Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

First up in our series on wireless media streaming systems, we’re looking at Sonos, one of the best known names in the field.  Sonos specialise in multi-room music streaming systems, at the upper end of the price scale.

How it works

Sonos products use a wireless mesh network to stream music between the different components in the system.

Connect one component to your broadband router, and then connect other supplementary components to speakers or hifis in other rooms. The components connect to each other wirelessly, and you can use controllers to browse through the music stored on your computer and play it through the components.

What to buy

You need at least one ZonePlayer to start your system.  Plug this into your router and then into either speakers or a hifi system.  (If you don’t want music to play in the room where your router is, you can use a ZoneBridge instead of a ZonePlayer.)

Next, add another ZonePlayer in every room you want music to play, plugging each of them into speaker or a hifi.  The ZonePlayer 120 has an integrated amplifier, so can be directly plugged into speakers.  The ZonePlayer 90 doesn’t, so you would need to plug it into an amplified music system, such as a standard hifi.

There are a range of ways to control the system, from two different kinds of remote controls (the older CR100 and the newer touchscreen CR200), to an iPhone app, to a program you can install on your computer.

You can also access music from internet radio and online music services through your computer and play them on your Sonos system.  If you haven’t heard of these services yet, watch out for a blog post explaining the different options in the near future.

Sonos sells each component separately, or offers bundles of everything you need for the simplest Sonos set-up

Good points

Sonos has tried to make its systems as simple as possible to understand and to set up.  Judging from Reevoo reviewers, they’ve seem to have succeeded on the set-up front - as one reviewer puts it, “it does what it claims to do, and it does it without any setup problems”.  One happy owner of the Sonos 120 bundle commented:

“Simple to set up and use out the box. My 11 year old son set up 8 rooms in an afternoon!”

Sound quality is also highly praised by Reevoo reveiwers.

Another advantage (and one not available with all media streamers) is the ability to use Sonos systems with online music services.

Bad points

The high ratings for Sonos products on Reevoo.com (between 8 and 10/10) indicate that owners have few complaints. The appearance comes in for a certain amount of criticism - as you can see from the pictures in this post, all components are grey/white boxes - but, as one reviewer points out, “what does that matter really!”

Another down-point is the price - the cheapest you can get a bundle is a whisker under £650, and outfitting an entire house can quickly add up to much more.

Some users have encountered problems with Sonos’ wireless transmission, saying it’s patchy at times, or occasionally drops out.

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So, another year of new students are getting ready to head to university; they’ve got the cookbook telling them how to make a £4 bag of pasta last two terms, an inflatable armchair with at least one puncture and a tube full of carefully chosen film posters. At some stage they’re going to have to get around to doing some work, and these days that usually means that if they don’t want to join a long queue to use the computers in the college library, they’ll need one of their own. Thankfully for those already watching meagre summer job savings dwindle or preparing to test the limits of parental generosity, this doesn’t necessarily involve a vast amount of money.

Netbooks, the slimmed down cousins of laptops, will handle essay writing and web access (strictly for research purposes, naturally) & are perfect for lugging around campus in a book-bag. They’ve actually scored higher with our reviewers than laptops on design (8.8 vs 8.4), portability (9.1 vs 8.1) and battery life (8.2 vs 6.8). Student shoppers who’ve reviewed them for Reevoo have written about how they’re “light enough to carry around the university campus”, the “right size for taking to lectures” and are equipped with “amazing battery life”. Unfortunately they will still tend to break if you pour enough beer into them.

What is a netbook, anyway?

There’s no universally agreed definition but as a rule of thumb it’s anything that looks like a laptop, but:

- Costs under £400
- Has a screen under 13 inches in size
- Weighs under 1.5kg
- Doesn’t have a CD/DVD drive
- Has a single core processor

The Top 10 Netbooks (According To Reevoo’s Consumer Reviewers)

1. Asus Eee PC 10005HA SeaShell (9.1/10, from £250)
2. Samsung NC10 (9.1/10, from £250)
3. Asus Eee PC 901 (8.9/10, from £300)
4. Asus Eee PC 1000H (8.9/10, from £280)
5. Samsung N110 (8.9/10, from £330)
6. Asus Eee PC 1000HE (8.9/10, from £321)
7. Toshiba NB100-12A (8.8/10, from £250)
8. Asus Eee PC 904HD (8.7/10, from £190)
9. Samsung N310 (8.7/10, from £298)
10. Samsung NC20 (8.7/10, from £350)

There are a couple of things to be aware of when making your choice. The first is that whilst many netbooks come with Windows XP, a few come with an alternative Linux-based operating system. It’ll do the same sort of things but may take a little more getting used to. The second is that netbooks don’t have a CD/DVD drive so installing new software can be fiddly. Thankfully Microsoft offer a few solutions for a student essential, Office:

- Some netbooks come with trial version of Microsoft Office Home & Student which you can then pay to unlock.

- If you buy a boxed copy, Microsoft will let you use your product key to install it onto your netbook from their website.

- Or you can buy it straight from their online store.

Alternatively you can try a free equivalent called OpenOffice; as with the alternative operating system mentioned above it’ll do roughly the same things but may not be as familiar.

No one plans on spending much time in the kitchen at uni - unless it’s where everyone plays ring of fire and watches Diagnosis Murder re-runs - so you’ll be needing some kitchen basics which won’t put a dent in your loan and which will survive daily abuse.

We’ve come up with some best value appliances which will ensure that you can live off the three student staples: toast, tea and beans…and a little something to make sure no one makes off with your beer.

Tesco have a great range of value products and we’ve found a Kettle, toaster and sandwich toaster all for under £30.

kettle - Tesco Value JK07 - £10

toaster - Tesco Value 2T07 - £9

sandwich toaster - Tesco Value Sandwich Toaster - £10

With a microwave, you can pretty much live pan-free. Take a look at the 20 litre Daewoo KOR6L15. It’s a bargain at £38 with five power steps and auto-cook function.

This final item may not be seen as an essential but you’ll soon realise that beers in the fridge disappear quickly. Keep them safe by investing in this Matsui MTT507WW mini fridge which can live in the safety of your room. It’s £72 plus delivery and has a 60 litre capacity…that’s a lot of beer!

Across the country, freshers are packing up textbooks, gap year souvenirs and enough clothes so they won’t have to do any laundry til Christmas.  If you - or your son or daughter - is in this situation, be sure to leave enough room in the car for the electronic kit that’s indispensible to student life.  You’ll need a laptop and a kettle, of course, but it’s the other stuff that will really make your time at Uni.
Here is our list of the top 5 gadgets you can’t do without:

iPod/MP3 Player Speakers

There isn’t enough room in most halls of residence for a big hi-fi system, but a set of iPod speakers will fit in perfectly.  An added advantage is that any visitors can plug in their mp3 player, and most ipod speakers are small enough to move around - perfect for parties.

There are options to suit any budget, but the pick of the crop are the Sony SRSGU10P, from £55, rated at 9.6/10 by people who actually own it, and the top-of-the-range Bose SoundDock, rated 9.2/10 and costing £128 upwards.

Digital Camera

Whether it’s for recording your best memories or working out what you did last night, a digital camera is essential.  Ideal student cameras are small enough to fit in a pocket, with a flash and good battery life.  Remember that megapixel count isn’t everything - see our Digital Cameras Buyers’ Guide for an in-depth guide to getting the best camera for you.

Nintendo Wii

It’s very important not to overwork yourself during your first few weeks at Uni - or for the rest of the time.  The energetic games are almost as good as going to the gym (especially if you get the Wii Fit as well) and will come in handy breaking the ice with your neighbours in halls.

Memory Stick

As surprising as it seems, students are required to do some work.  Make this part of student life as painfree as possible with a large-capacity USB stick - 2GB should be enough for all your notes and essays.  Not only can you keep all your work to hand, but this also acts as a back-up if anything ever happens to your computer.  Keep your work doubly-safe by backing it up online with a free service like Google Docs or Dropbox.

Insurance

Once you’ve bought the gadgets you want to take to uni, be sure that you’ll still be able to bring them home by buying some insurance.  Student accommodation is frequently a target for opportunistic burglars - and most students don’t have enough available money to replace a broken laptop or a lost mp3 player.  The National Union of Students recommends Endsleigh Insurance, whose special students contents insurance covers laptops, phones and other gadgets as well as everything from your bike to your winter coat.  It even covers your possessions on the journey to Uni and when you leave them in your student accommodation over the holidays.

Need to get smart today!  Found this Siemens WM14E162GB down to £383 inc free delivery at Appliances Online.  That’s £62 cheaper than the next best price.

Headphones on - there’s serious work to be done at Reevoo!  Got these awesome Sennheiser RS 120 headphones - down to £44 with free delivery at Dixons - that’s £20 cheaper than the next best price!

An amazing 74% off RRP on this Lexmark X342N printer from CDiscount, that’s only £104 including delivery.  Reevoo Deals again scouring the best online to save you money!

A couple of visitors to Reevoo.com have emailed us recently asking for some help finding earphones that don’t fall out of their ears, or that actually fit in their ears in the first place.  The majority of earphones seem to be made in a one-size-fits-all way, despite the fact ears vary as much as any other part of the body.  In fact, there are so many unique variations of ear size and shape, that ear-recognition was put forward as a rival to fingerprinting by crime specialists in the 19th century.

If you’re struggling to find a comfortable fit for your delicate shell-likes or big lugs, or you just can’t seem to keep your headphones on in the gym, here’s a quick guide to the best earphones for small ears and large.

Option 1: Headphones

It might seem obvious, but the simplest way to stop the damn things falling out/not fitting in is to swap them for heaphones that sit on top of the ear.  There are a lot of reasons why people prefer earphones to headphones, but newer models of headphone have adapted to work around lots of these disadvantages.

If lugging headphones around is your concern, there’s a range of headphones that fold flat for greater portability.

If price is your concern, there are headphones from only £4.

If you’re concerned about blocking out other noise, noise reducing or noise cancelling headphones exist to do just this - some actually block noise better than earphones.

Option 2: Earclips

If you don’t fancy switching to headphones, you could try earphones with an earclip, also known as a sportsclip.  These wrap around the outside of the ear a little like the arms of a pair of glasses, and are usually found on ’sports’ earphones.

Philips make a couple of earphones with earclips that have garnered top ratings from Reevoo reviewers: the SHS3200 is rated at 9.2/10 and costs £5 at the cheapest.  The SHS8000 comes in a little more expensive at £12, but is also top rated, with scores of 9.1/10 overall.

Option 3: Adaptable size earphones

Neither of these ideas sound any good?  Luckily, certain headphones manufacturers have come up with a much simpler solution: their earphones come with different sizes of inserts to suit different sizes of ear.

See a range of headphones that come with different size inserts here.

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