January 30, 2009

How Whole-Home Audio Products Can Find Their Rhythm

This is the second document in the "Convenience Quotient" series.

by James L. McQuivey, Ph.D.

with Michelle de Lussanet, Dan Wilkos

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Over the past three years, a few whole-home audio devices have trickled into the marketplace from companies like Logitech and Sonos, offering consumers the ability to listen to digital content from their PCs or from the Internet in various rooms of their home. Unlike the conceptually similar MP3 player market, this audio device market has not hit the top of the charts. However, this could change in 2009 and beyond. At 28%, enough US homes are now networked to make whole-home audio feasible. Plus, music labels have freed the music from the complex constraints of previous DRM schemes. The secret, as Forrester's Convenience Quotient ranking methodology reveals, is the degree of convenience these devices can offer — not just compared with each other but in comparison with other ways to get the same benefits of whole-home listening.

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