SoundBridge


SoundBridge is a hardware device from Roku, Inc. designed to play internet radio or digital audio streamed across a home network, over either Wi-Fi or ethernet. SoundBridge devices directly browsed the Radio Roku guide. As of 2008 all Roku SoundBridge products were discontinued; Roku focused on IPTV. 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, usually a PC running media software. The SoundBridge had a high resolution vacuum fluorescent display and was compatible with various media servers, namely servers using Apple Computer's Digital Audio Access Protocol; popular servers are iTunes, or mt-daapd, Windows Media Connect, Rhapsody, SlimServer and UPnP compatible servers such as TwonkyVision. Some of these servers run not only on PCs, but also on NAS 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 iTunes. Pinnacle and Roku promote the Firefly Media Server as an alternative that offers similar functionality. Pinnacle models include:
Those sold in the US included:
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. The software is used in a number of Linux media players.