Logitech Squeezebox Touch released in NZ

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Logitech Squeezebox Touch released in NZ

tebling

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#59923 15-Apr-2010 09:57

I thought I'd give a heads up that the newest member of the Squeezebox family has arrived in NZ. Mine was just delivered to my desk a few minutes ago!

For those not familiar with these units, they are dedicated network music players with very high quality audio components and an open software architecture. And much more. The Touch adds a LCD touch screen, which is great for displaying album art (among other things):

http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/products/squeezebox-touch.html

It looks like the NZ distributor has four left, so get in quick if you want one.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Logitech - I'm just a fan of these devices. I still have my original SliMP3 which was made way back before Logitech bought Slim Devices.

SepticSceptic

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#318795 15-Apr-2010 13:56

Looks interesting - how much was the $$ ? (approx )

Getting to the stage where one has to decide to get one of these things, or use an iPad / Itouch for similar functionality.

tebling

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#318797 15-Apr-2010 14:02

Most retailers have it for around $500 incl GST (RRP in the US is $300USD). I bought mine from Acquire, which had one of the more competitive prices.

Can't wait to get home and hook it up...

SepticSceptic

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#318798 15-Apr-2010 14:03

Typical, just as I reply to this, the right bit of e-mail comes in :-)

"iPad To Control Home Automation And Entertainment"

http://www.channelnews.com.au/Automation/Industry/R4U4A5M2

And, I do like logitech products - speakers, remote controls ( I have a Harmony 525), etc ..

tebling

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#318802 15-Apr-2010 14:11

I see the iPad / iPod / iPhone devices as being more applicable as a remote to control something like the Squeezebox (or any home automation type system as the article suggests). In fact, there's an iPod / iPhone app called iPeng which turns those devices into remote controls for your Squeezebox based players. I'll probably buy a used iPod touch at some point and dedicate it to such a purpose.

The Squeezeboxes themselves are most at home in a permanent location connected to your audio system, where the benefits of high quality audio components can be heard. They are also more suited to situations where you want your music stored in one location but you need access to it from throughout the house (multiple players). One cool feature is that multiple Squeezeboxes can be perfectly synced, so that as you move through the house you experience seamless audio from all the players.

So I think that while both options offer similar functionality, they are better suited for different roles.

richms

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#318803 15-Apr-2010 14:12

I have been less than impressed with the brief use I had with an older slimserver powered device, and that was on a very small media collection (under 30000 tracks) with performance that quite frankly made uPNP from the windows media player server look to be fast and responsive.

Have they got it working well on moderate to large library sizes yet? I would like something for the bedroom as the old xbox running xbmc is starting to show its age, but I prefer file system based navigation to the often poorly done tag scanning that almost everything seems to do.

Richard rich.ms

tebling

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Geek

#318810 15-Apr-2010 14:23

I have the Squeezebox server running with about 25000 tracks. It's generally pretty fast, though it may take some time (a few seconds) to build a shuffled playlist with more than a few thousand tracks. Note that this is a true shuffle rather than a pseudo-random algorithm like you find in so many players nowadays. In general I find the whole experience to be responsive, but I don't mind pauses of a second or two so it's a bit subjective.

File system based navigation is super important, and is one of the reasons I love these players. I never use the tag based browsing on the Squeezebox unless I want to (for example) make a playlist from a particular artist whose tracks span several directories.

I also love the fact that the software provides a web server which runs on your local network.

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SepticSceptic

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#319247 16-Apr-2010 10:19

It's a pretty expensive bit of kit - nearly $500 for a networkable audio streamer ? It's about the same price as a netbook !
Ahh well, each to their own, but this one wont be for me for the time being :-)