The revised royalties are quite high - higher in fact than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners.

The gist of the changes is that accounts are limited to 40 hours per month of listening. If you go over 40 hours, you can pay $0.99 (yes, less than 1 dollar), for unlimited listening for that month. Overall, I can live with that, as long as it is not a slippery slope of upcoming charges.  I might even look into Pandora One.

My usage of Pandora has picked up over the last 6 months with my purchase of an iPhone and Sonos adding support for the online music service. Pandora is basically my own private radio station. It is my most used iPhone app so I might actually use Pandora for more than 40 hours.  We’ll see.

When I originally purchased my Sonos, I got the bundle that had a Zoneplayer 80 and 100. I had to “sacrifice” the ZP 80 and had it wired to my router. Last week I purchased a ZoneBridge for $99 from Amazon so I could unhook the ZP 80 and put it in my bedroom.

The ZoneBridge is quite small, looking like the younger sibling of the ZP 80. The sole purpose for the ZoneBridge is to “talk” with the other Sonos units in the house. It does not play music itself, hence the low price tag. Installation was a breeze, though the instructions made it sound more complicated than it actually was. Basically, you just connect the ZoneBridge to your router and use the Desktop controller to search for a new unit.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch, you can buy a one room system for about $450 ($350 for the ZP 80 and $99 for the ZoneBridge).

I have been trying to justify to mysef why I should spend almost $1,000 on a music system for my house. My conclusion….it is crazy to spend $1,000 on a music system for my house, even if it does offer integration with Sirius. That being said, I think I am going to finally take the plunge and buy a Sonos Digital Music System. Just not right now.

Last month Sonos released the Zonebridge, a $100 unit that plugs in to your router and broadcasts music to the ZonePlayer 80. Before the Zonebridge, you had to “sacrifice” one of your of your ZonePlayers (at $299 a piece) to serve as the connection to your router.

Sonos offers a bundle that includes one ZP-100, a ZP-80, and a wireless controller for $999. With the Zonebridge though, you can get the same functionality at $850 if you buy the components separately. This makes the original bundle essentially obsolete.

The reason why I am not buying buying a Sonos right now is that I think a better deal is coming along. Mainly a bundle with the Zonebridge included. I think Sonos is trying to get rid of existing inventory but keeping the original bundle alive. This makes the most sense.

Sonos is releasing their Soundbridge wireless extender this month (October 24th). It seems like Sonos is always adding nice features like Pandora integration. The Soundbridge 100 will keep you from having to tether a ZP80 or ZP100 to your router. From Automatedhome.com:

So for example you may want to use a new ZoneBridge to plug into your Router, rather than using a ZP100 or ZP80 which may not be required in that room. Of course it could also be used in between two zones that are too far apart to link currently.

I have seen unofficial prices for the Soundbridge around $99 to $150. At that price, you can buy a one ZP80, a controller, and a Soundbridge for under $900. Cheaper than the bundle Sonos offers but still expensive in my eyes. Sonos really needs to offer their bundle for a lower price, somewhere between $600-$700.

Via EngadgetHD

From the Sonos website:

With the wireless Sonos Controller in hand you�ll have instant access to more than 80 SIRIUS Internet Radio channels. All you have to do is pick a room, pick a channel and hit play. It�s that easy.

New subscribers to Sirius will need to shell out $12.95 a month but existing users can upgrade their service to include their Sonos for $2.99 a month. If you are already an existing Sirius user, Sonos might be worth checking out , if you can stomach the $1,000 price tag.

Sonos could be a dominant figure in the digital audio realm if they just lowered their price. It seems like their system has always been around $1,000.