SqueezeBox Users Thread

[hugh]

Marvin, you've hijacked this thread.

The point of the Slimserver is for people who DON'T want PC's in every room of their house.

[Marvin G]

Ooops, didn’t mean to hijack anything, and I apologize if offended anyone…

Can one not discuss pros/cons/options of a particular technology? I didn’t see my post as being any different from #11 to which you responded ‘to each his own’.

Just trying to understand the product (and even acknowledged it was quite cool twice !! )

I didn’t want to start a new thread as one already existed but pls move it as you see fit .

[Steven W.]

Marvin... offended anyone? I doubt it, but you don't grasp the basic idea behind the Squeezebox - an intuitive, wife/kids/family friendly interface that allows music lovers to easily access high quality music libraries without using a monitor or TV - while also avoiding the mess of wires and noise of the PC.
The whole point behind it is to get away from the scenario you're describing and into a very simple setup that anyone who wanders into your music room(s) can learn to use in a matter of seconds.

Everyone from my 9 year old son to the drunken goofs, (me included), at a birthday party can easily use the SB. It's a great social device as well. People can just wander by with a drink in their hand and queue up another song in the playlist.

Onto more practical concerns...
The new SB is wireless, but they still have a wired connection if you choose to go that route. I believe they are no longer selling the "wired only" version.
It was a pain to buy here in BC. There was a distributor in Whistler, but the web site was so amateurish that it scared me off and I ended up buying through Amazon and having it shipped up here. Hopefully the purchase by Logitech will mean the usual suspects will start selling the SB in Canada.
The software being OpenSource is a huge benefit, as evidenced by a wealth of great plugins and excellent support for those plugins in the Slim Devices forums.

What can I say, after dealing with a Dlink DSM-320 for a few years, and using a similar network setup as Marvin for years prior, it is incredibly refreshing to use the simple elegance of the SB. (Esp for my wife )

[cyclo]

I agree with Stephen... The Squeezebox still needs a server running but from what I have gathered it could be a souped up NAS box with a hacked firmware... not necessarily a PC.

The advantage of not using a PC for just playing music are that there is no need to waste time keeping the PC up to date with patches, anti-virus, anti-spyware, etc. Also a Squeezebox will require a lot less power than a media PC... a bonus in this era of global warming.

I have have been planning to get a Squeezebox for the last few months and I was just checking it out a few days ago on Squeezebox's website. It does appear that they dropped the wired-only version. Too bad as that was what I wanted to get.

[shabbs]

Originally Posted by cyclo

It does appear that they dropped the wired-only version. Too bad as that was what I wanted to get.

Yeah, that happened recently. I suspect sales of the "wired only" model were much less than the wired/wireless model and it became a question of economics. When I got my SB3, I thought about getting the wired only model as I had no intentions of using it wirelessly, but I got the wireless version ($50 more) just in case somewhere down the line I'd need to make use of it's wireless features. It can also act as a wireless bridge.

Cheers.

[Steven W.]

Originally Posted by cyclo

I agree with Stephen... The Squeezebox still needs a server running but from what I have gathered it could be a souped up NAS box with a hacked firmware... not necessarily a PC.

Yes, there are a few NAS devices out there that have Slimserver built-in, or, you can easily boot SlimCD from a CD or from a flash card and run Slimserver off of a cheap used headless computer.

[cm_soo]

Just wanted to update my experience with Squeezebox.
I've had mine for several months now, I have over 1000 songs digitized and being served......and I love it!!!

I really can't say anything bad about this unit, perhaps the only complaint being that it's abilities are so vast that navigating "how-to's" on their site is a bit of a chore, perhaps better documentation.

Regardless, I formatted my PC last weekend and the first thing back up and running was my Squeezebox. I've waited years for something like this, this truly is the future of music. My personal rating is 10/10

[hugh]

cm_soo, thanks for the feedback

[jtheman]

Hi guys

wanted your advise in my idea

Id like to use 3 squeezebox for a amulti room audio system

From what I know,I need some powered speakers for each rooms that has the squeezebox(cause I dont want any amplifier for each room)

Is there a amplifier or device that I could plug all the squeezebox to so I could have the 'normal 'speakers starting from that device instead of the SB and I also need a server for all the music I have

I also need to listen to fm radio....can the slingbox do that?

got any ideas???

thanks
J

[sansp00]

I don't have any suggestions for your powered speakers ... But for the server part, you'll need to run Slimserver on either a NAS or computer somewhere. Slimserver is good, but does put on some load on a NAS. If you only use it for that single purpose, you should be fine. Slimserver is also able to stream online radio, for FM/AM, I don't know if they have a plugin to support radio tuner cards.
How is your music currently stored ? Could you detail a bit more your needs ?
Sonos make a great product also, so does Roku and others are jumping in the bandwagon also ...
Patrick S.

[classicsat]

Find a physically small audio receiver with tuner and line inputs. Something like a bookshelf stereo. I have been looking at one site for a retail store and found a few that would probably be acceptable to me for under $200.

[sansp00]

Slim devices (Squeezebox) will not permit you to listen to FM radio directly AFAIK, there is no tuner in them. And foremost, you'll also have to have a server somewhere to feed them (aside from Pandora with the V3 I think).

The only device that does such a thing (tuner for FM but still requires a server to feed it) it the Roku Soundbridge Radio and it is quite expensive.

Also, unless you have a home network and plan to use your PC to host the server, you'll have to add those pieces to the equation.

Do a lot of homework before jumping into this because there are a lot of products and all of them have pros and cons. I did a lot of research and still keep myself informed (even after picking my gear) and still have a hard time keeping up with all of the stuff that's out there.
Patrick S.

[dinkeldorf]

If you're thinking about multiroom you need to work out is it for critical listening or ambient? Does it need to be synced or independent or both? (Slimserver i believe provides for all). Do you have lossless?

An amp per room is expensive unless you have a multi source / multizone amp which again is expensive, or a-bus which is only for ambient. Sonos has a nice multiroom setup but if you're hooked on the Squeezebox, don't necessarily rush into powered speakers if you have some ordinary speakers kicking around. Check out Sonic Impact's Class T micro amp here:
http://www.si5.com/products.php?pID=4005

They review (go google!) very well and likely will be sufficient for ambient listening rather than critical.


DISCLAIMER: I have a Roku but will eventually go with Slim.

[sansp00]

"DISCLAIMER: I have a Roku but will eventually go with Slim."

Traitor

Stupid question, but why the move ?
Patrick S.

[dinkeldorf]

I really like the Roku. I used mine wired to a HK430 + whole house sound. For out of box get and go it can't be beat with itunes /WMP intgeration.

However I want to synch multiple units, Slimserver's greater extensibility (plugins & screen text processing), bigger display, not upsampling to 48k, 802.11g, squeeze network, the nice DAC, and find the Roku GUI not that intuitive.

My take is Squeeze has a head start on functionality and their operating model will keep them ahead of the curve.