Reliable budget wireless music receiver (Pinnacle Sound Bridge)

Member Name: KormaCurryNow

Product:	Pinnacle Sound Bridge
Date:	05/08/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small and won't break the bank.

Disadvantages: Does not work directly with iTunes

If you want a device that can receive streamed music wirelessly with a small footprint then it ticks the boxes. I got this little box thinking it was the same as the ROKU soundbridge. It is not the same, there are some big differences but if you are not prepared to pay for a ROKU, then this is a cheaper alternative.

I have all my music on a computer (apple mac), it is in my living room but sometimes I want to listen to music in the conservatory. There is no prospect of running speaker wires there so I need a wireless solution. My first venture into wireless music was a Netgear MP101 device which worked 80% of the time but stalled during playback and was a unreliable. I read about the ROKU devices which seemed seemed really good but then I came across the pinnacle Sound Bridge, I bought it and took it home for a whirl.

Must admit I thought it was compatible with iTunes when I bought it, It can play your itunes library okay but only with a 3rd party piece of software called firefly. I loaded the software and configured it to share out my library. After many hours of playing it has never stalled, stuttered or failed, it has just worked out of the box.

Configuring the software was pretty easy and I think that most people will find setting it up quite easy. It is just a matter of filling in the forms that are presented on your setup screen.

The sound quality is pretty good for the price, It is not as good as my main system but then it was never intended as a replacement. There is about 30ft between my wireless router and the Sound Bridge but there are never any connectivity problems. The screen is a bit small but you can see all the song information and you can browse your music library. It does take a bit of time to get used to using the remote to browse your library but you do get the hang of it pretty quickly.

Radio......You don't need to have a computer turned on to listen to music! This device can have your favourite internet radio stations preset on it. I like this feature and it allows you to discover new music from all around the world.

Overall I like this music device and maybe I will upgrade to a full blown ROKU gadget sometime in the future, the main reason for this is being because it will just work out of the box with iTunes. As a budget wireless streaming receiver the Sound Bridge is still value for money and it does its job well.

Summary: Good for a small area of the house where you can't run wires

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