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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.
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).
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.
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.