7.2 billion by the year 2012," said Michael Wolf, Director of Digital Home Research for ABI Research. "Sonos' availability in Best Buy is indicative of how the market for whole-home networked audio equipment is quickly moving into the mainstream. The growth we forecast for the market in the coming years is due in large part to this movement."