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A wired Squeezebox plus 802.11g bridge ought to do the trick.

It has its issues, but the Squeezebox works well in the Living Room because it's unobtrusive and self-contained: you don't need a computer or a TV to control it. In the Office, the Airport Express is perfect because it can be controlled by any computer in the room, and being an office, there are plenty of them.

The biggest downfall, actually, is the wireless. Wireless just isn't as reliable as wired. Once every few weeks, I'll find that one of my base stations needs to be power cycled. Sometimes all of them do. And this is something that's a pain for my wife, who just wants to listen to music.

The problem is worse in the Living Room, which is close to the kitchen, which contains the microwave. As you know, microwaves interfere with 802.11. That's not a big deal when you're surfing the web, but it sucks to have your music drop everytime you make a bag of popcorn.

This problem is only going to get worse when sharing movies starts becoming possible. Ethernet totally has the bandwidth for this. Wireless does not.

It's a pain, for sure, but now's the best time to do it.

So it turns out that this is harder that you might think. Getting different wireless audio into different rooms isn't too bad. It's mostly a function of throughput. But getting the SAME wireless audio is into different rooms and keeping it in sync is a surprisingly difficult.

I have the SlimDevices Squeezebox (http://www.slimdevices.com/), and it works great at the first task, but only moderately well at the second. There's a new company called Sonos (http://www.sonos.com/) that just released their product which does both very well.

I had a chance to beta-test the product and it really is as good as described. It's Linux-based, but not open-source. It utilizes a proprietary mesh-network running on top of 802.11g and it worked flawlessly in my three zone setup. All three zones could play high-bitrate audio in perfect sync with no drops.

The downside is that it is fairly expensive. If you don't need sync'd audio, I might go with a cheaper option. But if you do, I've yet to find anything that can top Sonos.

http://www.slimdevices.com/

Get a few of these, they're fab.

Slimp3 280 USD for the wireless version. I don't think there's anything out there cheaper.

One reason for removing the DRM is so you can use devices like this and this. iTunes is already in an encoded format that these devices can play, its just the DRM that is preventing it.

With no wireless and less space than a Nomad, I'm not surprised that most geeks consider the iPod to be "lame."

Just use SlimServer and be done with it. Read about it here, but to repeat the main features:

• It's available under the GPL, so you can do what you want with it.
• It's written in Perl, so you can run it on anything (Linux, OSX, Windows, etc)
• It provides a configurable web interface to the central music library.

It's intended to be the interface software for the same company's Squeezebox network audio player, which explains why they're willing to give it away under the GPL -- they make their money of the hardware. That also explains some of the unusual design decisions that went into SlimServer, namely, that unlike some other network streaming setups (Apache::MP3, iTunes DAAP streaming, etc) which let each client listen to their own selections, the SlimServer architecture allows multiple clients to have a say over the one stream that's being used centrally. For a management interface to a central home audio system, or for the system described in this article, that design decision is a perfect fit.

Really, give it a try. I tried setting it up on a LAN for coworkers to listen to mp3s on their headphones, and while everyone liked the interface a lot, it was annoying that everyone listened to the same thing. But if you want to provide a way for everyone to set what is being played on a central system, this is exactly the way to do it.

Just use SlimServer and be done with it. Read about it here, but to repeat the main features:

• It's available under the GPL, so you can do what you want with it.
• It's written in Perl, so you can run it on anything (Linux, OSX, Windows, etc)
• It provides a configurable web interface to the central music library.

It's intended to be the interface software for the same company's Squeezebox network audio player, which explains why they're willing to give it away under the GPL -- they make their money of the hardware. That also explains some of the unusual design decisions that went into SlimServer, namely, that unlike some other network streaming setups (Apache::MP3, iTunes DAAP streaming, etc) which let each client listen to their own selections, the SlimServer architecture allows multiple clients to have a say over the one stream that's being used centrally. For a management interface to a central home audio system, or for the system described in this article, that design decision is a perfect fit.

Really, give it a try. I tried setting it up on a LAN for coworkers to listen to mp3s on their headphones, and while everyone liked the interface a lot, it was annoying that everyone listened to the same thing. But if you want to provide a way for everyone to set what is being played on a central system, this is exactly the way to do it.

Just use SlimServer and be done with it. Read about it here, but to repeat the main features:

• It's available under the GPL, so you can do what you want with it.
• It's written in Perl, so you can run it on anything (Linux, OSX, Windows, etc)
• It provides a configurable web interface to the central music library.

It's intended to be the interface software for the same company's Squeezebox network audio player, which explains why they're willing to give it away under the GPL -- they make their money of the hardware. That also explains some of the unusual design decisions that went into SlimServer, namely, that unlike some other network streaming setups (Apache::MP3, iTunes DAAP streaming, etc) which let each client listen to their own selections, the SlimServer architecture allows multiple clients to have a say over the one stream that's being used centrally. For a management interface to a central home audio system, or for the system described in this article, that design decision is a perfect fit.

Really, give it a try. I tried setting it up on a LAN for coworkers to listen to mp3s on their headphones, and while everyone liked the interface a lot, it was annoying that everyone listened to the same thing. But if you want to provide a way for everyone to set what is being played on a central system, this is exactly the way to do it.

I'm buying a crapload of IBM stock.

Me too. It is surprising and inspiring to see IBM doing this.

Open source today is like bell bottoms in 1950. It wasn't cool just yet.

IBM is way ahead of the other heavyweights in recognizing a trend and getting ready to capitalize on it.

My business is deeply involved in open source. When I explain our strategy to people such as our silicon vendors, they chuckle, and I'm sure they look at me like some kind of hippie pinko, and not the greedy capitalist that I'm proud to be. But it's getting easier - with guys like IBM backing OSS, we can look forward to a technology landscape where people are making money AND advancing technology instead of just ripping each other off.

Check out Slimdevices for what they have to offer. The server software is free and comes in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X flavours. The Squeezebox's are a little over $100 but you can you a browser, media player of a java Squeezebox emulator called Softsqueeze to play the music. It will also stream WAV, MP3, Ogg, Flac, Apple Lossless, AAC, WMA, and Windows Lossless files with the proper config. It won't play DRM versions of AAC or WMA files though. It supports synchronizing Squeezeboxes as well as does the Softqueeze software emulation. I am currently using the Slimserver software with the java Softsqueeze until I can get the case for a Squeezebox or two.

Check out Slimdevices for what they have to offer. The server software is free and comes in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X flavours. The Squeezebox's are a little over $100 but you can you a browser, media player of a java Squeezebox emulator called Softsqueeze to play the music. It will also stream WAV, MP3, Ogg, Flac, Apple Lossless, AAC, WMA, and Windows Lossless files with the proper config. It won't play DRM versions of AAC or WMA files though. It supports synchronizing Squeezeboxes as well as does the Softqueeze software emulation. I am currently using the Slimserver software with the java Softsqueeze until I can get the case for a Squeezebox or two.

Actually you can do this with what the folks from http://www.slimdevices.com/ have come up with. Their Slimserver software is written in Perl and is open source. Since it's all web based you can manage what's being played with a handheld.

I do this at home and it works quite well. The SqueezeBox that they sell doesn't have any kind of amp built into it but it does plug right into your stereo (or you can use powered speakers).

Now, I actually like iTunes. It slurped up my previously ripped MP3 collection with no problems. I like the design, layout, and semantics of iTunes. It's really a nice app.

What's more, is that the SlimServer software has some integration with iTunes. Pretty cool. You can set up playlists in iTunes and then use SlimServer to play it through your stereo via the SqueezeBox. Way cool, really.

So, my wife heard a song on the radio that she liked, so we fired up iTunes and got an account on iTMS. Very nice integration, I must say. We found the song she liked, paid our $0.99 and downloaded it. It was an extremely smooth and appealing experience. But after getting the song, we found that we can use iTunes to play it through the computer's speakers, but when we try to play it through the SqueezeBox -- nothing!! It won't work.

I dug around, and finally found this:

Please note that music purchased from the iTunes Music Store ("Protected AAC" (.m4p) files) is encrypted and cannot be played back with Squeezebox until Apple provides the necessary hooks to enable this. In the meantime, it is possible to burn your iTunes Music Store songs to CD and re-rip them as unprotected .m4a files.

This means that I paid $0.99 for a worthless stream of bytes!! I'm not gonna spend time to download, burn, and re-rip. That's stupid. I can go buy the damn CD, rip it, and then immediately sell it to Cheapo, and be out only a little money (as opposed to the total loss that iTMS offers). Thankfully, I downloaded only one song and wasted only a buck.

iTMS looks really nice, and you gotta hand it to Apple -- it's a nicely integrated product. I like iTunes, and I'll probably continue to use it. But, until I can play music on my own players, I will not be wasting any more money on iTMS.

Now, I actually like iTunes. It slurped up my previously ripped MP3 collection with no problems. I like the design, layout, and semantics of iTunes. It's really a nice app.

What's more, is that the SlimServer software has some integration with iTunes. Pretty cool. You can set up playlists in iTunes and then use SlimServer to play it through your stereo via the SqueezeBox. Way cool, really.

So, my wife heard a song on the radio that she liked, so we fired up iTunes and got an account on iTMS. Very nice integration, I must say. We found the song she liked, paid our $0.99 and downloaded it. It was an extremely smooth and appealing experience. But after getting the song, we found that we can use iTunes to play it through the computer's speakers, but when we try to play it through the SqueezeBox -- nothing!! It won't work.

I dug around, and finally found this:

Please note that music purchased from the iTunes Music Store ("Protected AAC" (.m4p) files) is encrypted and cannot be played back with Squeezebox until Apple provides the necessary hooks to enable this. In the meantime, it is possible to burn your iTunes Music Store songs to CD and re-rip them as unprotected .m4a files.

This means that I paid $0.99 for a worthless stream of bytes!! I'm not gonna spend time to download, burn, and re-rip. That's stupid. I can go buy the damn CD, rip it, and then immediately sell it to Cheapo, and be out only a little money (as opposed to the total loss that iTMS offers). Thankfully, I downloaded only one song and wasted only a buck.

iTMS looks really nice, and you gotta hand it to Apple -- it's a nicely integrated product. I like iTunes, and I'll probably continue to use it. But, until I can play music on my own players, I will not be wasting any more money on iTMS.

Media Center 11 has an elegant-but-beta Library Server that does realtime transcoding of bitrates and formats between its server and attached clients, across LAN or WAN. You can couple this with its "Media Scheduler" module to record internet radio streams and then serve them up in whatever format and bitrate a client specifies. What's nice is that you can also stream video and photos to clients. MC will also do bitrate transcoding while streaming from attached Tivo HMOs.

MC also has a beta uPNP module that lets you control attached media streaming devices and offload the transcoding duties to them.

And oh yeah, SlimServer is GPL'd. You can script this to do on-the-fly custom transcoding. It's more flexible than pre-rolled, but less friendly.

I would also recommend SlimServer...and I'm not a Slim employee!

I've been using SlimServer for at least 6 months now and I absolutely love it. I have it installed on one of my spare linux servers and can access my entire music library anywhere that has internet access and an mp3 player (I'm currently away for the Holidays and as I'm typing this very message I'm listening to my music stored hundreds of miles away). However, the beauty of it is that it should be able to do exactly what you want: it can connect to internet streams and do conversion on the fly. There are also a number of plugins available (for example, here)

I should mention that I only use their software, SlimServer (which is free), and not their hardware unit, SqueezeBox. This is not because I'm a cheap bastard, but because I'm a college student living in a dorm room...you can't *not* be next to your computer in a dorm, so I have no use for something like SqueezeBox. However, once I move out next year, one of my first pruchases will be a SqueezeBox.

Your site says it supports WMA but the submitter also mentions RA.

WMA definitely; RA "no, but possible". Real's software is quite closed and inextensible (yes, even compared to MSFT), and I don't think there's a solution for this yet. All it would take though is a decoder app, and you could hook it in in five seconds using SlimServer's transcoding logic. Take a look to see specifically which formats are supported.

SlimServer / Squeezebox does precisely what you're asking for.

You might be able to get it to work with the WMLS11B if that device is capable of playing an arbitrary mp3 stream by URL, as SlimServer can convert and rebroadcast streams in
various formats.

But if you have the Squeezebox it will work so much better, because it's designed to do all of this, and you can choose the stations (or your own music collection) from the display.

SlimServer is also open source, so it supports just about every file format and radio format in existence. There is a free emulator included, SoftSqueeze, that you can use to try it
out.

PS I work for Slim. Mod up if you want me to answer questions in this thread; mod down if you don't care for self-promotion.

No, not hearsay on "some" list.

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008323.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025448.html

More:

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025440.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008125.html

So admittedly, I'm a bit behind on this story. My bad. It does look like they may have originally intended to pass off the SlimServer as their own, but backed off when they were called on it and made to realize what using it would entail.

No, not hearsay on "some" list.

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008323.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025448.html

More:

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025440.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008125.html

So admittedly, I'm a bit behind on this story. My bad. It does look like they may have originally intended to pass off the SlimServer as their own, but backed off when they were called on it and made to realize what using it would entail.

No, not hearsay on "some" list.

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008323.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025448.html

More:

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025440.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008125.html

So admittedly, I'm a bit behind on this story. My bad. It does look like they may have originally intended to pass off the SlimServer as their own, but backed off when they were called on it and made to realize what using it would entail.

No, not hearsay on "some" list.

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008323.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025448.html

More:

http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -February/025440.html
http://lists.slimdevices.com/archives/discuss/2004 -January/008125.html

So admittedly, I'm a bit behind on this story. My bad. It does look like they may have originally intended to pass off the SlimServer as their own, but backed off when they were called on it and made to realize what using it would entail.

Support the company that actually develops and supports the server software used by Roku for their product.

http://www.slimdevices.com/

Last I heard, Roku gives back nothing to the project, possibly in violation of the GPL.

Is there anything as good as the Slimserver/Squeezebox combo? If there is, I don't know it yet. Populate your house with a few squeezeboxes connected to a central server and you have all you need...

http://www.slimdevices.com/

Actually, forget Roku and check out the Squeezebox. It's a great player, much more reliable than the Roku and sounds better. Plus, the open source SlimServer app which runs the back end of both players is provided by SlimDevices, who make the Squeezebox. Roku "borrowed" it (which is fine, it's open) for the Soundbridge, but it works much better with the Squeezebox, and to be honest the Roku experience left a bitter taste in many people's mouths.

Slimserver is perl and is supported on Win/Max/Linux/BSD, supports most file formats, streaming, etc etc. Very cool.

I'm trying to find a non-microsoft, out-of-the-box solution

Check out SLIMP3 and/or various offerings from Apple just to name two sources off the top of my head for audio. For video, just build a custom linux box with MythTV or something and stick it in one of those spiffy home entertainment cases. Or pay lots of money for the commercial equivalent.

I'm glad I didn't rush out and preorder this one.

This should be a good lesson for anyone who has. There is almost nothing out there, made by large companies, that is worth rushing out and getting the very first model of. As other posters have noted, these companies don't even do any real usability testing to see if there's major problems with them, and engineers don't ever even see the finished product, or get to try out the prototypes, to see if there's something obvious that was missed. Amidst all this, there's simply no reason for anyone at the company to care one whit about the product itself; engineers just have to worry about keeping their jobs and getting a good review, managers just care about being able to spin things to their managers so they can get a bonus or raise, and executives just care about pushing the stock price higher. In the end, no one in large companies gives a rat's ass about the products they're making. If they don't care, why should anyone else?

If you're looking for products to get excited about, I only see two options: 1) make your own products. MythTV and other open-source software makes it fairly easy to build your own computing/entertainment systems using commodity components, and since you can build it the way you want it, you can leave out crap like DRM, monthly fees, inability to skip commercials, etc., and put in features you really want, like Ogg compatibility, a one-touch slideshow linked to a directory full or pr0n on your home server, or whatever else floats your boat.
2) Look for products from small companies where the engineers run the company, and are building the product because it's something they want. A good example of this is SlimDevices.

I am RIPPING my folk's music collection and putting it on a Linux box to serve a Slimdevices Squeezebox.

I will also be adding a lot of free live blues and jazz shows to their collection from sites like archive.org and easytree.org.

I have been using a Slimp3 to play my collection for about 3 years and it has changed my life. I have probably listened to more music in the last year than in my entire life pre-Slimp3. Funny thing is, it isn't the studio stuff I bought over the years (and am completely tired of).. It is the live music.

The article would have been more helpful if it listed other products besides the one in each category. In each instance, it looked like they were trying to choose the glitziest product, but not usually the best.

Right now I'm thinking about streaming off a PC to an Apple Airport Express or variant.
(Port it over to linux as xmms output plugin using JustePort? In my copious free time ..).

iPaq + VNC (... anyone knows a good 640x480 802.11 capable PDA ?) as the remote control.
Anyone has any nicer ideas ? The Squeezebox and variants don't have a good enough control ability for me.

-- Ors.

I've not conquered the video thing yet. I like the idea of having easy access to the digital media, but I don't like the idea of having a computer in the family room. Computers go in the office, where there's a desk and a proper work environment.

Softsqueeze needs X and some horsepower - though it runs OK on a VIA Epia, which is no small feat. The server probably doesn't need alot unless you're transcoding some other format -- of course that's just a guess, I have it running on a PIII/800 where it has no problem serving up multiple streams while doing other serverish things.

How about this: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_overview.html

The SlimServer also has a command-line interface and several programming frameworks are available. Check out their open source server software at http://slimdevices.com/.

I got several of tem when they were on sale, and I've been totally happy with it. They have wifi and ethernet versions, and the best part is that it just worked. I was worried that since I have my music in FLAC format it would be a problem, but their software detected it and just did the right thing. It was super easy to set up.

Want to try it out without buying a device? There are several software projects that can use a regular Linux machine to act as a client. SoftSqueeze, IIRC, is a Java program that accurately emulates the squeezebox.

The hardware devices can be synced together, so they play the same music in sync. That's pretty neat. Or you can unsync them and have different music in different rooms.

I am so happy with the Squeezebox.

Sean

I own a lot of music, > 500 cds, maybe more than 600, it's been a while since I counted. I recently bought a squeezebox and I can honestly say it has caused me to buy more music, not less. The squeezebox (and other digital music devices like it) make it SO easy to build these big playlists, all of the sudden I'm listening to stuff I had not in years.

But the funny thing about it is I'm not going to pay $15-18 dollars for most CDs, so I've been doing all of my shopping at local used stores and on ebay. Totally legal to do, right? Buy used CDs and rip them for personal use - nothing controversial about that...

But I gotta tell you, I feel like I'm sticking it to the artists doing it since they don't see any $$$ on used CD sales. Really the only people who benefit from the sale of used CDs are the sellers and me! The artists would be better off selling high quality MP3s on their website at prices comparable to used CDs... Give me a lifetime subscription for $20 (for my favorite artists, anyways) and I bet we both come out ahead.

Our company, profits selling hardware, while most of our engineering effort goes towards our open source software, SlimServer. The open source part of our business has helped us build an great community of users. Some of our users don't buy the hardware but contribute nonetheless, making our hardware, Squeezebox, more useful and valuable to the folks who do buy. It's a business model that's working for us right now.

What are you, a retard?

Yes.

Can you build your own computer?

Yes

And I'm not talking some 8-bit micro controller thing you cobbled together from parts you picked up at RadioShack.

Well, yes, I've built on of those... but I didn't get the parts at Radio Shack.

I'm asking, can you build, in your back yard from raw materials, a general purpose computer?

No I can not turn rocks, dirt, and dog feces from my yard into a computer.

I'm betting that, perhaps, one one-thousandth of the slashdot readership has even the beginnings of the capability to do that.

Everyone has the "beginnings of the capability" to do whatever the hell they want.

The rest of us are consumers however much we'd like to think of ourselves as somehow above the comman man.

Eh? Everyone consumes. No shame in that.

But the fact is we buy our equipment from big corporations.

You can buy all kinds of stuff from small corporations. Often better stuff than the big corps sell.

Those big corporations will take whatever steps are necessary to stay in business and prosper.

Good for them, but faced with a big enough threat, they won't.

If that means that the common computer goes the way of the dodo bird and more stringently controlled systems replace them, then that's what will happen.

Why does that have to happen?

Stop acting like you're some kind of god and that the rules of economics don't apply to you.

If I write you a check for a trillion dollars will you shut up? Or do I have to send a plague on you and your family?

Fucking moron.

Indeed. Sorry I piped up.

So the WGA isn't running a Linux kernel inside?

I don't know what's in the WGA - could well be linux, but it is definitely not even remotely similar to the OS that's on the WET54. I am very familiar with that OS (Ubicom ipOS) because it's what we run on the Squeezebox

The reason the UI and settings look the same is because the vendors make them that way just for Linksys. If you get Ubicom's reference designs for 802.11 bridges, the default interface works exactly like you'd expect on a linksys product.

This one I don't think is a very big deal

To me it is. To switch from FLAC to Apple Lossless would be a major pain in the ass. I have a lot of these files; hundreds of gigabytes worth. I keep them in FLAC format because they are supported more or less natively by:

• WinAMP and Xmms (with plugins)
• Nero (with a plugin)
• My Squeezebox
• Tag&Rename and MediaTagger, the two best audio file taggers I've encountered (Windows)
• Formerly, my Rio Karma. But it was a POS and I sold it on ebay.

FLAC is audio format that best suits my usage patterns, which is why I'd like to be able to use it with my iPod. Which, of course, is the best portable audio player around.

Converting everything over to Apple Lossless would be a large time investment, not to mention the fact that there don't seem to be any standalone encoders for it (URL me if you've got one, I'm all ears). I have a number of scripts I use for converting other lossless audio files to FLAC and tagging FLAC files I download, so cross-platform, command line tools are my preference.

But frames ARE needed. Not for web sites, no, but for web-based applications. You try building a Web interface for something like SlimServer without frames. In this situation, frames are needed for a good user interface. And please don't rant about XUL; that's just as much of a single-browser solution as ActiveX is. Tell me when it works in more than one browser.

But the W3C, in their infinite wisdom, has decided that "frames are bad!" Even XHTML 1.0, which claims to support frames, makes it completely impossible to have a validating borderless frameset page. It can't be done.

I'd love to use XHTML 1.1 Strict, CSS, PNG, and whatever the latest and greatest standards are for all my pages. That "validated markup" icon is great to have on any sort of site. But until the W3C stops saying that they know more about what I'm designing than I do, it ain't gonna happen.

I use Slim Devices' free SlimServer as my streaming server, and the freeware java SoftSqueeze as the player(s). Works a treat, I can control the various players around the house from my laptop's browser, and each player can do its own thing or synch with any other player.

Download SlimServer

Get SoftSqueeze

Fortunately I'd already picked up a Powerbook 3400 on eBay ($65) and an Oronoco Wavelan card from a garage sale ($5) as a Debian/PPC plaything.

On the MacOS 9 boot partition, I added iTunes 1.1, IE 5, the Macast mp3 player, and "iHam on iRye". If I could run iTunes 4.5 on the Powerbook as well as the iMac in the upstairs office, my job would be done, but I was left with trying out a number of streaming servers. Many of the servers on OSX use iTunes as a backend (nicecast, for instance), which sucks up added CPU cycles on my 400MHz iMac, and with the three I tried, I couldn't quite figure out the correct URL to connect to from the Powerbook. I looked at gnump3d, which doesn't use iTunes, but haven't tried it yet. I had played with the Squeezebox' server, the slimserver, a year ago, so gave the update another try. The instructions provided a URL format even I could grok, and the resulting stream played on both iTunes 1.1 and Macast on the Powerbook. Using IE (or whatever browser), I can surf to the Slimserver's web interface to select playlists, and after plugging the Powerbook's line out into my stereo, the result wasn't too bad.

What makes a really slick remote control is iHam on iRye, an iTunes 4.x remote control that works on MacOS 9.x and X. Not Windows, for better or worse. It provides an iTunes-like interface, and it seems I can even select webcasts. Provided that the Airport Express' stereo line out provides a signal of at least the same quality as the PB 3400, I may have found my ultimate solution.

The key is really not the Squeezebox, but the SlimServer software that it connects to. It keeps track of all the players connected to it, and allows you to manage playlists individually or for a synchronized group from a central location.

To answer your question, I'd like to describe how I use my setup. The Squeezebox has an LED display (2x40, I believe) that is easily readable from across the room. I can sit down and pick up the remote, turn on the Squeezebox, and then either load a saved playlist, browse through my music, search for a specific song, or load up an Internet radio stream. All of these activities are intuitive and simple (the search functionality uses the number buttons on the remote to input letters in the same way as cell phones without predictive spelling), and anybody should be able to handle loading up a playlist with a quick introduction.

This is all possible with one Squeezebox and the included remote. For more complex configurations, you can use the web-based frontend that the SlimServer software provides, which allows you to manage playlists and control all connected devices, either synchronized or independently. For example, I can do a search based on artist name (which is easier with actual keys), and browse through the results to form a particular playlist, which I can then save to my Saved Playlists folder and load into any Squeezebox. If I have linked players, they will share a playlist and controls; if I do not have them linked, they will have individual playlists and be able to be controlled independently. Also, the web-based interface includes all of the functionality of the remote, such as play, pause, next track, on/off, etc.

But you don't have to take my word for any of this. The SlimServer software is written in Perl and available under the GPL from SlimDevices for download here. There is also a Java Squeezebox emulator called SoftSqueeze available here, which completely emulates the interface of an actual Squeezebox and is indistinguishable to the server. Download the server software, play around with having a SoftSqueeze player running on a couple of computers, and see how you like it. There's also an active community of third-party developers writing plugins and fixing bugs, so if there's a particular feature you want, a helpful suggestion on the mailing list might work wonders.

Let me know if there's anything else you have questions about. I love my little toy, and am more than happy to extol its virtues at every opportunity. =)

One of the great features of the Squeezebox (and the recently announced Sonos) is that you can sync multiple devices together and have the same audio playing around the house, regardless of location. There are other ways to do this, of course, but it'd be great to be able to do the same with the Airport Express.

Let's see... the airtunes:

• has no display or remote - need to go to the computer to change songs
• has no web interface
• only works with Apple's software
• no support for competing formats like FLAC, WMA
• no multi-room synchronization
• no open source, plugins or thrid party extensions
• no headphone output or proper audio connectors

The soundbridge product uses the same slimserver software that the SliMP3 and Squeezebox use. Since 99% of the functionality is implemented in the server it should work just as well (and they rock, I own one.) There is at least one soundbridge only feature (waveform display) that they might have butchered the server to add; You never know.

Having said that, I hope that you've got great signal strength on your network. Otherwise you'll find that wireless streaming isn't all that reliable.