Slashdot Mirror
The Real Scoop On Philips' Streamium
UVwarning writes with his review of the Philips Streamium MCi-200.
"The MCi-200 is an internet micro hi-fi system introduced in selected locations in
the latter half of last year. Here is a press
release. I've had my Streamium for about 3 months and I really love it, but it is not everything that I thought it would
be. For those of you who are thinking of getting one, you need to know the truth about it. The following paragraphs consist mostly of my complaints. If you want a more general and/or lovey-dovey review click here." UVWarning addresses below the unit's performance with various music sources, and has some words about Philips's tech support.
PC Streams The PC-Link feature allows you to stream MP3s from any PC on your LAN. Unfortunately PC-Link software is not only proprietary, but it only runs on Windows and it requires you to download the trial version of MusicMatch Jukebox. This is obviously very inconvenient for a non-Windows user and what I find to be even more annoying than that, is that in addition to their browser requirements on myPhilips.com, there is an OS requirement. You can only access myPhilips.com if you are running Windows or MacOS -- Try it, I'm not kidding! I want to strangle whoever the webmaster of that website is. I have to reboot into my Windows partition every time I want to change some setting on my account.
Other
FYI Here are some other internet audio appliances:
Internet Streams After logging into myPhilips.com with a web browser and adjusting your account settings, the Streamium will be able to connect to myPhilips.com and from there access any radio stations that you have configured. Unfortunately Philips seems to be keeping tight control on which internet radio stations customers can access. Not only are the number of stations relatively limited, but some of them you have to pay for. A couple of months ago, Philip's online FAQ stated, in response to whether or not users can select their own radio stations that are not listed on Philips website, that (and this is the exact quote) "Future software update release will cater for this feature." Now they have changed it to say that "In the future it will be possible to have different online music services accessed via myPhilips.com" So what are they saying? That they will simply have a larger selection available, but will not allow you to select your own? That's a bit annoying, but then I can't really see them being able to charge for premium services and allow users to access any station they want to.
PC Streams The PC-Link feature allows you to stream MP3s from any PC on your LAN. Unfortunately PC-Link software is not only proprietary, but it only runs on Windows and it requires you to download the trial version of MusicMatch Jukebox. This is obviously very inconvenient for a non-Windows user and what I find to be even more annoying than that, is that in addition to their browser requirements on myPhilips.com, there is an OS requirement. You can only access myPhilips.com if you are running Windows or MacOS -- Try it, I'm not kidding! I want to strangle whoever the webmaster of that website is. I have to reboot into my Windows partition every time I want to change some setting on my account.
CDs MP3 CDs / MP3-Pro CDs / CD-Rs / CD-RWs are all supported, however it doesn't seem to like any of the CD-Rs that I burn. They seem to work fine in other players, but when I stick any of them into my streamium, it gets confused and won't eject the CD unless I unplug the power cord and plug it back in (the power button doesn't work in this situation). CD-RWs surprisingly work just fine.
Tech Support When I couldn't get the PC-Link feature to work, I called tech support. Needless to say they were no help. This is a new product to them and I don't think they are used to dealing with software type issues. They kept telling me to unplug and plug all of the cables. Whatever... Later on I figured out on my own that it was because my AT&T Global Network Client that I was using for work had installed a permanent software firewall that I did not know about and so I disabled it and everything was peachy.
Other
FYI Here are some other internet audio appliances:
If it can't handle shoutcast/icecast streams, what good is it?
I can agree that this is crappy, but if you stand back a bit and look at things pragmatically, you'd understand that they're only catering to 99.9% of the desktop PC universe.
I really have no simpathy to rants like these because they are completely illogical.
Other than that, I appreciate your review. I've been thinking of getting a component for my home theater that does all this and it'll be helpful.
Perhaps the number one failing should be spelling.
-sirket
I recommend the Audiotron. It plays streams over the internet, mp3s, wmas and can be totally configured and controlled over a web interface. More importantly it has a digital output so the quality is there (as long as your mp3s are good quality, of course).
Have a look at a similar offering from Onkyo here: Onkyo's Netstream
It's been mentioned on here before and I just set one up the other day. What a great product...streams from your mp3 collection or internet radio. Works on Mac, Linux and Windows. On Mac at least the install required zero configuration. I highly recommend this product.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball(TM)
03) Mozilla (MSHTML FOR WIN32, KHTML for lin32, webcore for bsd/osx, who needs gecko)
I might remind you that Apple's new browser Safari is based on KHTML, making it a choice for BSD/OS X.
And Mozilla is not a real open-source project. It is merely an attempt by a company to have a horde of unpaid drones churn out their code at no cost. It's almost successful, too... too bad it's no good.
Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
If I can't select any internet radio station then no fucking way would I buy this. Seems like some marketing suit at Philips thought they could get referral bucks from Live365 et al. - but in today's market this makes no sense at all. Sorry Philips, see ya later.
sulli
RTFJ.
Try the SliMP3 from Slim Devices (www.slimdevices.com). Server is open source and it runs on anything that will run Perl. I've had one for about two months and LOVE it!
I think things like this are great. I'm glad geeks like stuff like this for the most pat. But I'm not happy about it. I knew it was going to happen. What I dont like is that EVERYTHING must be commercialized. :-( I remember back in the day I wanted to engineer my own custom car Mp3 player. I still can obviously, but the bad part is I can't do it as cheap as these in dash "Hook up the power and go" units. Its kinda depressing. The minute you build something nifty outta an old PII board and misc parts, some stupid company comes along and says "Oh, lets make this cheaper, smaller, and mass market it. This just sucks. Yeah its great for the "Not as geeky" people. Its just not as cool when I show off my geek thing and someone else was like "Oh, yeah I bought one of those last month". :-(
Can all fish swim?
Is the only benefit being able to have streaming audio without turning on your computer?
Why is this better than a digital line out from your computer to your amp?
>> MP3 CDs / MP3-Pro CDs / CD-Rs / CD-RWs are all supported, however it doesn't seem to like any of the CD-Rs that I burn. They seem to work fine in other players, but when I stick any of them into my streamium, it gets confused and won't eject the CD unless I unplug the power cord and plug it back in (the power button doesn't work in this situation). CD-RWs surprisingly work just fine.
Sounds very much like the el-cheapo drives in the XBox. They handle CD-RW and choke on CD-R. And Phillips makes them (along with Thomson and Samsung).
While that's fine for an XBox, it seems unacceptable that a piece of audio gear would have an cheapo CD drive.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Don't settle for these Internet appliances that try to prevent you from doing certain things or sharing your music the way you want to. Go with something more open!
modern choral music...
No Ogg/Vorbis Support? *shakes head* to hell with it then! crap crap crap
After taking a look at these internet enabled radios, I decided to go for a simpler solution, I just received my SliMP3 from slim devices yesterday, and I am thrilled with it.
The beauty of the device is that it puts all the complexity in perl scripts on a server computer. I was afraid that I was going to have to upgrade the Debian Pentium I / 100MHz server in my basement, but it works just fine on it, rarely taking over %35 of CPU time.
So now, instead of running a long audio line from the stereo to my laptop, and starting winamp, I can hit play on the SliMP3 universal remote control. The audio quality is wonderful, and it is really easy to navigate my music collection. To listen to Groove Salad at SomaFM, I hit the menu button, then down to 'browse playlists' then right once to select it, then down two times 'till I see the 'Groove Salad Soma FM' entry, then hit the play button. By keying in letters using the numeric keypad on the control I can search too. I hit menu, down to 'search by song title', right, typed in 'mac' hit right, and chose 'Macerena' (a long forgotton MP3 in my collection) and hit play... it's too smooth.
Since the source is all open (GPL) Perl, people can modify it, and have. One available patch will show the BBC news ticker on the SliMP3s display. I want to have a php page on my web server send messages to it, so that people visiting my web site can send messages into my living room.
If the SliMP3 is a very simple audio decoder, I can't wait until there's a similar video decoder. I would throw my Tivo out the window, and record shows onto my Debian box's hard drive, and then inexpensively stream it to anywhere in the house.
The downside is that the SliMP3 isn't too much less expensive then a Tivo (after rebates) but it is the elegant way to go.
Celebrate Excellence!
Internet Radio is only OK.. My parents listen to NPR from Pittsburg in Ohio where they now live to get a show they otherwise wouldn't be able to. I found a few shoutcast stations that I like. Especially Digitally Imported. But I never listen to it live. I taped a few days worth of it and burned them onto mp3 cds. As a result, I can now listen to great techno music at work on my computer, out jogging on my portable mp3 cd player, in my car on my mp3 cd player, or at home with my dvd player that plays mp3 cds.
I want is a little Cappuccino PC with WiFi(54MBps, please), a TV-OUT(RCA preferably) and something to hook it up to my speakers(Again, RCA preferably). Oh, and NFS support. Then I want to use a pre-programmed (or program one myself) interface, hook it up to the X10 remote(the silver bullet I think they call it, one of their nice ones, err, their only nice one), and be done with it.
That way, I can watch MPEGs, AVI, and whatever else Mplayer supports. I can listen to my MP3's, My OGG's, and whatever else. I can get on my computer and add favorite streams to the box. That way I can listen to Absolute Pitch downstairs, every Sunday. That way I can listen to other streams. I need Real Audio on it so I can listen to NPR every now and then. Hell, set up Hourly News as a favorite button or something. That'd be nice.
That's all I really want for Christmas.
Shouldn't it be relativly easy set up a fake server/transparent proxy and/or doing a kind of man-in-the-middle attack to make your own "premium" service? I mean, it doesn't sound like it's encrypted on the transport layer?
Audio Stream Recorder 2, bundled with the Creative Audigy 2 allows you to record any WMP or Real audio stream, plus it gives free access to iM Networks radio stations. As a Windows app, it's a far cry from a stand-alone solution, but I find it immensely useful for the automated recording of streams that cannot be conveniently saved locally.
I bought a sound card from them once, a Seismic Edge (PSC-702) only to find out two weeks later that there were no Windows XP drivers to be found. Brand new card. Two weeks old, no drivers for the recently released XP. I heard there were some beta drivers made at one point that a handful of people got their hands on, but I never was able to track them down. Philips can kiss my ass. The only good Philips product I ever encountered was a cellphone that I still miss, that I had in Texas.
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
What marketing whiz came up with that name? Sounds like a good name for an adult diaper.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
There go my chances of being selected!
Didn't the early Philips CD recorders, you know the dual-well ones, check blank and written CDs to make sure that they were the Audio CDR type cds? Checking a bit or something that was added to the Audio CDR version CDs.
I was under the impression that they did that. Maybe this is the same way with their new machine. Kind of a wink and a nudge to the fees associated with paying extra for the Audio CD type CDRs.
Anyone know more about this?
"Thoughts are more powerful than any weapon, and I don't even let my people own guns." --Joseph Stalin
When "selected locations" includes anywhere that Amazon delivers in the US, I don't think they are being particularly selective.
Yes, they may be hard get on the international space station, in war zones, and maybe in polar regions, but other than that you just need to have someone trans-ship it for you.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
You can just change your browser identification. I don't know what browser you usually use but I just tried with Phoenix (showing itself as Mozilla 1.0 on win98) and the login page worked (I don't know how the rest of the site behaves). Konqueror worked also.
Brana
If you could use that new Linksys(I think it was them but can't find it on their website) ethernet to wireless thingy with this. That would make this thing truly portable around the house which would completely kick ass.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I see nothing stoping you from still building any of these items from scratch. If you are complaing about the prices that is one thing, but to bitch 'cause someone else is sharper than you is just pathetic.
The latest iteration of Mozilla is actually quite good. It crashes less than IE, renders pages very well, supports tabbed browsing and can quickly and easily disable pop-ups. The biggest selling point, of course, is that it works on Linux! Real open source project or no, I'm grateful it's there.
"Geek" used to be a badge of honor that meant that you had an above-average knowledge and fanatical dedication to a particular subject.
No longer.
Now anyone who owns a computer and can't get laid thinks they're a geek.
We don't give a fuck if you think someone's going to be offended by a word. There is not one person here who would type "Nigger" without knowing that it is possible for some dick-weed to maybe take offence, YOU ARE NOT HELPING. So SHUT THE FUCK UP.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Preach on brotha-man :)
point you my have had your entire post is labeled as hyperbole by making such "illogical" statements such as your post contained?
Whereas the review merely pointed out the *factual* state that the product is inconvient for non Windows/Mac users, and that only Windows/Mac users may even access their website.
This is precisely the sort of information that is not only "logical" in a review, but relevant and necessary.
Nor am I entirely sure why it's so "logical" for Phillips to even refuse to tell non Windows/Mac users about their product when there's no particular impediment to their doing so.
Not supporting particular platforms doesn't bother me as much as it does some. Not everybody can support all platforms and some products aren't even *possible* to support on some platforms.
But telling people who don't use your supported platforms * at the moment* to just go "fuck off" is really a bit much, don't you think?
KFG
I agree. I love Mozilla. It blocks pop-ups. Doesn't force you to install Flash. It can block banner ads. You can easily change font sizes on sites that use CSS. After years of using IE, I doubt if I'll ever go back.
I've never had a good experience with Philips or their products. Software for their products is frequently buggy, poorly documented and very proprietary- only runs on one version of Windows and nary an upgrade in sight. The additional requirement that often their drivers/interface software requires the use or purchase of 3rd party software is also extremely annoying; in this case, MusicMatch Jukebox, in others, things like RealPlayer, and an old/unsupported version at that!
Their tech support is also about the worst I've ever dealt with, and that's saying something. Once you buy their product, they really don't give a damn about you, because they've got your money.
Bottom line: I bought something from Philips once, and I never will again. There are better, cheaper, properly supported alternatives for just about anything Philips makes.
I'm really glad this was posted on /. I'd considered picking one of these up. I'm glad I didn't now, as I'd planned to primarily use it as an MP3 client on my LAN, which is all Linux-based. I would have been really upset to find out about the OS-requirements after bought one. Oh well, my old, headless, K5-90 PC is doing pretty well as an MP3 client hooked up to the stereo in my workshop anyway. :)
Talk about the heartland of America...
No, you have to stop paying them, stop using the service, and tell them why.
Everybody botches about services or software vendors that don't cater to Linux users, but they never see the obvious answer.
My Linux box doesn't have another partition. If it doesn't run on Linux, then it doesn't run in my house. You have to vote with your wallet and your tongue. People won't change unless there is a finacial incentive to change.
currently myPhilips.com isn't out anything because they don't support linux. You gladly reboot, there is no skin off their nose, why bother changing anything?
You have to vote with your wallet and your tongue, and have some convictions. If gaming today is worth never gaming on Linux, then by all means, keep that windows partition "just for the games" around.
its getting better. Its getting better all the time.
yes, I know, I watch WAAAAAY to much TV!! =)
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
A: For streaming content from the Internet; the standard HTTP port 80 is used, so make sure that this port is open for outgoing traffic
OK, I know what they really mean, (ie, request goes out port 80, streaming media back in another established port connection) but if you read this quickly, it almost sounds like they're sending some data out from this device. Perhaps they are. Spyware anyone?
Geek used to be a four letter word. Now it's a six-figure one.
The Streamium and Expanium used to support AAC... but they've decided to drop it of late, it's dissappeared off the specs and the new chipsets don't support it, shame, I bet it doesn't recognise .mp2 files (as used by Digital Radio in Europe) either without renaming to .mp2.
Does anyone know of any devices that can record AM/FM radio into an MP3? Sort of a TiVo for the radio?
I'd like a stand-alone unit, but I'd even be willing to hack one together. I know D-Link makes a USB radio receiver, but it seems to get bad reviews.
Thanks.
The problem with your logic is that you base it on your emotional reaction. If you feel that they're telling you to "fuck off" then you've lost all perspective and simply immersed yourself in the same hyperbole you acuse me of spewing.
A company like Phillips is not telling Linux or BSD users to go fuck themselves. They just don't fucking care. Why? Because it makes no fucking commercial sense to cater to you, period. Which is the point I was trying to make.
Am I happy because they're Streamium (whatever) doesn't work with Linux or BSD? No. If there is a void there then someone will fill it. But the bottom line is people like you feel entitled to things because you consider yourself to be on the moral and technological high ground. That may or may not be true, but it has nothing to do with the reality of business.
Hope that helps.
that I don't get. I mean, really, they aren't rocket science, and anyone with some geek skills can build a full function, unrestricted, box that will do the same thing from off the shelf parts. Many of them available *used* and dirt cheap.
/. featured a story on the availablity of an off the shelf A/V style case you could even build it in.
If you aren't such a geek yourself surely you know one who'd almost buy *you* a bag of Doritos and a Coke to have you pay for the hardware to hack this shit up for you?
Hell, it was only a couple of days ago that
Look, I'm not saying there's no market for prebuilt devices of this sort. I'd buy one at a reasonable price to save the trouble of building one, but to attempt to sell one that's so severely *restricted*, especially since those restrictions are clearly based on pushing certain "content" on you, when the tech is off the shelf, well, like I said, I don't get it.
KFG
At the risk of being a little off-topic, I'd like to mention the coolest piece of audio gear (and audio company) that I've found. The Linn Classik is a 5.1 channel home theatre in a box (speakers separate): AM/FM, CD, DVD, DTS, preamp, 5 channels of amps, subwoofer out. I.e., the works in a tiny box.
http://www.classik.com
It has amazing audio credentials and has just been revved starting today (CES) to have component output for the DVD. The Linn Classik has to be seen and heard to be believed.
Oh, and did I mention these network together to share music between rooms? Each of these units has a built in Linn knekt receiver/transmitter to share music with other Classiks (or even Linn's fully blown Knekt multiroom audio system). They can even be hooked up to the Linn (app. $10,000) linux based Kivor digital music jukebox (pop cd's in one at a time to load it up with music). The kivor is the ultimate (audio quality (that's why it costs $10,000), etc.) audio jukebox.
Linn is amazing. No other high-end audio company could even attempt to build the Classik in such a small fully functional unit. Check it out. It's $3k but worth every penny, and totally non-intrusive (size-wise) with better quality than most separates!
Amazing.
P.s., much of their other equipment is amazing as well including their expensive (a la Kivor) reference equipment.
Personally, whenever I'm considering a digital gizmo the first thing I need to know about it is if it's a windows only thing so I don't buy the piece of shit. I think reviews should include this kind of information more often.
For $400, you can get a Mini-ITX system or a WalMart PC and a better set of powered speakers. That also gives you decent amounts of MP3 storage. The result will be more flexible and convenient than this thing.
We've had one in our office for development and while it looks cool and does work, it's UI is extremely poor.
For $400, you could do A LOT better than what Philips is offering.
Old laptop - $100 (if that) - 166mhz mmx, network hookup and PCMCIA slot is all that is needed.
Good DAC - $50-$100 - I like Echo Indigo.
Amplifier - $100 - e.g. look for older NAD units - 314 and such.
Speakers - $100 - I would get a pair of PSB Alpha Minis.
You'll probably want to spend an extra $50 on quality interconnects and speaker cables, but even with zip cord this system will sound MUCH better and have all the features and flexibility that you can imagine.
I also got a Streamium since early December. I've won it. Yes, out of the box the limitations you list are true, but you can bypass most of them, if you want.
Just hack it, of course !
I am in the process of creating a nice application in Java which automates these tasks but its not ready yet (and I can't handle a slashdot effect on my 1024/256 connection)
If you want to listen to other stations do this:
- enable live365.com in myPhilips.com. (mp3.com is not streaming, it downloads mp3s from downloads.mp3.com if you sniff the ethernet connection - but live365.com is)
- install if you don't already have a caching-only DNS server within your lan. I use Bind8 on Linux
- configure your Streamium to use that DNS server. Either manually or via DHCP (I also use DHCP internally in my net)
- reconfigure your DNS and make yourself a primary zone for live365.com. Redirect www.live365.com to your nice Apache server (or whatever webserver you control)
- reconfigure your Webserver so it accepts requests for "www.live365.com"
- configure your Apache webserver that each access is relayed to a perl skript (could be PHP, too)
You can use this line:
ScriptAliasMatch ^/play/(.*)
So any URL on your www.live365.com Webserver which has URI
- have a script that sends a HTTP redirection response back. You can use this example
This will redirect it to the DI-Radio Trance stream for example.
- now test that stuff with a local webbrowser and if it works, start your Streamium, press Connect, wait a bit, select live365.com and then chose any stream you like, you'll be redirected to your chosen shout-/ice-cast stream as given in the Webserver's script.
Have fun!
As for musicmatch, yeah that sucks too. I have sniffed the communication protocol and am reverse-engeneering that too. Its quite simle actually. I'm not yet there and it will take a couple of weeks until I can finish that, but there too I will create a Java program which will give the same functionality but on every platform where java is available.
Just ask google for it in some weeks, when I've done it I'll release that stuff.
Also note that the communication Streamium Philips is encrypted, but the Stream-data is not, so you can redirect and manipulate at your will, provided you have a little homenetwork infrastructure (Linux/Unix Gateway where all Internet traffic passes through) where you can do whatever you like.
HTH for now.
I'll never buy another Philips product again for the rest of my life.
It will soon support UPnP AV. That will work with non-windows boxen. Also, many streaming nodes on the internet will support UPnP AV as well, so not supporting shoutcast, etc will become a non-issue in the future.
I was able to get in if I used the prefbar from xulplanet.com to spoof as a Moz 1.0/Win98 client.
3. Profit!
2. ???
1. On Soviet Slashdot, a Beowulf cluster of alien Natalie Portman overlords welcomes YOU!
Bungi, I agree completely with everything you've said, except your (obviuosly exaggerated) 99.9% figure. it's probably more like 99.7%, and all those people secretly boot into Windows or Mac once in a while anyway.
:)
Unfortunately, you've fallen into the Trent Lott trap. THe more you talk about it, the more poeple are going to decide that it's YOUR FAULT that Philips isn't writing Linux drivers. EVen though you've stated taht you WANT linux drivers.
I agree that MusicMatch is a lame choice, but on the other hand, it comes preinstalled with every Dell system. Clearly the philips product has a little bit too much to do with marketing and not enough to do with just getting the mp3s from your computer to your stereo...I bet that Philips came up with this idea in the dot-com days. That would account for why it looks great on paper but to us it has a
2. ???
somewhere in the marketing plan.
Interestingly enough, today I signed up to be a beta tester for the next generation of this device, the 250, which apparently does the same thing but using wi-fi. That would be cool, you could put it in the kitchen or bedroom or what have you. One of the questions for the beta test was: How many movies have you downloaded from the Internet? I did some quick math and decided that 500 one-minute pr0n clips probably equalled about 5-10 full length movies.
The did NOT ask Which OS are you using? Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBDS, ClosedBSD, BSBSD, iBSD, or BSD XP. And I think we can all understand why.
A company like Phillips is not telling Linux or BSD users to go fuck themselves.
Well, it seems to me you actually would have to go out of your way (or be really inept) to make a web site that is only viewable on Windows or MacOS. To do so is a bit of a kiss off.
Nothing introduced yet, including this Phillips thing, holds a candle to the now-discontinued HP DEC. The DEC was full Linux-based PC with a CD-RW, 40GB HD (expandable), and really slick TV interface (designed by Real and HP) that included internet radio and TV, ripping CD's to MP3, writing audio and MP3 CD's, import/export via Samba to your PC, exchanging MP3's with your USB portable...
Extremely hackable. Too bad it was killed.
Let me make it even more explict.
*I don't give a crap that their thingamabob doesn't run on Linux.* I don't care that it doesn't run on my old CoCo, AIX or IBM/360 either, all of which I've been known to use.
It *is*, however, important that I know *up front* that it doesn't, but they won't even tell me *that*, will they?
When I say they told me to "fuck off", I mean that in the sense that they *told me to fuck off.*
That is to say, I went to their *website* and they said they wouldn't tell me *anything* other than to go away because I wasn't a Windows or Mac user. What's more, they told me to go away using exactly the sort of platform independant technology that they could have used to give me information about their product. So, in point of fact, they are capable of giving me a sales pitch but refuse.
They told me, to my face, to "fuck off." Basically because they didn't like my "looks."
Not "This website looks best and only supports some functions in IE 5 or above."
No, they told me to go away.
This is exactly the same as if I had driven into a Ford dealership in a Chevy and asked for a sales brochure or Ford part and been told, "I'm sorry sir, but our sales material and our parts are only for Ford drivers."
This is just as "logical" as putting up a Linux advocacy site and refusing entry to Windows and Mac users.
Come now, wouldn't you believe that *you* had been told to "fuck off" if a site told you to "go away, you're using Windows, come back when you install Linux"?
KFG
Wow what a troll that is! Mozilla has been my primary browser for over a year now. It would be my only browser if it wasn't for brain dead corp time tracking app that won't work with anything but IE5+. It is fast (it runs fine on my p2-300), it has tabbed browsing, it has popup killing, the email client now has no data leaks for spammers to take advantage of (I have disabled remote images, javascript, and all plugins for mail) etc.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
It's free, it works.. same shit
Is why your network techs at work would have nothing better to do than hook up your work PC which is full of illegal MP3's to your audio device.
Or maybe the real question is why you have a stereo system at work?
Too weird.
I have been thinking of building a unit like this for some time, based around Linux OS.
Maybe using some of the old motherboards and hardware I have laying around.
I had an old component CD player was trying to hack and place a motherboard and hardware in it, but just not the room needed for the hardware I had.
What is the min. hardware spec. needed to handle MP3 and streaming?
Wise men speak because they have something to say, Fools because they have to say something!!!!
Canadians eat it.
The trade mags panned them, even though users loved them. 3Com used the lame-ass "it's the economic downturn" excuse, but some of us know the truth: these products failed because of corporate cocksucking.
When did they come back. they were down
for a while. they were fucking great.
See /. article http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/0 1/08/1324235&mode=nested&tid=137
Perhaps George Powley, creator of the LANPipe, has a possible solution. (How about open source hardware. It could be manufactured by several companies without any one controlling the design.) Check out his web site at: http://www.thepowleys.com/lanpipe/index.php
Quote from the site:
"LANPipe is a network device that receives digital audio multicast on a LAN. One goal of this project is to build a low-cost client device to receive a digital audio stream from a PC based server. The other goals are to build something useful, learn, and have fun.
Some interesting features:
Receives Digital Audio Multicast over Ethernet LAN (16-bit, 44.1kHz Stereo PCM)
Analog Line-Level Stereo Output
Digital Audio Output (coaxial S/PDIF)
Uses almost any source format (MP3, Ogg, Uncompressed, Internet Radio, etc.)
Server software for Windows (Winamp plug-in) and Linux (prototype driver)"
Can't give too much away with my NDA nad all, but I can say that the sucessor to the MCi-200, the MC-i250, will be coming out in a few months...
I wrote a jukebox for their previous stereo (i1000). I wonder if it still works with the new one. Can anyone check here and tell me your experience. If it works you can play your own stations.
Excepting, of course, that Linux users are
- exactly the sort of people likely to get so excited over some networking functionality that they're likely to pay $400 for an otherwise merely adequate boom box.
- much more likely to have the permanent network connections and always-on computers that make a networked stereo more useful.
- the kind of local, informal expert that friends and family often turn to when trying to decide about a high-tech purchase.
- the same sort of person that friends and family turn to for tech support
- the kinds of people who will make all sorts of cool extra software for your consumer goods (e.g., see RockBox, open-source firmware for Archos MP3 players, or the bunch of stuff available for Turtle Beach's Audiotron.
So maybe instead of being a carefully calculated move on the part of Phillips, perhaps the product manager just had no fucking idea about the commercial value of an empowered user base.But they will. Consumer electronics companies compete on razor-thin margins. Any advantage they can get, they'll take, just as soon as they recognize it as one. Using open protocols are a free way to do that, and throwing in a little Unix glue is pretty cheap, too.
I was really interested in the streamium until after digging through the hype I found that I couldn't pick the internet radio stations I could listen to! I listen to mostly downtempo, acid jazz, and Bebop jazz (not really mainstream) and doubt that the "limitless" selection of radio stations could cater to my taste. I was really hoping that it would be a system where you could manually config the IP pointing to the stream of my choice.
I know the IPs to all of my favorite webcasts.
http://205.188.234.4:8008 (try it,you'll like it)
And I think it probably would have been easier for Philips to set up a system that works like WinAmp's Shoutcast, where you can listen to any stream you have an IP for.
Oh well. My computer has better speakers anyway...
that is a rather advanced view of the customer base, which unfortunately most corp's still view as a consumer base. Sooner or later they will wise up as they begin to understand their market demographics better.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I love my Streamium too. However, it stinks that the number of radio stations that you can get is so limited. Use of Musicmatch Jukebox as an interface with your computer's MP3 files is not without merit, because Musicmatch is a good organizing tool. I tossed the speakers that came with it, substituted a pair of Klipsch bookshelf speakers and and a Polk Audio 50-watt subwoofer, and it is overall a decent little stereo that can play my MP3's. Things could be worse.
Since this device also works with proxies (as per their FAQ), the only thing I could imagine is signing the list of music providers, since they have to use valid http.
"Valid HTTP" does not mean "cleartext entities transmitted by valid HTTP". It's possible to encrypt a stream, send it over HTTP, and then decrypt it on the device. "Valid HTTP" guarantees only that the headers are cleartext.
I doubt that mp3.com and others all deliver encrypted streams just for this device, the computing power needed for that would be quite a hurdle.
Unless the crypto uses some relatively fast cipher.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Audio Stream Recorder 2, bundled with the Creative Audigy 2 [creative.com] allows you to record any WMP or Real audio stream
No it doesn't. If a Windows audio driver is signed by Microsoft WHQL, it turns itself off when playing any WMA file that requests a "secure audio path". If it's not, Windows won't send a "secure audio path" through any unsigned driver.
Will I retire or break 10K?
LOL, yeah, it kinda feels that way.
The name, "Streamium", made me think of the Audium, in San Francisco. The Audium is a custom-built space with lots of speakers for many-channel stereo. It uses reel to reel tape and Moog synthesizers from the 1960s. It's not retro, it was built in 1972, and the same guy has been playing the same sound effects in it for 30 years now.
How can I sign up as a Beta tester for the 250 model as well?
Well, they sent me a hotmail inviting me to join, since I had previously signed up to beta-test an MP3 player or something. The url to sign up for beta testing is:
http://www.audio.philips.com/betatest.asp
Mhh, I wondered if and when they will release a UPnP enabled version of it. Providing a UPnP renderings service would definitely improve/open up the usage in combination with other devices. Curious if & when it will happen ...
blah. last post, troll tuesday, soviet russia, karma spiral of death
First, nothing begins if not opening