The SLIMP3 folks have just released an updated version of their network audio player, the Squeezebox. It looks like a great new piece of kit.

The major new features are built-in 802.11b, digital optical and coax outs and support for streaming raw audio.

The server software has support for decoding and streaming aac, ogg and flac built-in and it looks like it would be pretty trivial to add other formats like ape or mpc.

--jth

There's actually a LOT of really great features for this new unit, and I've just confirmed a number of these with the developer.

1. Server-side decoding of AAC, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis. I understand that FLAC will be decoded on the Squeezebox (instead of on the server) in the near future.

2. 802.11b integrated wireless module for wireless MP3 streaming -OR- 10Mbps ethernet interface for server-side PCM streaming

3. Open source server software (Perl)

4. Gapless playback of FLAC

5. FLAC tags (Vorbis tags) can be used in addition to ID3 tags on MP3s for cataloguing, browsing, searching, etc.

6. 44.1 kHz digital output so NO UPSAMPLING TO 48kHz for CD audio!

At $299, that's not a bad option (especially for those of us without a decent M-Audio or Terratec sound card yet). Just an FYI...

Looks like a good product, but $300 is just too steep for a device without any internal storage to speak of.
This of course was my objection to the Audiotron as well

$300 is a bit high, but whether it is unreasonable depends on how good the audio circuitry is.

If it has server side decoding of Vorbis, does that mean it transcodes to mp3 to send it over the wireless network? I believe the slimp3 can already take vorbis and flac over the network when set up with Trio software. I didn't see in the squeezebox faq's the first questions that come to my mind, like is the client side open enough for user supplied firmware?

The old slimp3 can only take mp3. The new squeezebox also takes PCM, so the decoding is done on the server and the raw stream sent to the squeezebox. flac is done the same way, but there are plans to do the flac decoding directly in firmware in the future. Source was available for the older firmware - I believe there are plans to make source available for the new firmware as well.

--jth

oops.. I think I was thinking of the mp3elf.

Does this do the same thing?

I think anything at $299 is *very* expensive. You can build your own jukebox for that price that plays any format you want and get a wireless card.

The Linksys WMA11B seems to have a few basic flaws - it doesn't seem in the same league as the Squeezebox.

You can't search for music, can't queue up a playlist and there are no digital outs.

Maybe you can put together a silent PC-based jukebox for $300, but I really wonder if the interface and presentation will be as nice as the Squeezebox. Sometimes these devices need to be used by the whole family.

--jth

There is a lot of snake oil in audiophile circles, but you still can't count on the lowest bidder to give you the best hardware. On specs, the Linksys doesn't give you S/N, sistortion, or frequency range, they just say "RCA out."

And you can't count on the highest bidder either
Since no one has both of these devices we can't make any authoritative statement about whether the squeezebox's specs are accurate and what the Linksys' specs actually are.
What's important to note about the Linksys is that it does approximately the same job (has video out, but no native playlists) and costs half the money, which is much more in-line with what the device is actually worth to most people, I think.

One of the reviewers at amazon recommended the Gateway connected DVD player instead, and it includes a DVD player along with wireless network media (including JPEGs) playability, and yet still costs less than the squeezebox.

I think it's way too expensive. Have a look at this thread. I bet the end result will be much better albeit slightly more expensive. But then again this SqueezeBox unit depends on a computer itself?! It only does wireless MP3 streaming? What does it really do that's interesting? Maybe I can't decipher the specs properly.

Have you even bothered looking at the bullet points on the Slim Devices home page? It seems not.

--jth

Your plan involves building it yourself, so I would expect some savings. But some of your price estimates seem optimistic. Where can you get a 15 inch LCD display for $100? Also, the case with silent PS looked pretty inexpensive. Anhow, you are up to the $500 range excluding the hard drive.

The reason that I find it very interesting are the following features:

• A small box that takes nowhere near the amount of space of a mini-pc
• Remote browsing (although a TV display would be an excellent addition)
• The ability to play back FLAC files from a remote server @ 44.1 kHz through a digital connection w/ NO RESAMPLING

Let's say that a decent soundcard (M-Audio Revolution, Terratec Aureon Sky, etc.) runs about $100. If I were to buy a mini-pc to do what the Squeezebox could do, that would leave about $200 to buy a case, mobo, cpu and hard drive...but how can I possibly meet that budget when I have 300GB of FLAC? This is a small company making a seemingly nice-featured unit, so it's going to be a little more expensive than from one of the big guys - but customer service will be that much better as well. How about MPC support? I wouldn't be surprised...

This seems so nice.

1. What the heck are the cons about this device?

2. Anyone hate it?

3. Is there any reason not to buy it?

4. Is there a cheaper better alternative?

Peace,
Glen

1. Built-in playlist management is not great. You'll most likely use another program for serious playlist editing. It's not a big problem because m3u and pls files are supported directly.

It's not available in standard stereo rackmount size.

No video-out for TV control. Some people like it, some hate it, some people don't care.

Open source products are scary for some people.

3. If it doesn't support the format in which your music is encoded.

4. 3dco seems to be the closest competitor. Most competing solutions involve compromises in some way. The Squeezebox has a great display, but the VFD is quite expensive. The 3dco has no display and is $100 cheaper.

--jth

What is VFD?

vacuum fluorescent display (Squeezebox uses a Noritake display).

--jth