Slim Devices, Infrant Tech offer Squeezebox/ReadyNAS bundle
By Evan Blass 
posted Jun 6th 2006 6:25PM
posted Jun 6th 2006 6:25PM
A partnership announced today by storage specialist Infrant Technologies and Squeezebox-maker Slim Devices promises to give consumers an easy way to store and stream up to 200,000 songs around the house, no computer necessary. The two companies are now offering a bundle which includes Infrant's 1TB ReadyNAS network attached storage device pre-loaded with the SlimServer software along with two Squeezebox 3's for $1,500, advertising that the coupling signals the "death of the CD player." We'll wager that many of our readers have already kicked the CD habit long ago, but there's no denying the appeal of having a full terabyte of RAID-protected tracks in a plethora of different formats that can be streamed anywhere your little heart desires.
I own a Slimdevices SB and love it, it's great.
But this offer has me scratching my head. Sure the functionality is good (no video though). B U T the money! Why do these NAS devices cost so much money and this looks like an empty box w/o HDs in the price. You can use an old, or cheap PC and throw in some low priced, large HDs and get the same functionality (maybe more) for tiny money.
I just don't understand, or get it.
It does come with drives so the price isn't that far off.
Bundle consists of:
* 1 x Infrant ReadyNAS NV, 1.0TB (4x250GB Seagate NL35 Disks), X-RAID, 256MB memory, Gigabit Ethernet, Silver
* 2 x Squeezebox Wireless (Black)
The ReadyNAS NV is a tight little package. While it may not be for everyone I love mine and am very glad to have it, instead of an old tower I loaded drives and lixux/samba. The ease of use and small footprint is really quite a combo. http://www.infrant.com/
The offer at $1500 is a 1Tb (4 x 250Gb) ReadyNAS NV and 2 Wireless Squeezeboxes so it represents a $300 saving against the combined MSRPs). We realize this combination may not be right for everyone, but it's just designed what a typical system might look like.
Includes NAS configured with 1 TB of disk storage space.
Yes, you can build your own; but that is only one small part of the market. What about all the others who don't even own a screwdriver, or want a turn key solution?
Also, less expensive NAS devices don't have the thruput capability to support multiple players, as this one apparently does.
One thing that Infrant does well is provide excellent network file and streaming performance due to the dedicated I/O processor.
The one thing missing is video or DVR capability.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Infrant or Slim.
Jez,
First I reiterate the SB products are superb. Last night I added "AlienBBC" and was knocked over by the functionality that plugin offered. So the openness of slimdevices is superb:) I highly highly recommend it.
I may have missread the words "1TB Ready.." as this unit not having a specific amount of HD capacity in the price. From your words I now understand it to have One TB.
$300 saving is good. I still ponder why even a person like me (optomistic DIY idiot) could contemplate using a disgarded, or even the most basic Dell offer to do most of the same and be ready for software upgrades to be a DVR? Yeah I would mess up along the way, but it hels having a kid whose a computer engineer (Hey kid come home for the weekend enjoy yur Mom's cooking...and fix my pc";) Sugar, he reada engadget and I've now givven the game away:(
My apologises to slimdevices and Infrant as I believe that both their products are superb quality and anyone buying them will get what they pay for quality. But the "final solution" is surely within reach of both/either company going fwd. A basic media box with SB/SD software and an abilty to add on functionality via software or hardware upgrades as needed? This would IMHO be THE Killer product. As well as saving myself from myself. Which is good.