Bang & Olufsen Touts Easy Setup With New Multiroom Functionality via Moment System

Bang & Olufsen announced BeoLink Multiroom for its BeoLink products Wednesday, saying it allows users to play different music in different rooms or the same tune in every room. At the heart of BeoLink Multiroom is the BeoSound Moment intelligent music system the company launched in the spring (see 1505010055). Comparing the setup process of Multiroom to turning lights on and off, the company said users tap a B&O product while music is playing to “join the multiroom experience.” It also can be controlled by app or the BeoRemote One remote control. The $3,295 B&O Moment system sports a touch-sensitive wood interface positioned on the flip side of a conventional touch-screen controller with a volume wheel matching the virtual wheel on the touch screen. An accelerometer in the unit desensitizes whichever side is not being used. An intelligence feature in Moment is said to learn a user’s music preferences based on patterns so it can then “suggest” music or radio programs. The unit’s PatternPlay algorithm learns a user’s preferences for type of music, time of day, day of the week and plays what it determines the user wants to hear at a given time, Product Manager Dave Zapfel told us when the company bowed the system this spring. “It’ll see what you listen to normally at 6 a.m. on a Monday and after three weeks or so it knows what you’re going to do, if you’re consistent,” he said. T BeoLink Multiroom “breathes new life into your classic Bang & Olufsen products,” the company said Wednesday. Using the BeoLink converter, owners of the BeoSound 9000, turntable BeoGram 4000 turntable and other BeoLink products can be linked into the multiroom experience, it said. All BeoLink multiroom products are updated through software to get the latest features and functions, said the company. “Bang & Olufsen products are not commodities that you buy and throw away,” said Marie Kristine Schmidt, vice president-brand, design & marketing. BeoLink Multiroom allows customers to “unite new and classical products” wirelessly, she said.