Squeezebox Touch

+1

If you don't need the phone features, then just get the ipod. Since you have the miraculous car system and the SB for the house, it seems that the minimum sized ipod will do for you. You'd really only be using it for iPeng and other apps rather than for music playback.

Look at it this way. $200 for the ipod and $10 for the app is still cheaper than the Duet. I've never used a Duet, but I can't imagine that it can work better than the iPeng app.

You might want to set up one of the USB wireless routers in your car system. That way you could use the iPeng in the car. Not while driving, mind you. But your passengers could have a lot more fun picking out the next album to listen to.

 

Yes, thanks guys.

As for the wireless routers for the car, sure I'm looking at those, but most I've seen are more portable hot spots which require a separate subscription and have a limit on bandwidth. Of course my phone as modem is unlimited. As soon as I can find a way to interface it to the wireless router I'm in.

Apparently my unlimited internet access is quite a unique deal and I'm grandfathered in. They've locked me in till the year 2025 as a major concession after all the issues I've had with them. I've heard horror stories from the reps at Sprint with people using data and getting huge bills over $1k/month. I don't know how much data I'd ever use and if I'd have that problem but I don't want to find out. Most deals seem to limit at 500g/month and get very expensive after that.

One other minor issue is that if I allow internet access to the car computer I'll have to run some type of firewall or antivirus. Of course this is not a problem but will increase the boot time for the SB setup.

I'll order the ipod soon, probably today, but not sure if I want to go beyond 8gb or not. If I like it, I'll likely get another so I guess the 8gb size makes sense regardless. I doubt I'll use it for music. Even if I could stand to listen to mp3's, how would I decide which subset of my music to go with?

 

Cradlepoint.com

They have an inexpensive router that is intended for use with a separate USB aircard. However, it will set up a portable wireless network even without the aircard. I do this all of the time to support my home Squeezebox setup.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out. Of course I don't have a aircard, but a phone with a USB cable. If it works with that, I'll grab one.

 

You don't need any form of connectivity at all. The cradlepoint is a wireless access point and a router. In the absence of internet connectivity via the USB aircard, it just creates a wifi network within its transmission range. You control it the same as any other network. Your SB and tablet computer both connect to it and 'see' each other the same way they would in your home.

If you get the ipod, then it also connects to the network and provides the cool gui for home or car - wherever you are at the time.

 

I already ordered the iPod. I realize I don't need the phone for the router, but would love to be able to listen to internet radio in the car, or other web delivered sources. Also it would be nice to have my computer able to connect while travelling.

I thought about setting up a standard wi-fi system in the car last year so I could use the Duet but never got that far.

Here is an interesting thought. If I can use the iPod to control the SB and my car has an interface to run an iPod using the steering wheel controls and the nav screen, would there be a way to merge this all so I could operate the SB with the Lexus interface? That would be very cool.

Sounds like I need the cradlepoint regardless.

 

Nope. The iPod doesn't have any silver bullet that helps control the SB. Rather, it is a 3rd party app - iPeng. iPeng is written to provide a wi-fi gui to the Squeezecenter software. I don't think that it uses any of the native ipod functionality aside from a few visual standards.

Now if Logitech wanted to team up with a car stereo manufacturer they could make quite the killer app......

 

Darn, but that makes sense. Btw, I just ordered the Cradlepoint and apparently it will work with my phone as a modem, though there are a few caveats. I think those relate to issues using the phone as a modem in general and I've experienced intermittancies, so we'll give it a go and see what happens.

Even if the phone doesn't work well with it, it seems to be a usefull goodie to have.

Thanks again for helping me spend my money.

 

Another option for those who are computer savvy is to grab one of those new, $100 wallplug computers that are available.

Sheevaplug

I know a couple of the Squeezebox guys have been able to get the Sheevaplug to work.

http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SheevaPlug_Installation_guide

 

As I anxiously await release of the Touch and slowly rip my collection…I have a question for all you current squeezebox users:

Is it possible to exclude artists from random play? I’m not sure I want to figure out how to link all the Grateful Dead songs that segue so they would play consecutively in random play mode.

Or…is it possible to automatically link together songs that segue when ripping?

Any new news on a release date?

 

Your choices for random play are:

songs
artists
albums
years

And, you may exclude/include by genre. By default all genres are checked.

 

...so I could tag all the Dead as "sweedish marching band" and uncheck the sweedish marching band box?

Or does every artist have a box that can be checked/unchecked?

 

Yes. Or, you could just make the Grateful Dead genre "Grateful Dead" - no need to invoke the Swedes.

No, only genres can be switched on and off.

Note below that some of the genres in my choices are integers. There is no standard for genres, unfortunately, and at one point in time genres were labeled as numbers by the ripping software I used. With FLAC you can put whatever text you want for a genre.

Someday I will make a better effort at making my genres accurate. It's a real pain in the butt! As far as I know, you can only assign one genre to a file. Multiple genre assignments would be very useful.

 

Brilliant!

 

After all these years of resisting and ignoring the hype and the massive advertising campaign of the iPod, the only thing that is convincing me to finally buy one is a $10 app.

 

Yep, same here.

 

How does the DAC in the Squeezebox Duet compare to that of the Touch? The Duet is a little bit more convenient for my listening space.

 

From what I've seen in the press and on the SB forums, the Duet uses a different and somewhat lesser DAC than the SB2/3. I think that this was done to keep he Duet system within a particular price range.

If the Touch has a better DAC than the SB2/3 then it should be substantially better than the Duet. If form factor is a problem, then you might want to get a used SB 2 plus an iPod touch.

 

Has anybody listened to the Squeezebox Touch?
Is the internal DAC as good as promised?

 

Still not available... sigh.

 

It is listed as a 'product' in the website...
http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/products/squeezebox-touch.html

 

Available for pre-order at Amazon...

 

A Logitech rep at CES told me late Feb/early March, but according to some posts on the Squeezebox forum, I get the feeling it might be April.

The Logitech booth only had a sealed box for me to look at (which lists ALAC as a native format, which was being contested for a bit). I did manage to find one on display at CES elsewhere as it had won an award and it was placed with all the other award-winning products. The unit is much smaller than I thought, as in the pictures, it looks bulky in proportion to the screen size.

 

Has been for months...

 

Wonder how much of this has to do with Logitech ownership? The Duet was a bit of a bomb compared to the SB2/3 and Transporter. Can't speak to sales performance, but at least among audiophile acceptance.