Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi Internet Radio and Wireless Music Player by Logitech
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Digital camera reviews of Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi Internet Radio and Wireless Music Player
Digital camera Review: Extremely satisified
Summary: 5 Stars
My classic was fun and easy to set up (OK, I'm a network engineer, but really, it was a cinch). There's still a learning curve -- it takes a while to get it customized your way, and it took me a few weeks to realize I could remotely control it from squeezenetwork.com .... but that's just an indication of the richness of the software (hey, its open source, what else would you expect? Of course, the forums and wiki and slimdevices.com and is quite good, too).
The sound quality with even 128 CBR MP3s -- made me re-think my prior experience with a Yamaha Cavit (USB-connected receiver). With B&W DM-602s and NAD 720BEE receiver, it really sounds much better than expected (the Burr Brown DAC must be excellent). Just use a decent pair of cables, not the disposable ones that come with the Squeezebox (and all other stereo gear).
But best of all, its expanding my musical horizons. I'm both a Rhapsody and Pandora subscriber, and I use them much more now because they actually sound good. Rhapsody is wonderful for their large catalog, but Pandora (which is FREE) steals the limelight for helping you discover great new music. Not to mention on-demand NPR podcasts, BBC, and some great stations from around the world.
Its my best tech purchase in quite some time.
Digital camera Review: FANTASTIC!!! Why oh why doesn't everyone own one of these???
Summary: 5 Stars
Internet Radio: Thousands of channels for free!
This device allows you to listen to internet radio from around the world right out of the box. Talk about thousands of channels of every imaginable style/interest for free. Forget about XM radio, forget about moving to a location where the radio sucks (can you say most places in California?!?!)
You get all the radio you can imagine and then some.
For my wife, it was having access to a handful of NPR stations and a cherished radio station from her home town of Seattle.
For my 2 years old it was getting a couple of kids tunes channels (all kids music, all the time).
For me, it was getting a good selection of Celtic music, some channels from Canada and some French channels. That alone was worth the price tag! But there's more.... much more!
My CD library:
The website for this device gives you good instructions on how to rip your CDs. The short version is this:
+ Rip into FLAC format. Flac is non-lossy, top quality (as good as the original CD
+ Use EAC (exact audio copy) [for windows] or some other recommended software if running on mac/linux.
+ EAC has an overwhelming set of options but the sqeezebox / logitech website has a good cheat sheet on setting up the correct options. Once you have set it up correctly, this software will create perfect rips and verify the result against an internet database to make sure no error occurred.
Usability:
The system is easy to use, the interface is very very similar to that of an ipod.
Sound Quality: FANTASTIC!
Setup:
1) Setup the squeezecenter server software (on your mac/pc/linux box).
The software is written in perl (at least on linux it is) and has
a web interface so you can access / manage it from any computer
in the house.
2) Setup the player device (the item you are buying here).
+ Plug it in the AC
+ Connect the audio connectors to your sound system
+ Either connect an ethernet cable in or use your local wifi network.
(I ended up connected over wifi and it works very nicely).
+ Answer the setup questions (decide if you use ethernet or wifi,
enter the wifi network name (from a list of network found),
password (if your wifi network is password protected) and an IP
address (or let the device request a dynamic IP address from your
wifi router).
+ Answer the question about what squeezecenter to use
(If you have setup your server software and it's running, the
device will recognize it and offer to choose it as your server.
+ That's it, you're good to go!
How it works:
There are talks, mostly about the duet model, of people experiencing
trouble with intermittent connection problems. I suspect the remote
for the duet is a stand alone little wifi computer device (similar to
using your Iphone as described below) and that some people simply have
problems with their wireless home network. This device has a small
InfraRed remote control so you only need a good network connection to
the main device itself. I setup my device using wifi and it works
flawlessly.
There are also mentions of multi-room system in the literature etc but
very little explanation of how it actually works. It's actually pretty simple. Here's the scoop:
You have a squeezecenter software running on a PC/mac/linux box in
your house somewhere. That's where all your ripped CDs will reside.
This software is the real brains of the operation.
It has a web interface from which you can configure your server,
index/re-index songs, set favorites, create playlists etc...
From the interface you can also control what is playing your sqeezebox
device (in the living room) (what song, set the volume etc...)
The server software let's you specify what device you are playing
music to (and hence you can support multiple devices in multiple rooms).
This sqeezebox has a little Infrared (IR) remote since it can be controlled
from the server, you can also control your music playing from any web
browser. This means that in addition to the IR remote you can use:
+ Any web browser (can you say a little netbook in the living room?)
+ An iphone / ipod touch (there is a free application you can
use to control the server software over wifi connection).
+ Any other internet device that has a web browser (such as the
sqeezebox duet remote control which looks like a glorified ipod touch)
Because the server software is written in perl and the architecture was
made modular, there is a large collection of "plugin" modules written
by various enthusiasts that provide additional functionality to the
system. Some will harvest CD art to view from the web interface,
others will present you a bio of each artist, others will collect
reviews of the albums etc...
I ended up buying my unit from the popular auction website E..y for half
the price of a new one but after having played with it for a week, I can tell you that paying even full price is such an amazing bargain for this fantastic device!
I hope you get one and enjoy it as much as my family does!
Enjoy the music!
- Christian
Digital camera Review: Fantastic streaming audio product from Logitech
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased two Logitech digital radio products, this item (often referred to now as the Squeezebox Classic) and the Logitech Squeezebox Boom All-in-One Network Music Player / Wi-Fi Internet Radio. After using the Squeezebox Classic for a short period I am just floored by how easy it is to use and with its ability to listen to both worldwide internet radio and my own music collection.
One (slight) negative is that the first experience with the Classic and the other Logitech digital music players, initial setup, is the most difficult. To listen to internet radio, you have to enter a network SSID / key, setup a mysqueezebox account, and enter account information for services like Pandora / Slacker / Live365. To stream your own music library you also have to install Squeezebox Server software on the computer or NAS with the music files. I completed these steps without incident, but I can see where setup would be intimidating for those expecting a "plug-and-play" experience.
Once setup was complete, however, my experience with the Classic has been fantastic. You can listen to thousands of internet radio stations defined by genre, location, or your own search criteria. You can enter custom stations in case you find something not yet cataloged on the Squeezebox site. You can listen to the services noted above, Last FM, Pandora, the BBC, the Amazon CD Store, and others. You can stream your own music. And once you get used to the interface on the player, you can switch between all of these things pretty easily.
Physically, the Squeezebox Classic is small (appr. 7.5" x 3.5" x 3"). The Classic has no speakers and requires an external stereo system or powered speakers; the Classic provides RCA analog outputs and coax or optical digital outputs for this purpose, along with a headphone jack. At one point I was looking for an internet radio which included an iPod interface such as the Denon Networking Client Dock with WiFi for iPod and considered the lack of an iPod dock on the Classic a negative, but now in use the streaming of my music collection to the Classic works so well I have no need to hook my iPod up to my stereo.
Overall, I think that the Squeezebox Classic was a great way to get steaming digital music integrated into my sound system and is one of my beter "tech" purchases ever.
Digital camera Review: Fantastic system
Summary: 5 Stars
The Squeezebox is probably one of the best overall tech/audio purchases Ive made. Combines both of my favorite hobbies, PCs and High Fidelity audio into an easy to use and access system. The key here is without sacrificing sound quality which is hard to find in other systems. The sound quality from the Squeezebox with its Burr Brown DACs is slightly better than my normal CD player. Personally I cant tell a difference between the Squeezebox with properly recorded flac files versus Onkyo/Marantz players. I would say on par with mid end $300 CD players. It is so convenient and enjoyable to have your entire collection at a press of a button and not have to swap out discs. When you get bored of cycling through your collection the Squeezebox also has streaming radio which I didnt care for at first but something I use now on a daily basis, my favorite being the UK station Absolute Radio. The remote control is pretty basic, UI is easy to understand and well thought out. Not at all intimidating for first time users and with a little bit of knowledge is easy to setup and connect to your network. One of my favorite features is using a cell phone, in my case a Sony Ericsson W995 to control the Squeezebox server. With any mobile device with WiFi you can just go to [...] and access your entire music library and control everything from playback to volume. FWIW I chose the Classic over the Duet for the larger display and cheaper price. I knew beforehand that I was going to use a mobile device to access the server so I didnt really have a use for the Duet control, as cool as it looks. All in all the Squeezebox is one of the best additions Ive added to my HiFi system. All music lovers should grab one immediately, you wont regret it!Digital camera Review: From casual listening to audiophile appreciation - the Squeezebox Revolution
Summary: 5 Stars
If you love music, and if you have a decent home network, wireless (preferred) or wired, do not hesitate to take a plunge in the Squeezebox Revolution. I first bought the Duet, then a few more Receivers, then the Classic, then the Boom, well you get the picture. If I had set up my house in the traditional way of distributed music system, with in-wall speakers and zone-based amps and a rackful of disc changers, it would have cost me over $10,000 to achieve half of what I have accomplished with the superbly cost effective Squeezebox. But cost is not even the point here. It is about quality and philosophy. Squeezebox products simply work, in a elegantly simple and reliable way that you would usually only expect from Apple. And they work both as joyful listening devices for causal internet radio, home server streaming, and as utterly serious audiophile grade equipment to digitally feed you high-end 2-channel system. Sync them, run them independently, set an alarm, wake up a sleeping computer, read an artist bio, hide it in a closet or display it on your precious system rack, Squeezebox simply rocks. Unfailingly. Now the philosophy. I love the technology, but it is the Squeezebox vision of freeing your music by way of adhering to open audio standards and open source computing that has earned my highest respect and devotion. If you are a passive user, great - Squeezebox will be routinely updated to bring you the latest new features, from 192/24 high definition audio decoding to power saving digital amp update, just enjoy them all without having to go out and buy new components (remember the days when you just bought a great CD player then SACD suddenly came out?). If you are geeky (not that anything's wrong with it), you can tweak your SqueezeCenter (the totally free software server powering your SqueezeBox hardware devices) in a myriad of creative ways, from importing your entire iTunes library to writing your own plug-ins, so that you can make your SqueezeBox experience that much more special. It is unfortunate that most reviewers reporting problems are in fact having underlying issues with their home network. Let's hope SqueezeBox keeps making its products more user-friendly to overcome some of the more complicated computer / network difficulties associated with enabling such a powerful digital music reproduction experience. One beef I have with the product - in this day and age, it is a shame that the N wireless protocol is not yet integrated in SqueezeBox. While I applaud you and thank you for all the great new firmware and software upgrades, it will be a dream come true if all my devices can be updated with N support one of these days. Remember folks, it is all about the music! Happy Listening.