Squeezebox Boom - a nice piece of kit

I've never had a squeezebox before, but couldn't resist circuit city's closeout prices, and I wanted a new alarm clock. I've added some token music to my readynas but haven't added it all yet so I can't comment on performance.

Some nice details:

• Readable VFD that reminds me of my favorite mp3 player.
• The VFD auto dims to match the ambient light
• The buttons are backlit, and the power button remains backlit when it's off
• The remote has magnets in it so it sticks to the top, or anything else metal
• Purpose built wall mounting bracket available
• Set alarm to anything you want - playlist, streaming radio, pandora
• Polished web interface

I'm tempted to pick up a duet for the living room. It's interesting to see what the empeg software could easily have done with a few more years of development.

Matthew

If you're considering a Duet, look into the various iPod controller applications for Slim Center. You might find them better or more suitable than the dedicated controller and opt to get only the receiver. You might save a few bucks there too since the controller is rather pricy.

I wasn't aware of the Boom. It looks like a nice device. They should have built in a CD player and maybe even a cassette tape player, though. I can't imagine it would have cost much more, and it would be nice to have a device that would do it all.

I'm trying to get my wife to switch over to using digital media, but she can be obstinate to the point of luddishness. I've been trying to get her to use the Squeezebox instead of CDs and an MP3 player instead of cassette tapes, but it's slow going at best.

Yes, I'm still kicking myself for not picking up a duet or two for $160. The controller gets mixed reviews, and one thing I like about the Boom as that so far it has worked without any issues what so ever.


It's 13"W x 5"H x 3.1"D, so a CD player would add over two inches to the depth, and would probably be wasted on 90% of the userbase. It does have an aux jack, so you could could hook up a portable.


Have you considered a Central? My mother successfully uses hers on a daily basis once we got over over a rough start that involved a dead hard drive followed by a colony of ants trying to build a colony next to the nice warm replacement drive. The real downside is a lack of interconectivity with the modern mp3 playing world.

Matthew

Maybe even a what-did-you-say player? I long ago put all my cassette tapes away at the back of the cupboard, and would probably have binned them altogether if not for a vague idea of one day recreating with my little niece and nephew the fascination I have when my dad drags his reel-to-reel player out of the back of his cupboards...

Peter

PS. A Grundig TK35, or similar -- before Boxer says anything.

Yes, I've got my audio cassette tapes and all my VHS tapes in a garden shed - just to divert attention from the fact that I'm listening to my wonderful Revox at the moment!

Yeah, yeah. You trying getting that mule to move.

She actually uses the cassette tapes regularly, as mix tapes. I've been trying to convince her that she really needs to go to MP3s, but, again, immovable object.

I was hoping for a transitional device for her.

Interestingly, BestBuy apparently sells a total of seven devices that can play cassette tapes, all but one of them is a Sony, and the other, a JVC component, is sold out.

Bitt, your problem is an easy one to fix.

Cassette tape players can be fixed with a grilled cheese sandwich. CD players can be fixed with a round sanding disc from a random orbit sander.

When there are no tape players in the house and no CD players (don't tell her you can play CDs on the DVD player) then they'll move quickly to the MP3s.

Does your wife have an iPod? Get her an iPod Nano or a Touch if she doesn't already. Connect up her car so she can just plug it in without thinking about it.

My wife still uses CDs in the car, but that's mainly because the iPod adapter I installed last year is on the fritz and I haven't fixed it yet. She also has to wait for me to rip CDs for her. I don't know if it's because she's lazy or unwilling to press a couple of buttons in iTunes.

At home I don't have a tape player at all and the only dedicated CD player is sitting on a shelf in the basement. The DVD player isn't even hooked up right now.

Peter did have some interesting points however and I think I'm going to pick up an old cassette deck with an integrated speaker. I have a few tapes and showing my kids that stuff in the future might be neat. I also still have a bunch of LPs and a turntable (also in the basement).

Let's hope your shed isn't too damp.

Yea, and an 8 track too

On a serious note, I don't like my Duet much. I prefer to use the web interface. I like the idea, but having another box that doesn't do anything apart from control Slimserver is a bit rubbish.

Cheers

Cris.

Fans of Monty Python will be pleased to know that I don't only have two sheds, I have five - Garden Shed, Booze Shed, log shed, bits and pieces and leads that no longer do anything plus tapes shed and tool shed.
UK question here, did anybody see the BBC4 repeat of "a to b", the one about sales reps. whose car was the most important incentive?
It pointed out to me that only 10 years ago, you expected to get a cassette player in the dashboard (You might get a CD autochanger in the boot on a luxury model), and yet, as we celebrated this summer, that was when the Empeg was born.
Empegers can be smug, but even the cheapest model cars seems to have an MP3 or better an ipod connection these days - technology has come far fast..

King 4 track continuous.
Telefunken 2.0 ips cassette
Garrard 1/4" tape, Cassette Deck
Sony 1/4" tape, hi-fi cassette
The PYE recordable 45 rpm record.

The road to the cassette as we knew it was a tortuous one, and Philips had to give the patent away to get it out of the bin. They didn't do much better with the V2000 video recorder: 2 sided, a real lemon - pity, because they were first on the market in video with a format that I can't remember the name of!

That could be why they had success with the CD. Lessons learned.

LOL! Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.


I set up Teri's computer so that when she inserts a disc, it automatically starts iTunes, and iTunes automatically starts ripping the disc, and then when it's done, it automatically ejects the disc.

Yet I can't get her to swap discs out while she's sitting there using the computer anyway.


There's a chicken-and-egg problem in that if there's nothing for it to play, she won't use it, and if she's not using anything that will support it, she won't create anything for it to play.

I got myself a Boom the other week and agree it is an excellent bit of kit. It is much smaller that you expect, but also much more solid and much better sounding.

I would second Bruno's comments about the iPhone/iPod Touch approach to remote control of Squeezeboxes rather than a Duet. I've had a Duet for six months or so now and if I was starting afresh I would have bought an iPod Touch and the excellent iPeng native app instead.

The Duet Controller still has the advantage of physical buttons for play, pause, volume etc But in just about all other areas an iPhone/Touch + iPeng has it beat.

(ok, so the Controller also has beta support for being a player and can be used on Squeeze Network, but both of those features are on their way in iPeng as well)

The iPod/iPhone with a player app can actually quite easily replace a Squeezebox. I think it would be in Slim/Logitech's best interest to beat the third parties there and start selling such a program.

Jörg is doing a good job with iPeng. Still has a lot of quirks, but I've been using it for a long time now.

Ah, yes, the wonderful ELcaset. Still miss my EL-5.
Too bad I didn't realize how historical it was when I chucked it out. Only later did I find out how bizarre it was that I got hold of mine.

To quote Wikipedia:

"…A Finnish company won the auction (by Sony international) and later sold those machines with 25 cassettes at a very low price: EL-5 + 25 cas. 795,- FIM and EL-7 + 25 cas. 1295,- FIM. It was mentioned in the ad that plain cassettes would cost normally about 1200 FIM. I think that US$ was in those days about 4,50 FIM, nowadays it's about 6 FIM. And you can believe it was a real sell-out. They sold about 2000 decks in Finland. …"

Ah yes, Elcaset, the name escaped me: It was actually a very well thought through format addressing most of the shortcomings of the compact cassette for hifi use.
I'm as capable of lemons as the next man: here's my 16th birthday present - it wasn't what I wanted, at all!

Oh, I love my Squeezebox Boom. Been wanting an all-in-one Squeezebox since forever, so when it was announced I ordered one straight away and got one from probably the first batch in the UK.

Its one of those things, just as Andy says - smaller than you expect, very high quality and sounds great. I use it every day and it does exactly what I want it to, just like another musical gadget of mine

There is a Whitepaper on the Squeezebox Boom Audio Design which is a very good read.

Well I just picked up a Duet from craigslist from a Circuit City clearance reseller on craigslist. If it doesn't work out, I'll ebay it and buy a SB3 for the living room.

Matthew

Interesting idea - but I can see that it might have proven less than perfect in actual use.

Its only saving grace was that its recording quality was infinitely superior to the cheap end of the reel to reel market(comparable to our school Ferrograph), but you had to wait an awful long time, whilst it rewound, to listen to your recording - however its real downside was that you had to cope with the derision of your peers!

Thanks for sharing your opinions about the Boombox, guys. I've been plannign to get one as a alarm clock. Now,, I really think I'll be buying one soon.

Server software seems quite good and very well supported too!

There's nothing out there that even comes close in fact.

When version 8 introduces the new database schema things are going to be even better for people with esoteric collections and requirements. It can satisfy a lot of sorting/display organizational requirements now, but the next major version should be able to satisfy absolutely everyone from a technical standpoint.

As far as playback quality is concerned, that's not even up for discussion. It's been the best for a long time.

Thanks Hybrid! Any rumor about when Squeezebox v.8 it is being released? Not that it is stopping from buying it, but I am curious.

SqueezeCenter

They have a roadmap on their site, but release dates are never really given. I'd guess it should be out sometime this year, but version 7.3 is quite excellent already.

One of the bug things for some people with v.8 will be the ability to maintain multiple databases and be able to selectively play music from any one or combinations of them. With this ability it will be possible to keep for instance a database for classical separate from al your other music. Or your music separate from your kids' or wife's etc..

I'll finally be able to make sure that Janet Jackson never gets randomized among any of my music.

And currently available at amazon.co.uk for £129 with the discount code "SQUEEZEI"

Wicked! Thanks for the info Andy.

Cheers

Cris.

Dammit, you have to have say this the week before pay day.

Nice! Thanks andy! Ordered and should be arriving tomorrow

....and on the 8th day God created Visa...



Cheers

Cris.

Can the server software tell if if you have the same track in flac and mp3 formats and then automatically pick the flac version? I've tried searching but can't find an answer.

If two databases will be available in the new version I guess I can try to remember which files are mp3 only.

I've ordered one anyway, time will tell whether it'll get any use or not.

No, but you don't have to add the MP3 versions to the database if you're adding the Flac, if you take some care in how you organize your files and how you let Slim Center scan for music.

Groups of tracks make up an album and Slim Center will not exclude tracks from such groupings based on their format. If you had all your music in both formats it would likely make it easier to omit one format completely from the DB. But if you only have such duplication for some content, then it's a little harder.

There's probably one or more people in the Slim forum with such a setup though, and perhaps they've come up with a decent solution, including the possibility for some plugin to take care of the details for you. http://forums.slimdevices.com

Just to be explicit, there is no need to have SqueezeCenter* see both the FLAC and MP3 files, because SqueezeCenter can transcode from FLAC to MP3 on the fly. So clients that can't play back FLAC can get MP3 streamed to them instead.

* SqueezeCenter is the name that Slim Server changed to at version 7.0

The need to keep MP3 versions along side FLAC is generally to support portable players which have limited storage capacity and also may not support FLAC. Special care needs to be taken in this circumstance because Slim Center doesn't come with any built-in ability to make managing this type of duplication painless.

I have a lot of MP3 files downloaded from emusic, and these are mixed in with files converted from FLAC. I'll have to see if I can separate them out easily.

I'm thinking of going this route to replace my Soundbridge. I didn't realize when I bought it that it doesn't support ff/rewind. It is funny on the Roku forums the people defending this decision; they would also defend not having previous/next track selection!

The Roku products definitely had the "look" but they didn't have any software. Their products all suck to put it bluntly. For a long time it seemed like running SlimServer was the way to get decent streaming on your SoundBridge products.

I believe Soundbridge sales took a huge dive when Slim Devices introduced their newer lineup (SqueezeBox 3).

I'm not sure how everyone's market share is divided right now, but I believe Sonos is still dong quite well as they've always had a good balance of nice looking hardware and software.

Slim Devices is growing slowly but surely after its acquisition by Logitech.

Just use MediaMonkey to transcode to MP3 when it syncs with the device

It works ok with Itunes, but I wish it had two things: FF/rewind and the empeg way of going back to your last playlist by holding the "down" button. I hate scrolling around to get to the next album.

Install Slim Center and take a peek at its web UI. You won't be able to try its Now Playing portion unless you connect it to a software player (or Squeezebox), but navigating its album and artist lists will give you a good idea of the features of its DB navigation UI.

SqueezeCenter includes a software player: SoftSqueeze.

You're right. Just click on EXTRAS at the end of the menu in the left tab of the default web view. I thought you had to download it on its own. Especially since having announced that it will be replaced by SqueezePlay (which may be late). SqueezePlay will be both a player as well as controller UI.

I got my Squeezebox Boom today and its quite nice. I've got older Squeezebox units anyway so I've already got Squeezecenter running. Plugged it into my wired network and it did the usual Squeezebox detection steps. It needed to upgrade the firmware which took a couple minutes.

The actual unit oddly comes bagged in a cloth drawstring sack. I'd understand if it had the ability to be battery powered but not when it is a mains powered unit.

There are two annoying aspects however. First one is that the screen isn't particularly wide. The clock display is truncated when its a 2 digit hour and half the PM is off the side. The second one is that the casing is made from a glossy black plastic which is a dust and fingerprint magnet.

Apart from that I'm pretty happy with the unit. Pondering getting another since its a nice discount...

While the screen is narrower than the SB Classics, I haven't seen that clock problem you describe. Maybe you have some existing custom setting on SC that is giving you a wider clock display ?

Using the Music Information plugin it is possible to tweak the screen layout so that it makes better use of the Boom's limited screen width.

I too thought the bag was silly. However I have already used twice, once as a bag when transporting it to the office to use it there and also as a very handy cloth to clean off those finger prints and dust

Mine arrived yesterday and has already taken it's place on the bedside table replacing my old Roberts DAB radio.

First impressions are that it's wonderfully put together, and the software isn't half bad either. It reminds me of when I first got my empeg. I've installed SqueezeCentre on my MBP to try it out but I'm actually just using the SqueezeNetwork to run it on it's own for now. I'm getting a ReadyNAS NV+ next month so that will eventually host my music.

Sound quality is great and UI works well. Only gripe so far is that the headphone jack is on the back, it would've been really nice to have it somewhere more accessible. But the most impressive thing for me (which shows they've actually been thinking) is that even with headphones plugged in, the alarm sound still comes out of the speakers.

Maybe. I can't remember what the default clock setting is. I've change it to H:MM PM now and dropped the seconds which fits okay.

I ordered another unit for the kitchen.

Mine arrived today, already I want to order another.

Really nicely made bit of kit. Sound quality is pretty good too, as Andy points out. It actually has bass!!!!

Cheers

Cris.

That did cross my mind, although I'm struggling to think of another space in the house that I'd like to have music that doesn't already have a computer (so I can use SoftSqueeze) or a set of amplified speakers (I could just get a Squeezebox Receiver use my iPod as a controller with iPeng).

Yeah. The design whitepaper linked earlier in the thread has a block diagram which has a standalone DAC for the headphone/subwoofer output. Each speaker has its own DAC and amp as well.

Bathroom. Though I could be wrong and you're already using it as a second server room and theater.

The Boom is a perfect bedroom, bathroom and kitchen music appliance. Of course it can be useful in any room, but those are rooms that might not already have a dedicated stereo system like a den or family room/living room might.

I have two SB3 but only one is set up right now. I'd also like to get a Boom for my master bedroom, especially since we can use the multiple alarm features (my wife and I always get up at different times during the week).

Yeah. I'm using mine in the bedroom and kitchen.

What I want now is a SB3 with the buttons from a Boom that isn't huge like the transporter. It is handy to be able to just go up to it and push the buttons without looking for the remote.

There appears to be two iPhone/iPod apps that can control SqueezeCenter. iPeng and Squeemote. Anybody got any opinions on them?

I use iPeng and find it very good. I haven't used Squeemote, but from my reading it looks like it is lacking some features compared to iPeng.

iPeng also has some new features coming soon, including support for SqueezeNetwork and any plugin menus that work on the SqueezeBox controller.

Reading through the FAQ's they don't recommend using it there because of condensation. If I were going to do that I'd still go for a Squeezebox Receiver and some waterproof amplified speakers.

In my kitchen I currently have an airport express feeding a logitech 2.1 PC speaker setup. I don't think I really need a display. I can use my ipod or laptop to control everything.

iPeng it is then The author should make it easier to find in the App Store however. If I didn't know about iPeng from posts here, I wouldn't have known it existed and would have ended up with Squeemote.

If you search for "squeezebox" on the app store the iPeng is top of the list.

He does need to do some SEO though, he doesn't appear on the first page of "squeezebox remote" on Google.

Ah I know what I was doing wrong. I was just using the app name search and not letting it do the proper search.

I imagine some people probably never realise that tapping search and not just seeing the results in the auto complete does something different.

Ok, I got mine three days ago, and I am so impressed. I too had a similar feeling then when I got my first empeg. This device is so nicely done that I really perceive "quality" in it.
And, I really, really like how it sounds! Yes, I too find it does has bass, and it sounds chrystal clear. Given its size, it's the best boom box I've personally ever heard.

So, thank you all for recommending it!

I use it in my bedroom as an alarm clock, mostly, but I am seriously considering to buy another one for the kitchen/living room, until I decide to put some money into a serious 5.1 (or better) system.

I use it via an ethernet port to my music server, and setup was quick and easy.

User interface and display do remind me of the empeg, and that is good I find that switching between "now playing" and the "menu" mode is quick but somehow confusing. I really wish they completely adopted the empeg menu navigation (and operation)style. But, still, UI is overall good.

I wonder if there's any customized firmware available?

Anyway, I am so happy with this. I do recommend it!

You don't need to customise the actual firmware. The "brain" is actually the SqueezeCenter software. The player units don't do much themselves. All of the menus and displays are generated by the server software which is opensource Perl. This includes the visualisations.

If anyone is interested in trading their Boom for a SqueezeBox 3, let me know, the offer is on the table. I have a spare SB3 that I haven't set up since moving and I thin I'd rather use a Boom in my bedroom.

Ok, so I enjoyed my Boom so much that I am now looking to buy something for my living room.

While the idea is to eventually get a PC that "does all", I don't want to invest so much money in it as of yet, and currently I am still not sure on how well a PC will handle BD, TrueHD audio, etc.

So, a Squeezebox Classic or a Duet are the best options available for me, now. But, I don't know which one to get... Can't decide. What do you guys think?

I already have a Boom in my bedroom, but I don't know how that would fit in the equation...

Does anyone know if the Logitech Harmony remotes can control SQueeze devices?

Edit: Ok, of course you can train it to replicate all the IR a squeeze remote does, but, will it work as a full replacemente for a Squeezebox Controller, which I understand shows album covers, etc.?

The Squeezebox Receiver component of the Duet combo doesn't do IR.

Buy an iPod touch and run iPeng on it. Works for me.

I couldn't agree more, just buy a Receiver (or maybe a SB3) and an iPod Touch. The native iPeng app is better than the Controller. I have a Controller and and iPhone, the iPhone gets used to control my Squeezeboxen far more than the Controller does.

If you have a Receiver and no Controller you have to jump through some hoops to do the initial setup, but it isn't that bad.

Oh! Good point! So, now it is really unlikely Harmony remote can be used with a Duet. I can't find any reference on Logitech website of Harmony working via radio (or as a Squeezebox Controller replacement, at all).


Thanks for your recommendation, but
I am just not yet in the mood for another iPod

It can only be controlled via WiFi or the network.

So the Squeezebox Controller is a WiFi device? So, if my wifi router is off, I can't control the receiver with the conttroller?

That's no good for me. SB Classic it is, then. Which I'll be able to control via Harmony, when I decide to get one for all devices in the living room...

Yes. It is a WiFi device. It doesn't have a long network cable attaching it to the wall :P

Just ignore the iPod side of things then, use it as an excellent Squeezebox remote (and then realise later that it extremely handy for a bit of web browsing and checking your email).

Even if I did ignore it (which I don't feel like doing, I admit ), that would need a wifi network, which I don't always keep on in my home. I prefer IR (and therefore a squeezebox classic).

I have a Duet, a Boom and a Classic Squeezebox. Of all of them I like the Classic the most and use it all the time on my office for music while I work, the Boom wakes me up every morning and gets used regularly but the Duet is quite a poor product.

It is slow and clunky and the interface is terrible, what I don't get about it is why they have made such a useless device, it does nothing apart from controlling the Receiver unit, if it had Harmony features on it it would be much more useful. This has reminded me I should put this unit up for sale.

I have to say if you are a Squeezebox user already you really are missing a trick by discounting the use of a touch or iPhone to control them. iPeng is a smashing bit of kit and I use that all the time, I imagine that must be killing sales for Logitech. It doesn't matter what you think if the iPod itself as a remote for the Squeezebox it's worth the money alone. So there is another vote for that solution

The ideal Squeezebox is still the old Classic, the display is great and can easily be read from across a room, they are also getting pretty cheap. They are not limited in features in many ways and the sound quality is pretty good to, forget the Receiver.

Cheers

Cris.

Hmmm

I love my iPhone + iPeng, but I have to jump to the Controller's defence a little here.

First of all it does a lot more than control the Receiver. It can be used to control every Squeezebox that you have.

Also, it isn't just a remote, it is also a player. I can plug my head phones into it and wander round the house/garden listening to anything that any other Squeezebox can play.

Yes it is clunky. It is restricted by its small screen and lack of a touch interface. The development was started before Logitech bought them and they simply didn't have the cash and the sales volume needed to bring something iPhone/iPod Touch like to the market.

I'd agree the UI isn't the best. It suffers from the same thing that all the Squeezebox stuff suffers from. It tries to be all things foe all men, cramming in every features you could possibly hope for. They could really do with a little more focus, cut down on 50% of what they do and polish the rest.

But I don't expect them to do that, they wouldn't bee Slim Devices if they didn't try and provide every feature that every users asks for...

Ok, I get iPod + iPeng is good.

Still, I understand such solution has to use WiFi, and I like to be able to listen to music without having to power up my home WAP. So, while WiFi controllers may certainly be future upgrade, I think I am still leaning towards the Classic. It is also a bit less expensive than the "receiver + anything else" option.

I am also thinking that I don't mind having a display underneath my TV set showing track info. iPod or Squeeze controller will not be so effective in doing so, I assume, even when docked...

I have to say that I do like the idea of being able to carry the controller (and so the iPod) around the house with headphones, but we won't use it much that way, and, I have Zune and iPod classic for that, should I want to...

I'm just trying to imagine a reason why I'd ever turn my WAP off

Eliminating a senseless waste of energy?

My WiFi routers don't have power switches, but they both support turning off the WAP radio - I'll have to get one of those kill-a-watts one day to measure the difference.

While I need the router active practically 24/7 (so my PVR/server can access the net to schedule updates and downloads), I don't need the wireless radio on all the time. Neither of my products has the ability to schedule on/off for the radio though.

Without WiFi, the SqueezeBox will have to be wired via ethernet, so that's something to keep in mind.

Mine's using wireless even though it's within 2 feet of the WAP.

Mine are always on but my Squeezeboxes, TiVo, laptop and phone all use them.

Only the Squeezebox Controller lets you do this, the touch/iPhone only acts as a remote.

Most of the time I control my various Squeezeboxes through the web interface, although the newer Logitech interface is a little slower and clunkier than the old SlimServer ever was it's still one of the best ways I have found to file my music collection.

Most of the time I just use the random function, I find it works really well and is very random often digging up tunes I haven't listened to in years. The only option I would like to have is to be able to skip tracks from one of the buttons on the side of my Wacom Tablet, I can get it to do that for iTunes but I am not clever enough to figure out how to control the Squeezebox from a key stroke combo in OS X.

You won't be disappointed with the Classic

Cheers

Cris.

DD-WRT has a very simple (web) interface for selecting on/off hours for the wireless. Sometimes free is better.

All my Squeezeboxes and our iPhones rely on it, so it makes perfect sense for it to be on most of the time. The fact that it is also our adsl router it has to be on anyway.

Excellent! The incremental cost of wifi "on" is tiny when it's integrated into the modem.

Cheers

Especially as the modem/router/wap recently replaced separate modem, switch and wap. Unfortunately the box in question is the Thomson one that I was complaining about the other day. I've found even more problems with it since, some of which aren't liveable with, so I'll probably have to replace it.

Or just keep it, and put a WRT11-GS + DD-WRT behind it. Though I suppose a simpler Thomson modem might be more appropriate/cheaper for that kind of setup.

I want a single box and I don't think there are any good Linux based options for combined ADSL modem and N class wifi ?

I'll probably splash out on a Vigor 2820N, which is what I should have done in the first place, given that I already max out my ADSL line most of the time on non Thomson modems.

Edit:

To be clear, last time I looked to see what the option were for dd-wrt, ADSL2+ and N class wireless in the UK I didn't have much luck. Even the ones I did find it was pot luck which hardware version you'd end up being delivered, with significant downsides if you ended up with a non-optimal version of the hardware.

If anyone knows differently, let me know, I'd be happy to give dd-wrt a go.

Unfortunately Mark, as well as the Thomson's various other problems (including forgetting to hand out dhcp responses after a few days up time), it also isn't coping too well with basic routing.

After a few hours of heavy load (bittorrent), it starts to get crappy at routing traffic. Even when you stop the heavy traffic it takes it a long time to start routing other traffic sensibly, with tcp handshakes timing out. A reboot of the router or waiting an hour of so fixes it.

This is with the BT traffic restricted to 70% of the total available bandwidth (restricted on the PC doing the BT). All other routers that I have used have been able to cope with this level of BT traffic (with NAT off at least, many consumer level routers can't cope with that much BT traffic while also managing NAT sessions).

I think this is due to it trying to do some QoS shaping, but it is far from clear how to turn its QoS queues off.

I really haven't had a good time with it

There are a variety.

Thanks, but not very helpful really. I am well aware that there are lots of routers/waps that can run dd-wrt.

What I asked was are there any recommended ones that have ADSL2+ modems, are available in the UK and are easy to get hold of the "right" version of the hardware. That page doesn't even say which ones are ADSL modems.

I have attempted to work my way through that list before and given up in frustration after failing to find any from a brand that I trust, in the UK, with a guarantee that I'll end up with a hardware version that is recommended for dd-wrt. It doesn't help that I've had bad experiences with Linksys kit and so am not keen to buy Linksys again.

Though given my experience with the Thomson I might reconsider the risk of going with Linksys...

I didn't think DD-WRT supported any device which did ADSL/ADSL2+ because none of them actually ran Linux?

Ah, right. I forgot you do integrated devices in the UK. In the US, we pretty much have to have separate boxes because the telcos want to use their CPE, but their boxes either suck or are inaccessible to customers. (Or both, I suppose.)

That's another reason to couple it with a DD-WRT box. Use the modem as an excellent *modem*, and do the routing/firewalling/whatever on a better box.

But if your line quality is sufficient to get by with a less capable modem, then by all means look for a better-done all-in-one unit.

Cheers

Practically all of them use/run Linux, including Andy's Thomson. But not all of them do it in legal compliance with the software license for Linux.

The last time I looked, all of the combined modem + AP boxes ran a RTOS like VxWorks. The original Linksys WAG54G was one of these. It looks like the newer models do run Linux and there is a project to get a usable source tree out of the crap released by the manufacturers.

Well, I don't have to imagine reasons to leave my wap off. I think I have them:

1. My house has CAT6 in every room on GBit router, and I prefer wired over wireless for so many reasons: one for all is performance (I have file server and network drives).

2. I am most of the day in the office, so does my gf, and my cats (in spite of being named Mega and Byte), don't browse the internet (yet). So, yes, definitely waste of energy.

3. Network Safety? Yes, I am paranoid. I could not care less of people stealing my bandwidth when I don't use it, but my home server has been hosting websites for years, so always on, and I don't like to have my WiFi interfere with it. Safest bet is to keep wifi off when not needed.

And, why not:
4. Do EMFs hurt you? Apparently not / officially not, but I always tell myself that centuries of science teach us that todays beliefs may very well be mistakes in the wiser eyes of tomorrow. So, since I only need WiFi to browse the internet away from my desk, here is one more reason why only then I want it on. Of course, there's so much EMF around us regardless, and this is really at the bourdary between science, paranoia, blind belief, and what not.

And, I think I can find some more reasons with a clearer mind.

Anyway, I am afraid I'll have to change my wifi habits as more and more devices move to wifi versus other radio standards...

The plasticisers chemicals in plastic are going to give you more problems than anything possibly caused by EMF. That "new car" smell which some people for some bizarre reason actually like is pretty much plasticisers coming out of the new car parts.

[paranoia mode]
Yes, from a strictly scientific point of view, you're probably right.
[/paranoia mode]
On the other hand, I admit I could say the same about virtually any phenomenon on earth.

Anyway, I was about to place the order for a Classic, when a realize I saw it in a shop not too far from here. I am just thinking I may jump in my car tonight...

I found the Squeezebox Classic at FNAC at 200 Euros, which is a good price compared to the E. 230 you find on line at Logitech shop. Hopefully they have the same price all over EU.

It is now happyly playing in my living room. It works great, and I even like the UI a bit more than the boom: display is larger and remote makes it quicker to switch from "now playing" to other menu items.

The only issue I found so far is text scrolling, not so smooth unless I slow it down significanlty. But, I haven't played with cfg much, yet.

I also really like how it looks. I saw it few times in shops, and in the middle of so many other devices did not look parcularly nice. Instead, I now find it very classy and smooth

One thing I really really like, compared to having my empeg there, is that this thing is so small and so not invasive that you just don't notice it, it just merges perfectly whith other stuff around it, and if you do notice it, you just like it! And, it is so powerful. We haven't turned it off for two days now.

The Logitech shop usually charges you the retail price. Other places will sell it for less e.g. Amazon.


The larger remote works with the Boom.

True. So, Amazon is a good choice too. Fnac hopefully is useful for those countries where Amazon either does not sell, or will charge international shipping (like here in Italy).


Yes, this was an unexpected improvement of the boom.
However, I don't find it as useful as having a couple of more buttons on the boom body. I guess it dpepends on me using it as an alarm clock...

I got my Boom on Saturday

Has anyone used any of the streaming services that SqueezeNetworks links to? What did you think about them? Does anyone know of any high bitrate streaming services that the squeezebox can play?

It can play virtually any internet stream. You just have to configure it in your SqueezeServer, or whatever it's called these days.

I assume you mean things like Napster and Pandora ?

Both are good services and I subscribe to both. Pandora is very good at finding you new music that sounds like music you already like. Napster is good for finding music by artist/album etc or by finding new music by listening to their top 100 lists.

Pandora has a couple of downsides. The most important being that it is only available in the US. It takes me great hassle to work around their restrictions and get to listen to it in the UK.

The other Pandora downside is it carries relatively little content for each artist. Also, you can't just listen to what you want to, you tune into an "radio station" based around artists/tracks that are similar to an artist/track you have chosen.

With Pandora you can vote on tracks to say whether you like them or hate them. That helps it build up data on what to play to you.

Napster is much less clever, but on the plus side it carries many more tracks for each artist it lists and also you can choose to listen to whatever you want (rather than the radio station approach that Pandora takes).

At the moment they are both streamed to Squeezeboxes at 128k, soon Pandora should be streamed at 192k. Napster is 128k WMA though, which means the quality is better than 128k MP3 would be.

The integration with these services it very good. Whenever you are playing music from your local music library there are always context menu items on the track to take you to Pandora or Napster for that artist or track.

There is also last.fm, which takes yet another approach. You can set Squeezecenter up so that every track that you listen to gets reported to last.fm, which they then use to build up recommendations for tracks/artists to listen to. It also has the love/hate voting when listening to tracks via last.fm

Like Pandora they take the radio station approach. I believe if you subscribe you can pick what you want to play, but I only use the free version. last.fm is 128k MP3.

All the services have restrictions on which countries they are available in