SoundBridge is a hardware device from

Roku, Inc. Roku, Inc. ( ) is an American publicly traded company based in San Jose, California, that manufactures a variety of digital media players for video streaming. Roku has an advertising business and also licenses its hardware and software to other ...

designed to play

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, samp ...

streamed across a home

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematic ...

, over either

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...

. SoundBridge devices directly browsed the Radio Roku guide. As of 2008 all Roku SoundBridge products were discontinued; Roku focused on

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...

. As of January 2012, the SoundBridge was no longer available from Roku. As of May 2018, internet radio functionality was no longer supported by Roku. The music is made available by a streaming

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

, usually a PC running media

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...

. The SoundBridge had a high resolution

vacuum fluorescent display A vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) is a display device once commonly used on consumer electronics equipment such as video cassette recorders, car radios, and microwave ovens. A VFD operates on the principle of cathodoluminescence, roughly ...

and was compatible with various media servers, namely servers using

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

Digital Audio Access Protocol The Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) is the proprietary protocol introduced by Apple in its iTunes software to share media across a local network. DAAP addresses the same problems for Apple as the UPnP AV standards address for members of the ...

;Roku forums: Soundbridge vs Rhythmbox
/ref> popular servers are

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

, or mt-daapd,

Windows Media Connect Windows Media Connect (WMC) is a UPnP AV server from Microsoft for Windows XP and later Windows operating systems, to share and stream media on a Windows computer to WMC clients. The first two releases of WMC were made available as stand-alone sof ...

, Rhapsody, SlimServer and

UPnP Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence on the n ...

(Universal Plug and Play) compatible servers such as TwonkyVision. Some of these servers run not only on PCs, but also on

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ...

devices like the Linksys NSLU2, so a SoundBridge could be operated without a PC.

Models

There were several SoundBridge models: The M1000, the M500 and the M2000. There was also a tabletop model called the SoundBridge Radio that had built-in speakers, an AM/FM radio, and an alarm clock. SoundBridge models sold in most countries were manufactured and sold by Pinnacle Systems, under a license from Roku. Although some Pinnacle models were similar or identical in hardware, Pinnacle didn't have a licence for the DAAP protocol, so Pinnacle models couldn't directly connect to

. Pinnacle and Roku promote the Firefly Media Server as an alternative that offers similar functionality. Pinnacle models include: *SoundBridge (one version identical to Roku SoundBridge M1001, another known as M1001HR with the higher resolution 280×32 pixel display as used in the SoundBridge Radio) *SoundBridge Radio (identical to Roku SoundBridge Radio sans native iTunes support) *Soundbridge HomeMusic - M400PX (character-based LCD - 16×2 characters; no Ethernet; no digital output; SD card slot; low-cost plastic housing in place of aluminum extrusion on original models) Those sold in the US included: *M1001 SoundBridge (bitmapped VFD display - 280×16; similar to original M1000 model(see note)) *R1000 SoundBridge Radio (bitmapped VFD display - 280×32; AM/FM tuner; SD card slot; built-in speakers) *M500 SoundBridge (character-based LCD display - 40×2 characters) *M1000 SoundBridge (bitmapped VFD display - 280×16) *M2000 SoundBridge (bitmapped VFD display - 512×32; larger, enclosure with very large display)

WPA support

Firmware version 2.7 supported Wi-Fi Protected Access, but only for the M1001, the SoundBridge Radio, and the European versions from Pinnacle; not for the older M500/1000/2000 versions. The SoundBridge is an 802.11b device, but it can be used with backward compatible 802.11g networks.

Open source

Since the appliance was abandoned by Roku, an open source version was released using the Roku Server Protocol (RSP). The software is used in a number of Linux media players.

References

{{reflist

External links

Roku: SoundBridge product website

Radio Roku - Internet radio portal, where 'Favorites' can be stored

essential fix for the SoundBridge its limitation onto HTTP sources
Internet audio players Streaming software

Models

WPA support

Open source

See also

References

External links