Derrick
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 5,085
- Reaction score
- 5
It is an absolute pleasure having this gimmick around, though it is somewhat overpriced.
Logitech has been among the companies most eagerly embracing converging technologies, particularly in terms of the digital home. The Squeezebox is a perfect example of this philosophy: it is a device that allows you to converge music from any number of PCs in the house, as well as Internet radio, to one’s centralised home theatre or hi-fi system, and to control the playback from anywhere within the home. It consists of two main ‘pieces’: the receiving base station (which connects to your hi-fi, amp, or speakers), and the remote control. These connect to each other via Wi-Fi, and the base station connects to the home network via either Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
There is another important component: the SqueezeCenter software must be loaded on at least one PC. This service runs as a background process on your PC and you access it via a Web browser. To stream your music to this device, you assign a music folder from which the SqueezeCenter software reads your music library. I have one criticism about the software: it is too resource hungry, consuming over 100MB of RAM on the host PC or PCs. This is significantly more than dedicated media players such as Winamp. The Logitech remote control is the brain, the nerve centre, of the system, and it is also where most of the technology resides. This unit is slick and stylish (as we have come to expect from Logitech), and offers a fairly comprehensive set of controls that allow the user to control playback and manage playlists.
It also features a colour LCD display that provides feedback about what is happening, as well as showing album art when available. It has a clock screensaver, which is quite convenient when the unit is docked in its charging stand. The remote also has a motion sensor, allowing it to automatically come out of power-saving mode when picked up. The battery life on the remote varies: it is entirely possible for it to be depleted within a couple of hours, if the unit is used too heavily or too frequently moved, but can last a couple of days if not ‘disturbed’ too often. The charging stand is quite stylish, accepting the remote in an upright position and showing it off to good effect.
The base station has an optical output, stereo RCA outputs, as well as an Ethernet jack in case you want to connect it to your home network by means of a cable. The Wi-Fi antenna is internal, keeping the unit’s lines clean. In terms of operation, the Squeezebox delivers better-than-average functionality, though some functions are a bit tricky to figure out, particularly playlist editing. This is best done on the PC itself, instead, and the playlists can then be used by the Squeezebox.
Other than that, this product lives up to its slogan: “Free your music.” The remote control can accompany you wherever you are in the house, because it uses Wi-Fi rather than infrared or Bluetooth. It is an absolute pleasure having this gimmick around, though it is somewhat overpriced. In fact, at its price point, one would expect it to also handle video over the network. At least you get the customary Logitech quality of workmanship and construction.
Logitech has been among the companies most eagerly embracing converging technologies, particularly in terms of the digital home. The Squeezebox is a perfect example of this philosophy: it is a device that allows you to converge music from any number of PCs in the house, as well as Internet radio, to one’s centralised home theatre or hi-fi system, and to control the playback from anywhere within the home. It consists of two main ‘pieces’: the receiving base station (which connects to your hi-fi, amp, or speakers), and the remote control. These connect to each other via Wi-Fi, and the base station connects to the home network via either Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
There is another important component: the SqueezeCenter software must be loaded on at least one PC. This service runs as a background process on your PC and you access it via a Web browser. To stream your music to this device, you assign a music folder from which the SqueezeCenter software reads your music library. I have one criticism about the software: it is too resource hungry, consuming over 100MB of RAM on the host PC or PCs. This is significantly more than dedicated media players such as Winamp. The Logitech remote control is the brain, the nerve centre, of the system, and it is also where most of the technology resides. This unit is slick and stylish (as we have come to expect from Logitech), and offers a fairly comprehensive set of controls that allow the user to control playback and manage playlists.
It also features a colour LCD display that provides feedback about what is happening, as well as showing album art when available. It has a clock screensaver, which is quite convenient when the unit is docked in its charging stand. The remote also has a motion sensor, allowing it to automatically come out of power-saving mode when picked up. The battery life on the remote varies: it is entirely possible for it to be depleted within a couple of hours, if the unit is used too heavily or too frequently moved, but can last a couple of days if not ‘disturbed’ too often. The charging stand is quite stylish, accepting the remote in an upright position and showing it off to good effect.
The base station has an optical output, stereo RCA outputs, as well as an Ethernet jack in case you want to connect it to your home network by means of a cable. The Wi-Fi antenna is internal, keeping the unit’s lines clean. In terms of operation, the Squeezebox delivers better-than-average functionality, though some functions are a bit tricky to figure out, particularly playlist editing. This is best done on the PC itself, instead, and the playlists can then be used by the Squeezebox.
Other than that, this product lives up to its slogan: “Free your music.” The remote control can accompany you wherever you are in the house, because it uses Wi-Fi rather than infrared or Bluetooth. It is an absolute pleasure having this gimmick around, though it is somewhat overpriced. In fact, at its price point, one would expect it to also handle video over the network. At least you get the customary Logitech quality of workmanship and construction.