I love my Squeezebox

[chaz]

Get one now.
 Your life depends on it.

[walkonby]

i know there's a joke in that title somewhere . . . . and i must have it.

[chaz]

It's more of an intellectual love than a physical one.

[walkonby]

clap on . . . clap off.

[Arlette]

Chaz, basically, how does this thing work?  I was about to go buy the video iPod, but maybe I want to keep my old iPod and get something for the house.
 
 I checked out the site, but I'm still confused.
 
 This has to be hooked up near my computer.  So, if my computer is in my office, how can I change the station/playlist from the den on the other side of the house?  And what if my speakers are in a different room?  
 
 I'm a Luddite when it comes to stuff like this, be nice.    

[brennser]

what Arlette said  

[chaz]

There's a wireless model if you have a wireless network set up.
 
 I have mine hooked to my stereo....it does a few things.  Streams all my mp3's (and just about any audio format you can throw at it) from my pc, plays internet radio from Shoutcast, Live 365 out of the box...literally thousands of stations (and XM if you have a subscription and install the plug in).  You can control it with your pc, the remote, even wifi pda or some cell phones if you're a real dork and feel like messing with it.  
 
 It's got a great DAC for the price (good sound).  The software it uses is open source so there's tons of people writing plug ins and skins for it etc.
 
 Great interface, just a fun (and useful) toy, well at least for me it is.
 
 I'd been looking at them (and a device from a company called Roku) a while back.  Then a few months ago someone on this board mentioned it and got met interested again.  Don't remember who it was, but whoever you are.....thanks!

[Sage 703]

<img src="http://static.flickr.com/13/13816599_2600b0b63e.jpg" alt=" - " />

[edbert]

I love my Plus-Tech Squeeze Box
   <img src="http://vroom-sound.com/image/VMSD002_b.gif" alt=" - " />

[Arlette]

Okay, I have wireless set up.
 
 Do you mind a few more questions?
 
 Can it play from my iTunes?
 
 Do I have to transfer things (the dreaded transfer, it never works), or will it just play stuff I alrady have on my computer?
 
 My wireless works downstairs, so if my computer is in my office an the party room is downstairs, I can bring the display unit downstairs and make changes from there?
 
 I like toys, and this one looks cool and useful.  Thanks for the help.

[chaz]

Originally posted by Arlette:
  Okay, I have wireless set up.
 
 Do you mind a few more questions?
 
 Can it play from my iTunes?
 
 Do I have to transfer things (the dreaded transfer, it never works), or will it just play stuff I alrady have on my computer?
 
 My wireless works downstairs, so if my computer is in my office an the party room is downstairs, I can bring the display unit downstairs and make changes from there?
 
 I like toys, and this one looks cool and useful.  Thanks for the help.

Well it doesn't play from Itunes but you can configure the client that runs on your PC (SlimServer) to use your Itunes music library.  So you won't have to transfer files...they stay where they are.  Just point the client to you music library and it will scan it for you.  You can have it scan it on a schedule after that so that it adds your new Itunes music to your SlimServer library or you can just scan it manually as you add stuff.  In short you still use Itunes to manange your music and SlimServer uses it.  The Squeeze box won't play songs purchased from the Itunes store though (drm issues).
 
 Just plug the squeezebox into your stereo (i'm assuming that's downstairs).  If you get a decent wireless signal down there you should be ok.  So you manage the contents of your library from the Slimserver on you pc upstairs and then use the unit downstairs to browse and play songs on your library upstairs.  So your pc needs to be on to play songs from your library, but it will play internet radio streams while your pc is off.
 
 Here's a review that does a good job of explaining everything pretty well - http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=779&cid=6
 
 Hope this helps.  Lemme know if you have any more questions.

[Arlette]

Very helpful, thanks. I think I will put off the video iPod purchase and grab this.  In a month or so Jobs will introduce the BETTER version of video iPod anyway, right?      
 
 I like that it can play Internet radio.  That's a great party/group atmosphere.  
 
 Good tip.

[kosmo vinyl]

well not quite on par with Chaz's love for his Squeezebox, but the latest gadget in my life is the   VR3 MP3 FM Modulator
 
 Tis a FM Modulator that plugs into a car's power outlet and plays MP3s from a USB Flash Drive.  
 
 The Good:
 No need for batteries
 Ricky Gervais Podcasts sound great through it
 No need to burn a cdr/cdrw just copy files to a flash drive.
 Has a audio input plug for other DAPs
 Not an expensive iPod    
 
 The Bad:
 It's a FM transmitter which of course has limitations in the DC area with all the stations.
 But for voice podcasts the sound is acceptable
 
 The Weird:
 Despite what it says in the instructions:
 a) It can play higher than 128kbps encoded MP3s
 b) MP3s don't need to in the root directory of the flash drive the can be stored in folders.
 c) The order it plays MP3s can be a bit wonky.
 
 For me it fits that need of being able to easily listen to podcasts in the car. Going to test out how it handles VBR encoded MP3s today.  And it was $25 for the modulator plus the cost of a USB Flash Drive, I'm using a 1 gigbyte drive at the moment.

[suede]

i'm a huge fan of the squeezebox as well (in fact i think i've sang its praises before on this).  i've got 3 of the older Squeezebox1s (first generation) and i'm dying to upgrade to the new one which is so much cooler looking, but havent convinced my wife yet why i need it (ummm because i want it???) i've got an older ipod as well, but given my music collection at home is over 100gb the squeezebox is a necessity.  its truly a great piece of kit as they say, but requires a little technical know how.