It's hard not to like new-school tech named after old-school instruments, and so Logitech's (
Slim-developed)
Squeezebox lineup has at least that going for it. Decently solid reviews, too, for the models we've seen thus-far, and thanks to our old friends at the FCC we know that a new model is coming soon. Dubbed the Squeezebox Radio X-R0001, it's described as "a compact tabletop network music player and internet radio that lets you listen to virtually any internet radio station." How it'll handle the variety of streaming formats and functions remains to be seen, but it'll also go fetch your local music collection over an internal network and play it all through its combination of 3/4-inch tweeters and 3-inch woofer. A 2.4-inch LCD is on the front, 802.11b/g WiFi and wired Ethernet are standard features, and it's all enclosed in a "compact design." That's all we know at this point (assuming you don't care that it has a 11.11dBm rating at 2.412MHz when in 802.11g mode), but hopefully Logi will set this one free from the Faraday cage soon.
posted August 21st 2009 7:56AM
How is this diff from the Squeezebox Boom?
My question exactly. Oleg, go get a Boom; you'll love it.
Wooooo! F*ck yeah!
I bought the TerraTec Noxon Audio and had to return it a few months later because it was such a terrible piece of crap. Now I own a Squeezebox 3 and it was worth every penny of the slightly higher price. Gorgeous device!
"How it'll handle the variety of streaming formats and functions remains to be seen"
Sounds like you've never used a squeezebox - Anything it can't handle, it live converts using whatever codecs are available on the SC pc.
I love my Squeezebox Duo. I just wish they would make a new model with 802.11n.
Well that explains the price drop on the Boom then.
See also this device - this is the one I'd want, I think.
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=64706
Yeah, the new Squeezebox Touch reports sufraced a few months ago, but unfortunately no there is still no actual shipping product :( I'd buy one for the kitchen and one for kids room.
Sweet, def. want one. But can it be used without a PC? Defeats the purpose of internet radio if I just play it on my PC anway. Anyone?
Yep - SqueezeNetwork is like a communal version of SqueezeCenter on the internet - lets you use Last.FM, Internet radio etc without your own server.
Thankfully I haven't had a streamy dream since I was about 14.. which is good.. because changing the sheets got annoying.
Momma's got a Squeezebox she wears on her chest, and when Daddy gets home he never gets no rest.
I just streamed in my pants.
Sweet! That's awesome :D
Well, as an owner of a Squeezebox Boom, here's how it works for anyone who is not familiar:
The Boom connects via Wi-Fi to either the SqueezeCenter software running on a computer somewhere in your house, or it connects to your SqueezeNetwork account on Logitech's servers, which is like a pared-down SqueezeCenter in the cloud. Generally, you would connect to SqueezeCenter software, unless you really don't have a personal music collection and just want to stream Internet radio stations.
The Boom can't actually do much of anything by itself. If you press the "Volume Up" button, the Boom doesn't increase the volume. It says to the SqueezeCenter software connected to your computer: "OMG! He pressed the Volume Up Button! What to do?! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!" The SqueezeCenter software then calmly says "Raise the volume level by 3 units." Similarly, if you press the "MENU" button, the Boom says to SqueezeCenter: "I need a menu! Please! Now!" and the SqueezeCenter software spits one back for the device to display.
This is how they have been able to add new streaming radio station formats, support for iTunes, and etc., *years* after the devices were originally released: while occasional firmware upgrades are involved, the device itself is really just a dumb terminal that makes noise, and it's the SqueezeCenter software that tells it what sounds to make, transcoding as necessary into a format that the device will understand. (For example, the latest SqueezeCenter software will scan your iTunes library periodically and add songs to its internal index, and it returns that index of songs in a format that the device will understand.) Similarly, for SIRIUS Internet Radio streaming, it's your SqueezeCenter software that maintains the connection to SIRIUS, and then it transcodes that stream into one that the Boom can understand on the fly. It sounds insane, but it works remarkably well. It's also how you could have three Booms throughout your house streaming the same SIRIUS Internet Radio stream, even though you may only have 1 SIRIUS account.
This is also why the device is so customizable. If you don't like the display of the 'Now Playing' screen on your device, you just customize it in SqueezeCenter, since it's SqueezeCenter that's sending the string of text to the device.
Yup, the slim proto is pretty nice for customization. However it looks like this new one has a color LCD screen, and is likely based on the SqueezeOS like the Duet's controller. This means it probably runs linux on ARM. The protocol is similar, but is based on JSON, and supports sending things like cover art.
Well spotted.
I'm on the lookout for some more "Baby Boom" pictures
http://dabdig.blogspot.com/2009/08/logitech-squeezebox-radio.html
how about they make some damn Vista drivers for my webcam???
what's a Vista?
I am so looking forward to the new Squeezebox lineup, more for the standalone unit with title/playlist display to stream music through my home theater.
See page 96 of http://is.gd/2sloK (the PDF of the test report on the FCC site) ... small pic of the device.
or...you could the new V-Tech IS9181 TODAY (which I have), with its color screen and
I would really like to buy this radio because t's really good and at the same time it has multi-room controller with 2.4-inch color display and scroll-wheel navigation makes it easy to browse, select, and play music from the palm of your hand. If you need detail information about this product then check out http://forums.techarena.in/portable-devices/1241527.htm