OT: Squeezebox audio streamer

[gweempose]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the Slim Devices Squeezebox (http://slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html). From what I've read, it appears to be a reasonably priced product that performs well. I also like the form factor. It's relatively small, has a cool display and looks pretty slick in my opinion. Has anybody used one of these?

[Amazingly Smooth]

I have a similar device from Roku. The Roku can work with the Slimserver, but it also supports iTunes and other servers. Regardless, I think they work well enough.

Cheers

[IFLYSWA]

Can the Roku handle lossless formats (flac, etc.)? I know the Squeezebox and Sonos units can, but I don't know about the Roku...

Thanks!
Randy

[Amazingly Smooth]

The Roku does handle flac with their Firefly server, but you may have trouble with bandwidth over 802.11b. You should check out the forums at their site www.rokulabs.com.

[IFLYSWA]

I'll take a look...thanks!

Randy

[mvallevand]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the Slim Devices Squeezebox (http://slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html). From what I've read, it appears to be a reasonably priced product that performs well. I also like the form factor. It's relatively small, has a cool display and looks pretty slick in my opinion. Has anybody used one of these?
If you can live without the cool display, for me the Hauppauge MediaMVP with mvpmc is a better deal, since it's cheaper and can do both audio and video. Like the Roku, it can also play audio using slimserver but I prefer the native mode from my always on NAS and it stream Internet radio directly too.

And to put this back on topic mvpmc can also interface to ReplayTV and DVArchive

Regarding FLAC, I started working on adding this to mvpmc over the holidays and it is going more quickly than I expected, I hope to have an alpha out shortly.

Martin

[jasonmolinari]

I have a squeezebox, and like it a lot. Having said that, if you can live without the screen, my coworker has, i think, a D-link media player, which plays audio as well as vidio that he LOVES, and it costs a little less too.

[IFLYSWA]

Good info. I think I am going to wait and see if anybody comes up with the ability to stream the DRMed files from subscription services such as Yahoo Music. I know that the SB3 (and others, I think) work with Rhapsody, but I'd like to have a little more flexibility...

Randy

[Mitch G]

I've had one (SB 1) for a couple of years and simply love it. Having all my music available whenever I want in an easily accessible way is simply great.
But, for the record (pun intended), I don't buy music on-line. I like to buy CDs and then rip them. So, I don't have any DRM-related issues.

One of the real nice aspects, imo, of the SB is the availability of 3rd party plug-ins that have been developed and are free for download. For example, I use the weather channel screen saver which gives you your local weather conditions as well as forecasts.


Mitch

[IFLYSWA]

I hear ya, Mitch. I mostly use Yahoo to get stuff I don't necessarily want to buy, and to give a trial listen to stuff I am not sure about. It would be nice to be able to listen to it on my main system, even if it is in a lossy format....

Randy

[gweempose]

Thanks for your input, guys! I went ahead and ordered the Squeezebox. It should be here by Monday. I can't wait. On a side note, I was at Tweeter today and I had a chance to play around with the Sonos system. They had it hooked up to the internet with an active Rhapsody account. All I can say is ... WOW! That is one slick system. It's pricey as hell, but it's one of the coolest pieces of gear I have seen in a long time.

[icecow]

Good news:
Squeezebox natively supports Pandora (the bestest internet radio known to bovine)

Bad News:
There is a subscription fee that poisons the cat that ate the canary

Slightly Good news:
If you wait till march 1 before you use pandora with your squeezebox you will get a 90 day trial.

[gweempose]

Pandora combatibility was one of the things that sold me on the Squeezebox. I love Pandora! :)

[IFLYSWA]

Thanks for your input, guys! I went ahead and ordered the Squeezebox. It should be here by Monday. I can't wait. On a side note, I was at Tweeter today and I had a chance to play around with the Sonos system. They had it hooked up to the internet with an active Rhapsody account. All I can say is ... WOW! That is one slick system. It's pricey as hell, but it's one of the coolest pieces of gear I have seen in a long time.

Congrats on your SB3 purchase! I'm sure you'll love it...seems that everyone that has one does.

As for the Sonos stuff, it really is nice. The only issue I had with it, and this is really picking nits, is the somewhat sluggish performance of the remote. It was completely usable, and not a big deal...it just seemed like it needed a touch more horsepower behind it...

Randy

[icecow]

btw, I got the 'march 1' date from Squeezebox's own FAQ. March 1 sounds kinda far off. Perhaps it's March 1, 2006 and the FAQ is old? be sure to ask. I don't want to be the guy that led you astray.

[gweempose]

My Squeezebox arrived yesterday. As soon as I opened the box, the first thing I found was a card inviting me to try out Pandora free for 90 days. Looks like you were correct as usual, cow. :) The Pandora integration is awesome! It's really easy to access all your stations, and you can even create new ones directly from the Squeezebox.

I've only had the thing for a day, but so far I'm very impressed. It was a breeze to set up, and everything is working just as advertised. I have to say, they did a great job with the florescent display. I sit about 10 feet away, I can easily read it. What a pleasure it is to chill out on the couch in my family room and listen to all my tunes through a high quality audio system. Suddenly, I feel compelled to rip all of my CDs into some type of lossless format such as FLAC. Looks like I'm gonna need about another terabyte of storage. :eek:

One more thing. They just announced yesterday that the Squeezebox will support Rhapsody starting January 15. Here is a link (http://www.realnetworks.com/company/press/releases/2007/rhap_logitech.html) to the press release. With access to over three million songs, perhaps I won't be needing those extra hard drives after all. ;)

[IFLYSWA]

That's odd...I know of a person in another forum that already uses his SB3 with Rhapsody...hmmm. Kooky. I really wish they would do the same with Yahoo Music. I haven't really tried Rhapsody, but I haven't been much of a fan of Real Networks for awhile now. And I paid up a year's sub on Yahoo, to boot...oh well...

Randy

[gweempose]

That's odd...I know of a person in another forum that already uses his SB3 with Rhapsody...hmmm.I believe there was previously a way to access Rhapsody radio stations as well as your personal library and playlists through some type of UPnP interface. This new partnership, however, will now offer full Rhapsody integration. You will be able to search and stream the entire Rhapsody catalog directly from the Squeezebox without even having your PC on.

[IFLYSWA]

That does sound nice....maybe I'll have to give Rhapsody a shot, afterall....

Randy

[Tupalev]

For squeezebox owners, how does the sound quality compare with regard to listening to your MP3 library versus streaming music with such services as Rhapsody? Thanks in advance.

[gweempose]

For squeezebox owners, how does the sound quality compare with regard to listening to your MP3 library versus streaming music with such services as Rhapsody?I haven't tried Rhapsody yet, but I've listened to Pandora quite a bit. To my ears, it sounds pretty good. We're not talking CD quality, but it more than gets the job done. I think Pandora streams at 128 Kbps, and I'm fairly ceratin that Rhapsody is the same.

As far as streaming your own music library, the sound quality is strictly dependant on what bitrate you rip your music at. Lossless formats such as FLAC will obviously sound better than 128 Kbps MP3, but you pay the price in file size. I plan on ripping all my CDs soon, and I haven't decided what to do yet. I'd love to go lossless, but the storage space required will be immense. Ultimately, I may end up going with something that yields a good balance between sound quality and file size such as 192 Kbps WMA.

[icecow]

OT

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/tree123xyz/ant_wideweb__430x317.jpg

An ant carries a one millimetre square microchip in its mandibles, illustrating the work that is being done in nanotechnology.
Photo: Reuters

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/08/1102182359368.html

[icecow]

OT2: Video of man drawing perfect circle on chalk board
(tip:skip first 1 minute of video (go to 1:00))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAhfZUZiwSE