Home devices open a new world of music

If the dream of unlimited access to the world of music intrigues you, the latest home devices from Logitech and Sonos are worthy of inspection.

More versatile in audio spheres than a portable Zune HD or iPod Touch, these network music devices connect via Wi-Fi wireless or hardwired Ethernet connection to your broadband service, then pull in Internet radio stations by the thousands - plus all the riches of on-demand and subscription services like Rhapsody, Last. FM, Slacker, Pandora and Sirius, as well as music stored on your computer.

SQUEEZE ME: The Logitech Squeezebox Radio ($199.99) delivers all that in a remarkably small, bright-sounding box - the perfect bedroom clock radio for the Internet age. This mighty mite also becomes the brand's first Wi-Fi portable radio when a rechargeable, 6-hour battery pack ($50) arrives next month.

Coincidentally, Logitech has just enhanced the on-screen (color) menu software and added new apps, making it easier to find the needle in the haystack - be it the latest from Ghostface Killah, a Squeezebox-exclusive Queen stream, a fave high-tech podcast, or new "apps" that let you share with Facebook friends or download Flickr images.

Better still, the growing family of Squeeze-box products can be synced to play the same music around the house or go their own separate ways, with one account to a music service good for any and all.

THE SOUND OF SONOS: A few months back, Sonos downsized its network music players - the ZonePlayer 90, which connects to a home stereo, and the amplifier-equipped ZonePlayer 120, which requires just speakers to raise a ruckus.

Now Sonos has rethought the wireless controller that runs the whole show. The new CR200 ($350) is an absolute charmer, literally putting a world of music in your hand. While a Sonos app for the iPhone and iPod Touch duplicates most functions, the CR200 is fully dedicated to the cause of multiroom music control.

The menu is super intuitive; the device reacts at lightning speed to commands tapped on the razor-sharp 3.5-inch touch screen, and the remote even updates itself automatically when new features and services are added.

Sonos' "best buy" is the Bundle 250 ($999) which combines a CR200, ZP90 and ZP120.

- Jonathan Takiff