Orb Networks Shipping Low-Cost Multi-Room Music System, Video Player to Follow Next Month

Orb Networks began shipping a low-cost multi-room music system that leverages consumers’ existing investments in smartphones and wireless home networks. Orb’s $79 solution, available direct to consumers from the company website, combines a $69 receiver resembling a thin, lightweight hockey puck, a $10 iPhone/iPad app for remote control capability, a set of audio cables and a power cord. Each additional room requires a $69 receiver that can plug into stereo systems, TVs, tabletop radios and other music systems using standard RCA plugs, the company said. A version for the Android smartphone platform is due later this month, CEO Joe Costello told Consumer Electronics Daily. The system operates over 802.11b/g/n networks.

Users set up the system using the PC with software downloaded from the website. Costello said the company has logged 11 million downloads since it released the product last month. Users can index their music collections, depending on the size and data rate of the collection, in 10-15 minutes, he said. In addition to PC music files, the system plays radio channels from Pandora and Sirius, with more online music services to follow. There’s no subscription fee for the Orb player, but users have to pay required subscription fees for premium services, Costello said. Up to six users can be authorized on one system, which can accommodate an unlimited number of players as long as they're in range of the home network. Costello demoed the system at a restaurant in New York, accessing the music collection on his PC in California.

Orb executives told us Best Buy is testing the product and have fingers crossed it will be in stores by year-end. Orb has Sonos in its sights, calling the Orb music player “Sonos for Everyman.” Best Buy’s Magnolia Home Theater stores sell the Sonos multi-room music system, which requires an initial minimum investment of $999 for a two-room music system and $349 each for additional room controllers. Best Buy was unable to respond by our deadline to questions regarding if and when it would sell the Orb player and how it would fit into the chain’s product mix.

Next up for Orb is a video player that will have the functionality of other digital media servers on the market including Apple TV, Roku and others. The video player will begin shipping from the Orb website in October, said Marketing Vice President William Chien. Users will be able to access videos stored on their PCs along with Internet-based programming from YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and others. Because the system is network-based, the company will continue to update content regularly, Costello said: “If you can play it on your computer, we can play it on your TV.” Initially, the video player will support MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, H.264 and WMV video formats, he said. It will also stream owners’ music and Internet radio files along with digital photos stored on PC.

In the future, Orb wants to integrate with other hardware including TVs, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes and game players, Costello said. “Think of what we can do with the help of other manufacturers,” he said. He also sees a fit with digital cameras, “where the TV becomes the photo frame.” The initial Orb music player uses a chipset from Freescale, and the company is doing a pilot run for a second-generation product running on a “highly integrated” Texas Instruments chipset that’s dropped the manufacturing cost of the product by 25 percent, Costello said.