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SliMP3 Successor; Radio Station in a Box
XDG writes "Slim Devices just updated their website and announced The Squeezebox, the Wi-Fi successor to the SliMP3 player. The new hardware adds digital output, support for uncompressed WAVs, and, of course built-in 802.11. And, best of all, it's still a simple front end hardware device running on upgradeable, customizable, 100%-open-source server software. Anyone that owns or ever drooled over a SliMP3 has something new for their holiday wish lists!" We also have a submission about a "digital radio station in a box" from World Vibrations.
Geez, why did I know I would see this here? I just got my SLIMP3 two weeks ago. I can't speak for the Squeezebox, but if it's anything like the SliMP3, go for it. I love the thing.
:( Oh well.
I like most everything about the device. It's easy to setup and control, sounds and looks great, and is actively supported by its developers and fans. There is an extensive FAQ and a popular support mailing list.
There are, however, a few things I would like to have seen, that the Squeezebox fixes. First, the SliMP3 is wired only. You can hook it up to a wireless bridge to make it "virtually wireless" but that's not an out-of-the-box solution. With many competitors releasing wireless solutions, SlimDevices caught on and developed their own. The SlimP3 also does not have an optical audio output. An optical connection would make the sound quality even better, however, most users would not notice a difference.
The display is a little small, and hard to read from across the room. However, most competing products display via a TV, meaning you'd have to be near a TV to select the music you want. The SLIMP3 doesn't require a TV and looks at home in your home theater system.
I thought it was definitely worth the $239 price, but now I wished I'd waited two weeks and got the Squeezebox for $299
Squeezebox actually has a painted finish - the case is polycarbonate, but it has a "soft-touch" surface. It's actually sexier in person than the slimp3.
According to the product brochure, FLAC and Ogg are both supported via on the fly software conversion, so the support is there, albeit not native to the hardware.
They are also donating 10% of net profits from squeezebox to the EFF.
Read that page - they even make a little jab at the DRM music stores. Pretty bold...
You install the software (written in perl) on your Linux, BSD, OSX, Windows whatever machine and tell it where your collection is located.
That's it.
You may control the device from either the provided remote control or via web interface (http://localhost:9000).
I have a SliMP3 (predecessor device). MP3s are served up by an open-source streaming server, to which the SliMP3 (and Squeezebox) connect. The server runs on Unix, OS X, and Windows -- pretty much any OS with a modern Perl implementation. The device can connect to multiple servers running on different boxes; the server also plays nicely with iTunes.
Other streaming MP3 clients can connect to the server, e.g. iTunes, etc.
Playlists can be built with a web server built in to the streaming server (or via the remote, but that's a little less convenient).
Spend the $299.
I've had a SLIMP3 for the past year and would not trade it for anything (cept a squeezebox). The biggest thing is portability - I can leave it in the bedroom for music, move it to the backyard for the BBQ parties, move it to the living room to play holiday tunes, and take it to the kitchen when friends come over to play cards. All you need is an Ethernet run to the room - Squeezebox removes the cords altogether.
The UI is intuitive, the web interface rocks, and it's really easy to use.
People buy stuff that works. The SliMP3 works, and I can't think of why the Squeezebox won't. Ogg is like Betamax -- while theoretically better, isn't Better Enough to make 99.9% of the world care about it. I'd be as thrilled as anyone if it took off some day, but in the meantime, while you're fuming about formats, I'm enjoying my MP3s streamed to my SliMP3 player (and casting envious looks at that Squeezebox).
It's patent-encumbered and lossy, yet has somehow permeated popular culture
;)
True, but its freely available and the difference in sound quality between a 256k encoded mp3 and the source cd is negligible at best.
Most of the public are not audiophiles. The music lovers listen to the music. Audiophiles listen to the equipment.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
You are mistaken.
Squeezebox supports (uncompressed) PCM passthrough. WAV, AIFF, Ogg, and Flac are all supported, can all be played now without transcoding.
In fact, it is trivially simple to hook just about any codec you want into the server now.
Hairbrush to sing into: $5 Songbook: $15 Getting grandma to join in: Priceless.
Disclaimer: I'm the guy who wrote the squeezebox firmware.
There are truth to both sidss regarding the audio support.
Think about it this way - does your sound card support Vorbis? Does your TV support Hi-8? You have to think about things a little differently here - your files are not stored on squeezebox; they're streamed from your computer. So if the squeezebox supports raw PCM, you can decode whatever format you want and just send it.
I tried one of the slimdevices previously using their 30 day money back guarantee and found that their unit caused to much RF interference - diagonal lines on my TV.
This was indeed an issue with early SLIMP3 models. I designed SLIMP3 in my garage with almost no money - certainly not enough to afford proper RF testing and design consulting. Sometimes a garage project just gets big....
We did it right with squeezebox though. It is fully compliant with CE, FCC, and Canadian class B requirements and is very quiet. Furthermore, if you use the optical connection, you have total isolation.
Get a grip and try and learn to discuss without being insulting.
Yes, I have heard of 'home theater'. However, I don't want a TV in my garage; all I want is music.
I work on bikes, cars, wood and metal in my garage. Electronics don't last long because of the dusty and sometimes dirty environment. If I have your 'home theater' in my garage, I need a PC a TV, a keyboard, a mouse, an amp and speakers. I need a low, flat place to put them (at least the keyboard and mouse). I need to replace them every few years also, as they have moving parts that don't like dust.
If I have a Slimp3/Squeezebox, I only need an amp and speakers. I can wrap the remote in saran wrap so it stays clean. There's no moving parts.
Perhaps a 'home theater' corks for you. If it does, more power to you. Being an insulting troll doesn't make you right; it just makes you an insulting troll.
Here's a tip: the solution that works for you is not always the solution that works for everybody else.
>Why bother spending the money on this box when you
.mp3, you're going to need a lot of storage space to hold a decent-sized CD collection. Uncompressed, my collection currently consumes 200+ gigabytes. Yeah, I could have saved scads of space by storing them compressed, but:
.
>could take an old laptop, a WiFi network card, some
>audio and video cables and a cordless keyboard and
>mouse and get even more functionaltiy by hooking the
>laptop into your entertainment center?
I thought about taking this route myself a few months ago, before finally breaking down and purchasing a cd3o player. There are plenty of reasons why laptops and small PCs don't make a lot of sense as media players:
1) Interface. This is really a two-parter:
a) How are you going to get commands to the device, and
b) How is the device going to acknowledge the results of those commands
Getting commands to the device is fairly simple with a keyboard, but how are you going to see what the results of those keyboard commands are from across the room? You could plug the PC into a large display, but most of those make a nasty whining noise, and anyhow, who wants to have to leave the tee vee on just to listen to music? Laptops with displays large enough to be visible from across the room are still on the spendy side for the most part, and their look hardly blends into most living rooms. For that matter, most wireless keyboards would also stick out like a sore thumb.
There are dedicated wireless media remotes designed for PC's, but they tend to be somewhat expensive, and limited in what software they'll work with off the shelf. They're fine if you want to use Media Player as your jukebox software (gag), not so fine if you want to use other programs. Yeah, you can customize them in most cases, but that's a lot of effort to go thru for something so basic. And, there goes about $50.
2) Storage. Unless you have a laptop or small form factor PC with a gigantic hard drive inside of it, or can live with the idea of ripping your ENTIRE LIBRARY to lossy-compressed
a) Editing all the metadata that goes along with a huge library is a significant undertaking - one I never want to repeat, thank you very much and
b) I would have opted for the least compression possible, which is fine for home use, but would suck for portable use, meaning I'd have to recompress files for portable devices, and suffer additional quality loss as a result. Ick.
So I'm either going to need to hook a giant external hard drive up to the laptop (here's hoping that old laptop has USB2 or Firewire connections), or I'm going to need to network it into my main PC and use it as an audio server. So what exactly am I gaining by using the laptop over a cd3o, Audiotron or Slim Devices gadget, other than (possibly!) saving a couple of bucks? And will I really even save any money? Read on . .
3) Audio Quality. In a word, the D/A converters and amps in most laptops SUCK. They typically transmit more than a bit of electronic noise from inside the laptop as well. Not an option for quality audio. And I've had laptops that sent a nasty popping sound to the speakers when the power cycled. Don't want that frying my stereo. You could always add on a halfway decent external sound option from Creative, but there goes another USB connection and at least another $50.
4) Mechanical Noise. Laptops are quieter than most desktops, but they still aren't silent. When I'm listening to music, I do not want to hear hard drives clicking and whining or the whirr of a fan. These dedicated media receivers are all perfectly silent - a huge advantage.
5) OS License. This isn't such a problem if you happen to have a laptop sitting around, but if you're trying to assemble a small form factor PC from scratch and want to use Windows, kiss another $100 goodbye. Yeah, you can use Linux, but there's less support for formats like Windows