Death of The iPod

Put two of them in one room, and you can set them up as left and right channels of a true stereo system.

* Hands on: PlayON!HD2 streaming media player

At $419, the Play:3 brings the attractions that have lured more moneyed audiophiles to its big brother, the S5 (now called the Play:5) to a much wider audience.

Even without a subscription service, the way the Sonos links to a music library on your PC or Mac or Networked Attached Storage, is compelling. It gives you easy access to internet radio, streaming different programs to different rooms or the entire house.

With a subscription service, it's completely addictive. Party playlists become almost infinitely deep. Someone wants to hear another track? No problem, just plug it in.

It's a combination that's highly likely to have you experience once more that forgotten feeling of pulling out your wallet to feed your taste for music.

*) Charles Wright works as a tech manager for his wife's business, runs a blog on e-health, rides a scooter and loves his iPhone/iPad/Sony Vaio and sundry other pieces of tech that have found their way to the Bleeding Edge Lost Home for Electronic Toys.