A streaming blast from the past: Roku SoundBridge M1000

[SKBubba]

I was rummaging around the other day and found my old streamer, a Roku SoundBridge M1000. This was Roku's first(?) product way back before there was any such thing as video streaming. I got it in 2005, so it's about 16 years old. It is long since abandoned, but I'm guessing if I hooked it up it would still work. I still have the original packing stuff, and bonus, an actual printed User Guide with detailed instructions, diagrams, screen shots, and everything.

It cost about $200 at the time, and its feature set rivals many modern streamers. It has ethernet (100BaseT) and wi-fi (802.1b) for connecting to your network. It has coax/optical S/PDIF outs, and a 3.5 mm analog stereo out and included a RCA "Y" adapter.

The manual says it has a 20 bit DAC (chip unknown), minimum line output of 2.83 volts, THD of -90db typical, and dynamic range of 90db typical, signal to noise ratio of 96db, frequency response of <20hz to >20khz.

Supported audio formats are MP3, WMA, WMA lossless (converted to PCM), WAV, AIFF, LPCM, ALAC, FLAC, Ogg-Vorbis (via SqueezePlay). A note elsewhere says it supports 5.1 DTS and Dolby Digital via digital outputs.

Supported sample rates are 8.0, 11.025, 12.0, 16.0, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48kHz. Supported bit depths are 8 and 16, mono or stereo.

Supported protocols/software are Windows Media Connect, iTunes, UPnP, Rhapsody (via UPnP), MusicMatch (UPnP), SlimServer.

Oh, and I almost forgot. You could set up Internet Radio stations, too!

It has an LCD "vacuum fluorescent" (?) display that shows the currently playing track, time, progress, and level meters. You can use the included remote for setup and to browse the connected server library. It is extremely tedious as you can imagine. It also has a built-in web controller for setup and playback.

Under a section called "Geeks read this" it mentions a Telnet command line interface on port 4444. It also mentions API docs at their website for making your own UPnP apps.

I first got this to replace a Sony 400 CD Changer and a box/software setup called Slink-E (bonus points if you've heard of that) that could control the CD changer from a Windows PC. It read each CD in the changer and created a library with album/artist/track info. It could do playlists and even random play, which was pretty hard on the CD changer.

Anyway, I ripped all my CDs to WMA Lossless and got the Roku SoundBridge M1000 and used it to play back files using Windows Media Player. I later replaced that with JRiver, which saw it as a UPnP renderer. It all worked great with little or no drama.

I eventually replaced the Roku SoundBridge with a cheap Lenovo tiny Celeron PC that was on sale for about $150. It came with a free install of Windows 8 via some sort of Microsoft promotion. I ran JRiver as a client on that, which let me hook up the display to my HDTV for now playing info, etc. I could see from across the room. Now I use roon.

I'm guessing this was one of the first multi-purpose streamers, and we've come a long way since then. But, it was pretty impressive for the time. Maybe I should send it to Amir for testing and measurements!

Some pics:

 

[Laserjock]

So maybe it is pronounced “Rock- U” ?

 

[Madjalapeno]

I have two of those in the basement "things I won't use, but can't bare to get rid of" pile.

They were great. Could also have them display VU meters.

We should send one of them to @amirm

 

[ILikeMusicToo]

I pulled mine out recently too, and was disappointed that the built-in streaming radio service doesn't work any more, because Roku turned off the server.

BUT there's a nice workaround

If you find out the URL of your roku (which you can do in the System Configuration menu) you can point a browser at that URL and the Roku will display a simple "Settings" page.

If you then look around the internet for links like these, you can hard-code "Presets" then use the "Play Presets" menu to access up to 16 sites. Site's like internet-radio.com have thousands listed - you just need to look at the URLs for the sites and keep only the part up to the .pls (or .m3u for the mighty Radio Paradise).

Ping me if you have any trouble - it's a fairly geeky process to get it working, and every couple of months you may need to clean out dead links; these sites can change/die pretty quickly, but it's a nice way to get instant new music. The Roku upsamples everything to 48k and has digital TOSlink out. If you still have one and are sad the built in radio station browsing service went away, do not despair, your device can still work for you!

One drawback: it doesn't support FLAC files, so my re-ripped CD collection (went from mp3 to flac) doesn't work with it. But my old mp3s do, of course.

 

[Omni]

I pulled mine out recently too, and was disappointed that the built-in streaming radio service doesn't work any more, because Roku turned off the server.

BUT there's a nice workaround

If you find out the URL of your roku (which you can do in the System Configuration menu) you can point a browser at that URL and the Roku will display a simple "Settings" page.

View attachment 216614

If you then look around the internet for links like these, you can hard-code "Presets" then use the "Play Presets" menu to access up to 16 sites. Site's like internet-radio.com have thousands listed - you just need to look at the URLs for the sites and keep only the part up to the .pls (or .m3u for the mighty Radio Paradise).

Ping me if you have any trouble - it's a fairly geeky process to get it working, and every couple of months you may need to clean out dead links; these sites can change/die pretty quickly, but it's a nice way to get instant new music. The Roku upsamples everything to 48k and has digital TOSlink out. If you still have one and are sad the built in radio station browsing service went away, do not despair, your device can still work for you!

One drawback: it doesn't support FLAC files, so my re-ripped CD collection (went from mp3 to flac) doesn't work with it. But my old mp3s do, of course.

I looked at intenet-radio.com, but do not see how to extract the complete URL for the .pls or .m3u? It seem like they want you to play through Internet-Radio.Com? They only show the main website of the station. I picked up the SoundBridge at a flea market for a couple $ and have it working with your examples. Mainly wanted it for the VFD display, but if I can make it work - hate to canibalize it! Any more info on how to get the URLS of some stations would be appreciated!

 

[Madjalapeno]

I looked at intenet-radio.com, but do not see how to extract the complete URL for the .pls or .m3u? It seem like they want you to play through Internet-Radio.Com? They only show the main website of the station. I picked up the SoundBridge at a flea market for a couple $ and have it working with your examples. Mainly wanted it for the VFD display, but if I can make it work - hate to canibalize it! Any more info on how to get the URLS of some stations would be appreciated!

might be some good info here - https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ernet-radio-streaming-services-or-urls.26561/

 

[restorer-john]

It looks awesome. But you need the remote to operate it?

Love the old streamers. I'd buy one of those things today if they still made them.

 

[SKBubba]

It looks awesome. But you need the remote to operate it?

Love the old streamers. I'd buy one of those things today if they still made them.

It worked with windows media player or upnp apps like bubblesoft among others.

 

[ThatM1key]

I would recommend 181 FM stations, they offer easy to get PLS, MP3 and AAC URL streams. I think they use a Smiley-face EQ on there streams but if you cared about audio quality, you wouldn't be listening to 181 FM stations, anyways.

 

[-Matt-]

This is the first "streaming" device I owned...

Launched circa 2002/2003. It looks like it is still possible to buy them...

Hauppauge Media MVP Personal Multimedia Player : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Buy Hauppauge Media MVP Personal Multimedia Player at Amazon UK. Free delivery and return on eligible orders.

www.amazon.co.uk

Here is an old review that shows the user interface...

Hauppauge's Media MVP: An Oldie but Goodie? - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20,Hauppauge,N/A,MediaMVP,Network Media player

www.smallnetbuilder.com

I'm glad to say things have come on a long way!

I'm pretty sure I managed to get the original xbmc running on this and even did a mod to add spdif via digital coaxial.

Edit: ...or was it an sdi video mod for use with a Lumagen scaler, maybe both, can't seem to find it now.

 

[ILikeMusicToo]

I looked at intenet-radio.com, but do not see how to extract the complete URL for the .pls or .m3u? It seem like they want you to play through Internet-Radio.Com? They only show the main website of the station. I picked up the SoundBridge at a flea market for a couple $ and have it working with your examples. Mainly wanted it for the VFD display, but if I can make it work - hate to canibalize it! Any more info on how to get the URLS of some stations would be appreciated!

If you click on one of the .pls and .m3u links that you see on the left of their information about each streaming station

you will download a .pls or .m3u file. Open your Downloads folder and right-click on the .m3u or .pls file and choose "Open With" and select Notepad from the choices. If Notepad isn't in the list, pick "Choose another app" and find notepad there.

Finally notepad will open the file revealing the URL as a plain text string

You paste that into the interface in my previous post and it should work....though I'm just noticing that most of the results on this site have URLs that point to internet-radio.com itself...so this might not work, sorry

You can also look at Soma FM for some other streams, though interestingly some of them didn't work for me - Boot Liquor and Folk Forward did, but Deep Space One did not, for example.

 

[ILikeMusicToo]

I looked at intenet-radio.com, but do not see how to extract the complete URL for the .pls or .m3u? It seem like they want you to play through Internet-Radio.Com? They only show the main website of the station. I picked up the SoundBridge at a flea market for a couple $ and have it working with your examples. Mainly wanted it for the VFD display, but if I can make it work - hate to canibalize it! Any more info on how to get the URLS of some stations would be appreciated!

Another possibility if you don't mind typing a bit, which avoids the hassle of downloading and opening new files, is to just mouse over the .m3u or .pls link WITHOUT clicking it, and look at the bottom left of your browser.

You'll see the url that link would go to; manually type out the part between the "=" and the ".pls", so in this case it'd be

http://uk5.internet-radio.com:8189/listen.pls

Paste this into the roku interface as shown in my first post and it should work - I'm more confident in this method than the download method I showed in my second post, because this URL points to a file, like the URLs that I know already work.

 

[anmpr1]

I would recommend 181 FM stations, they offer easy to get PLS, MP3 and AAC URL streams. I think they use a Smiley-face EQ on there streams but if you cared about audio quality, you wouldn't be listening to 181 FM stations, anyways.

Thanks for the link. Didn't know, so I surfed over. Then, had to chuckle when they listed classical and jazz-fusion in their Easy Listening category. Jean-Féry Rebel's Les Élémens, simphonie nouvelle and Miles Out by the Mahavishnu Orchestra, were on tap in each respective playlist. Let's face it, anytime you connect a 360 Systems Frequency Shifter to your electric guitar, you know you are definitely in for some relaxation and easy listening!

Obviously the 181 team are an optimistic bunch--'glass half-full' guys, when it comes to music categorization.

 

[jamas31]

I pulled mine out recently too, and was disappointed that the built-in streaming radio service doesn't work any more, because Roku turned off the server.

BUT there's a nice workaround

If you find out the URL of your roku (which you can do in the System Configuration menu) you can point a browser at that URL and the Roku will display a simple "Settings" page.

View attachment 216614

If you then look around the internet for links like these, you can hard-code "Presets" then use the "Play Presets" menu to access up to 16 sites. Site's like internet-radio.com have thousands listed - you just need to look at the URLs for the sites and keep only the part up to the .pls (or .m3u for the mighty Radio Paradise).

Ping me if you have any trouble - it's a fairly geeky process to get it working, and every couple of months you may need to clean out dead links; these sites can change/die pretty quickly, but it's a nice way to get instant new music. The Roku upsamples everything to 48k and has digital TOSlink out. If you still have one and are sad the built in radio station browsing service went away, do not despair, your device can still work for you!

One drawback: it doesn't support FLAC files, so my re-ripped CD collection (went from mp3 to flac) doesn't work with it. But my old mp3s do, of course.

HI ILikeMusicToo,
I have got a Roku Soundbridge as well but I diidn't succeed to get radio streaming working. I you read this can you help?

 

[jamas31]

Quite strange, if I setup the Soundbridge in French, the storing of radio stations does not work but when I switch to english, it does!
Thanks for the trick

 

[MaSt]

Hi. I recently dig out my roku soundbridge players. Mostly used for streaming internet radio, I did not use them for over 2 years, moved house and did not have wired internet, or WEP encryption.
M1001 set up well without problems, but have problems with M2000 M1000, I cant access build in web server. Managed to upload some of new url radio stations presets via soundbridge remonte android app, but I cant set up a time. Is any chance to access build in web server or set up time other way? My M2000 run software version 3.0.44 blackfin rev3. Thanks for any help.