Minnetonka, Minn. – Privately
held startup Navvo Group, led by former Best Buy executive Wade Fenn, launched
a do-it-yourself wireless multiroom, multizone audio system that uses Android
tablets and smartphones as system controllers.
Unlike other wireless
multiroom-audio systems,
also offers voice control of song selection. To select songs, users speak into
an Android device loaded with a free Navvo-provided app downloaded from the
Android Market. The app uses Navvo’s own voice-control technology, not an Android phone’s
Google-supplied voice recognition software, to deliver a more integrated
experience, said Tom Gotuzzo, senior VP of sales and marketing.
The app also lets users select
songs via an Android device’s touchscreen.
With a Voco system, up to 10
different sources or songs can be streamed simultaneously around the house via
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ from multiple networked PCs, multiple network attached
storage (NAS) drives, and from the Android device itself to up to 10 Voco
V-Zone players, which are priced at a suggested $199. A single song can also be
transmitted to all V-Zone players in the house.
The players connect to a home’s
existing audio and home theater systems via HDMI, optical digital cable, and
analog RCA cables.
Additional music sources can
include USB sticks, USB-connected iPods other than the iPod Touch and iPhone,
other-brand USB-connected MP3 players plugged directly into a V-Zone player.
Sources also include more than 50,000 free Internet radio stations and podcasts
streamed by the Android device through the Navvo-provided app.
Via touchscreen or voice, the app
lets users search for music stored on a selected source by title, artist or
genre. If users search multiple sources in sequence for a particular artist but
come up short, the app lets users search for Internet radio stations with a
high propensity for playing that artist, said Gotuzzo. In some cases, the app
will find a station currently playing that artist, he noted.
Multiple Android devices can be
used simultaneously as controllers in a house to direct different songs to
different zones.
For use as music sources,
networked PCs and NAS drives must be loaded with Voco software.
Voco V-Zone players are already
available through select RadioShack stores,
,
Amazon,
, and wireless
stores specializing in Verizon Wireless service, said Gotuzzo. In wireless
stores, where Navvo offers demonstration models, salespeople can use V Zone to
step customers up to Android phones, Gotuzzo said.
Future Voco products include a
V-Zone player with built-in speakers.
