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.

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:

• Kerbango (3Com's dead linux-based Internet Radio Appliance)
  
• Audiotron (Turtle Beach/PC streams)
  
• Simplefi (Motorola/Wireless/Internet or PC streams)

Comments

Common sense?

[The Bungi]

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

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.

Re:Common sense?

[Anixamander]

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'm not sure if you're intentionally exaggerating Windows' installed base or if you are just ignorant, but the number certainly isn't 99.9%. Furthermore, as a review directed at Slashdotters, it is a very valid point...the number of users of systems other than Windows is higher here, so knowing that this product will not work with their system is crucial. Get over yourself...pointing out an important piece of info is hardly a "rant."

Re:Common sense?

[elvum]

Requiring you to download MusicMatch is still a bit off. Your 99.9% figure is also a little questionable - I would expect Apple, Linux and other operating systems to have a much higher take-up among the consumers Philips targets with this product than in the market as a whole.

Re:Common sense?

[The Bungi]

but the number certainly isn't 99.9%

OK then, 96%. Better? What's the difference? I think it's still crappy that manufacturers won't cater to Linux, but how does complaining about it change reality?

pointing out an important piece of info is hardly a "rant."

Your interpretation, to which you are certainly entitled.

Re:Common sense?

[butt-rock camaro]

The real point here is that while Windows might have some large amount of the installed OS base, that fact alone is not a valid argument for not supporting other OS's/using proprietary protocols. 69% of those 99.9% (or whatever) users of Windows aren't even going to know WTF a streaming media receiver even is! When you take that fact into account, suddenly users of Linux (or whatever) are a higher percentage (though probably not dominant) of the target market than what Phillips realizes.

Companies should maybe put some of that marketing data to good use and try to make sense out of the kind of people who are buying their product. I'm sure that in the realm of people who are interested in and buying streaming media receivers, a much higher percentage of them are Linux/ Mac/ whatever savvy than compared to Joe-user, who isn't buying the product.

When any company doesn't take into account what their true target market is, they offer crappy products, and then inevitably, they shake their heads and wonder why people aren't buying. Typically they then wash themselves of the operation, fold, or sell off, claiming that "there's no money in xxxx." What it really takes is a company that understands the product/ market.

Really....supporting only Windows users on such a tech savvy gadget is equivalent to Ford telling Mustang buyers that they can no longer have a V8.

Re:Common sense?

[Helter]

As a review, this will serve to help many Slashdotters decide whether or not to purchase this equipment.

Don't you think that somebody running only linux would be a *LITTLE* peeved to purchase this product and find out that the reviewer had neglected to mention that it only works with windows?

The purpose of a review is not to change the world, or even the product. The purpose of a review is to provide the public with information about your experience using a product. Given that this was part of his experience, it is relevant and perfectly reasonable to include.

Did you even read what I wrote?

[kfg]

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

Re:Philips really sucks

[pokka]

I never understood why Philips uses that song for marketing. The very next line in the chorus is "It can't get no worse!"

Of course, they leave that part out in the commercials, but it's not like people don't know the song; it's on one of the most popular albums ever released :)