View Full Version : The Squeezebox Thread
Doesn't seem to be much love on the forums, or indeed in the world, for these remarkable devices.
I had been aware of them for ages, without really knowing what they did, but once someone on the official forums pointed out I could test them out using softsqueeze, and I demoed one - I couldn't wait to get my own.
It arrived on Tuesday, and I was literally listening to my music within ten minutes. It works seamlessly with my Itunes, pulling across my playlists albums and artists flawlessly and updates in real time pretty fast.
There is no lag, and sound quality is excellent.
I have also installed AlienBBC and can now listen to all the BBC radio stations, now just to see whether I can access the on demand content.
This is, quite simply, the most amazing gadget I have come across, simply because it works exactly as it promises to do.
I now have to try and resist the duet controller :lol:
Any other devotees on the forums?
Hi There!
Big lover of these little things myself. I've had a digital music collection for around 5 years now, originally accessed via a home made winamp / tv sender / cable distribution frankenstein system and then redesigned over time I'm now a firm convert to squeezeboxes and plan to add in multi room as time (and woefully money :cry:) allow.
Got my wife a squeezbox boom for christmas and then couldnt resist getting a classic for the lounge (my mythtv system is in there but this means not having to power up the TV). The office uses squeezeplay (the beta replacement for softsqueeze) and the next purchase will be another classic for feeding the bedroom and possibly the bathroom on a second speaker set.
Have you tried the lazy search plugin by the way ? That's a winner, search by pressing the numeric button that has each search characters letter on it (a-la predictive text) and search matches come up. Clumsy explanation but it means you can find "kind of magic" by typing "5463063062442" on the classic keypad instead of 55 for "K" 444 for "I" etc. Of course the web interface to squeezecentre is easier but this is handy when you dont want to get the laptop out!
Also lookup moose if you have a windows PC, that's a rather nice windows .net app that hooks into the squeezecentre database directly to control players with a whizzier coverflow kind of interface.
2 x Duets here... needed some tinkering... but now have ipod style access/selection (inc album artwork) to streamed music collection in two rooms from NAS server (no PC powered on) :thumbs:
Only negative is that its a bit of an evolving product as the software gets updated on a regular basis (gaining/loosing functionality). But at least Logitech are developing it and listening to its user base :)
kohoutec
18-01-2009, 14:17
I've got a Squeezebox 3 and love it dearly, my favourite ever gadget. For any iPhone owning Squeezeboxers without the duet remote it's well worth shelling out £5.99 for the iPeng (http://penguinlovesmusic.de/2008/11/25/ipeng-application-now-on-app-store/) app.
[edit] Just seen you can pick up a classic for under £150 now, think I paid £240 for mine!
I disagree - bought ipeng and it doesn't work for me. Not entirely happy with the level of support for it either.
kohoutec
18-01-2009, 14:23
I disagree - bought ipeng and it doesn't work for me. Not entirely happy with the level of support for it either.
Really? Mine was flawless, autodiscovered my server and I was away. I take it you've tried telling it to forget last server/flushed the cache etc? There is another Squeezebox remote on the app store, think it's called Squeemote or something, but havent tried it, may be worth checking out? (Think its a bit cheaper than iPeng as well).
basegreen
19-01-2009, 16:52
iPeng works great for me also a big user with 4 SB devices at home
Got a SB3 last week, really suprised at how it wasn't really mentioned that much on this forum. I have it connected to my NAS. Its really good, especially for using LastFM and internet radio stations.
I've got 2x SB3s and an SB2 in the lounge/kitchen/den downstairs, and got a Boom for Christmas for the bedroom. I've got my original SB at work. I've been a huge fan since the original Squeezebos. I'm really impressed with the Boom - the controls are great, and the sound quality is fantastic. I love the auto-dim for the display. SqueezeCenter had some syncronisation issues in v7.2, but it works really well in v7.3! AlienBBC is great for listening to Auntie.
Damage Inc
20-01-2009, 14:47
what's the difference between a squeezebox and an Airport with Airtunes?
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
what's the difference between a squeezebox and an Airport with Airtunes?
http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/
If I understand airtunes correctly it allows a mac to send music to a device for playback via an amp. It's a dumb unit that just receives playback from a Mac. Turn off the Mac and the music stops, music is selected from the Mac.
The Squeezebox is a self contained network music streamer and internet streamer. It can use the squeezecenter software running on a mac, windows pc, linux box or some Nas units (low power leave on network attached storage) system to stream music from HDD in a variety of formats (lossless, mp3, wma, apple lossless - not protected itunes though) through a very good DAC to your hifi. It can also connect to the squeezenetwork on the internet without squeezecenter to stream internet radio / podcasts etc without a pc / nas being on in the house.
Whilst the whole kit and kaboodle can be controlled very well via a web interface either via the squeezecenter or squeezenetwork you can also use the VFD display on the front and a traditional remote control to slect music from your collection / internet radio / streams as well as extras like vu meters etc.
Duplicate posting - lost access to dvd forums for a bit - mods feel free to delete :)
Pretty much spot on there edz.
Pretty much spot on there edz.
Aw shucks 'tweren't nothing :)
kiran_mk2
20-01-2009, 20:20
I was really surprised there wasn't a load more consumer NAS units shown at CES last week. Although storage is cheap (1 tb for £150 or so), to get any kind of redundancy you're looking at a 2-drive setup at least, with 3 being able to offer RAID-5, yet all the systems that offer 3 or more drives are waaay out of consumer price ranges. Also the cheaper ones are essentially dumb network storage so running squeezecenter is out of the question. As far as I know the main brands offering SC-support without hacking are Qnap, thecus and Readynas and I believe they start at £300 with no drives...
I really wanted to get into squeezebox, but now I think I'll have to stick with Apple. Thankfully, with the AppleTV acting as an airtunes server and the remote app for ipod/iphone they're making it quite easy.
..with 3 being able to offer RAID-5, yet all the systems that offer 3 or more drives are waaay out of consumer price ranges.
The other issue with affordable RAID-5 is that you need something to do the XOR processing for the parity bit with RAID-5. Performance of software-based implementations is poor, and the chips for hardware-based jobs aren't cheap.
I've got my SqueezeCenter running on my home server, which also acts as my domain fileserver and Exhange server (running SBS2003).
I want one of these
http://www.gizmolovers.com/2009/01/10/g4-cnet-love-the-echostar-hd-duodvr-slingloaded-vip-922/
:o
edit oops. might be wrong thread. thought the linked deely was a squeezebox :<
Can anyone advise?
I put all my music into itunes and have it integrate automatically with my squeezebox which I have now had for a week. It has been working fine up until now.
Suddenly tonight, I had no artists showing on my squeezebox - it just said none. Even though all my songs and albums were there.
I restarted squeeze center on my laptop and it decided on restart to do a brand new import, which I let it do.
At the end of it, the info says :
300 albums with 3475 songs by 0 artists.
I can see every song and album on my squeezebox, but it thinks I have no artists, which obviously makes searching a lot more difficult.
Daft question but has itunes done something in the meantime or have you been using something like iatbrainz to auto import art? If you go into a selection of the music and check in getinfo / info is there any artist info shown?
If there is can you let us know the version of squeezecenter / firmware your are running?
kohoutec
21-01-2009, 19:31
I never got on with Squeezecentre getting it's info from iTunes, it didn't seem to work very reliably for me either, so I turned off the iTunes integration (and disabled the plug-in). I find just using the "Rescan Music Library" plug-in far more reliable.
Let it do a complete "Clear library and rescan everything" for the first scan, and then just set it to do a "Look for new and changed music" scan at whatever time of day is most convenient. It only takes a few minutes to do the "new and changed" scan.
That's what works best for me anyway
[Edit] Just noticed there is a new version of Squeezecentre out (7.3.2), might be worth upgrading to that first to see if it helps with the iTunes problems
I have tried the new squeeze center version, also have done nothing to itunes.
Have checked in info on squeeze center and it has the artist info in there.
It's really weird and rather annoying :(
kohoutec
21-01-2009, 19:43
Well, like I said, it never worked very well for me either. Using the rescan plugin works flawlessly...
Yeah - but I need my itunes playlists. :(
Might try and reinstall squeezecenter from scratch if I dont get an answer from support (I emailed them this morning). It was working flawlessly up until yesterday thats what I dont get.
Gave up waiting for Logitech to reply and reinstalled Squeeze center and it worked fine again. Suspect it's because I am ripping large amounts of my collection at the moment and it might be buggering it (technical term) up.
I bought a Squeezebox boom the other week as my alarm clock died. I thought id just use it to stream music from my PC but ive been using LastFM a lot. I've also got a BBC iplayer plugin which is nice though it is a shame that it doesnt remember where in a radio show that i last listened to.
Any other cool plugins that i should get for it?
I'm tempted to get a subwoofer for it too - something cheap and small, any recommendations?
thanks :>
Have Just ordered a Duet.
What is the best software to use with it?
Plus any hints or tips on setting it up when it arrives
Cheers.
We just moved flats and the new place doesn't allow me to run a long wire from PC to stereo so I bought a Duet on the way home from work from Richer Sounds.
Naturally we don't yet have broadband active at home but I guessed that I could use it to stream just the music on my computer for starters. I was wrong because Logitech in their infinite wisdom felt the cost of a CD with the software on was too much money so, yup, I couldn't actually use the bloody thing!
Grrr. Just downloaded the software here at work so I'm hoping I can at least get it running and streaming my music tonight, otherwise it's going to be an annoying wait 'til 20th when broadband switches up. :(
A question guys/gals....
Just decided to try and get all the digital music I've accrued over the years into a more unified system so that I have access to all of it at once without having to switch hard-drives, have my computer constantly on etc.
My plan was to get a classic squeezebox each for the bedroom/kitchen and get the duet for the living room which I'll be connecting to my onkyo amp.
How easy is it to integrate them all?
Could anybody recommend me some sort of central storage system so that I can load about 3 hard drives worth of music onto it and be able to access everything even if my computer is turned off?
Cheers.... :)
Hello mate.
Blimey is it really a year since I got my first squeezebox?
My setup may help you.
I have a laptop (any PC would do) which runs the squeezecenter software. I then have all my music stored on an external harddrive which is plugged in via USB. I then have a squeezebox classic in the living room which is connected to my Onkyo amp via Optical (you can also connect via standard right left red/white audio cables).
I have added within the last few days a Squeezebox radio to my bedroom. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of kit and I love it.
The whole lot is controlled via iPeng on my iphone (which now works flawlessly) or the classic comes with it's own remote (the radio doesn't but is easily controllable via the unit itself).
To setup is really easy honestly. Just install squeezecenter, turn unit on, enter password for wi-fi and that really is it.
Since I started this thread there is a lot more functionality now including, as mentioned, Last FM. There is also facebook and the chance to stream the new Queen album as well at the moment.
I love my squeezebox setup more every day.
The only disadvantage is that you have to have your PC turned on to access your local music collection (but not the radio and Last FM). I believe some NAS setups come with squeeze center included but I am not sure how well they work.
Just leave the PC on - it's no biggie surely?
Hello mate.
Blimey is it really a year since I got my first squeezebox?
My setup may help you.
I have a laptop (any PC would do) which runs the squeezecenter software. I then have all my music stored on an external harddrive which is plugged in via USB. I then have a squeezebox classic in the living room which is connected to my Onkyo amp via Optical (you can also connect via standard right left red/white audio cables).
I have added within the last few days a Squeezebox radio to my bedroom. It is an absolutely fantastic piece of kit and I love it.
The whole lot is controlled via iPeng on my iphone (which now works flawlessly) or the classic comes with it's own remote (the radio doesn't but is easily controllable via the unit itself).
To setup is really easy honestly. Just install squeezecenter, turn unit on, enter password for wi-fi and that really is it.
Since I started this thread there is a lot more functionality now including, as mentioned, Last FM. There is also facebook and the chance to stream the new Queen album as well at the moment.
I love my squeezebox setup more every day.
The only disadvantage is that you have to have your PC turned on to access your local music collection (but not the radio and Last FM). I believe some NAS setups come with squeeze center included but I am not sure how well they work.
Just leave the PC on - it's no biggie surely?
Cheers for the info mate, so if I've got an iphone and installed ipeng would you suggest that I could forgo splashing £275 out on the squeezebox duet and get the cheaper squeezebox option instead?
another techy question - I signed up for napster about 5 months ago and get unlimited straming for £5 per month - would this squeezebox be able to integrate with napster so that I could use this service on my home network too?
Yes - I do believe that Napster works fine on a Squeezebox. I am not 100% on that though. Was thinking of exploring that option myself. Maybe someone else can confirm?
As for iPeng - I think it's as good an option as the duet for a fraction of the price, but I haven't actually USED the Duet. Don't think it does anything that iPeng can't.
Napster works fine. (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=149&url=http://www.napster.co.uk/using_napster/napster_in_your_living_room.html)
Napster works fine. (http://www.thedvdforums.com/affiliatelink.php?localaffiliateid=149&url=http://www.napster.co.uk/using_napster/napster_in_your_living_room.html)
Excellent, cheers for that info mate! I would recomend the napster thing, it is cracking for such a little amount of money per month - I use it now on a daily basis and I think that adding it to the squeezebox would really bring it into its own. :thumbs:
Think that has sealed it, getting a new iphone this week hopefully so will download that app and get the duet too, if the app seems just as good as the duet I'll just return it and get the cheaper variant. ;)
Yeah I use Napster via mysqueezebox.com (new name for SqueezeNetwork). Works great, apart from the odd pause.
Only issue I've found is I can't get it to play a full album via the web-based remote control at mysqueezebox.com. Works fine using the player's remote though. Very odd.
Looking for a bit of advice.
I've had my Boom for a few months now, and generally very happy with it.
Only thing I don't like is the display - would much rather have something like the display on the Squeezebox Radio, and the wife is getting rather tired of the difficult-to-read display when scrolling. I was thinking of buying a Squeezebox Radio, but having mono speaker has put me off.
A couple of questions:-
1. Will the Radio output stereo if I attach a set of speakers?
2. If not, but I still use external speakers, is the sound ok (I'm no audiophile, and it'll only be used in a kitchen)
3. Are there any new Squeezebox devices on the way which will be like the Boom but with a better interface.
4. Are there any non-Squeezebox devices which you could recommend.
Many thanks.
With a bit of inspiration I managed to write a very short PHP script, using SimplePie which plays me the latest podcast from any RSS feed I choose. This is brilliant as it means I can set them as an alarm for my squeezebox radio and listen to Football Weekly on Tuesday and Friday mornings, This Week In Tech on Monday mornings, This Week In Google on Wednesday mornings, etc. Love my squeezebox!
degeneration
13-04-2011, 17:00
I'm getting fed up of listening to my music on my laptop through the stupid speakers whilst I have a lovely amp sitting there. Trying to get my head around Squeezebox but I'm not sure which one would do what I want it to do. So this is a list of things I think I want it to do.
1) I want to connect something up to my Amp. Does the Squeezebox sit by my amp and connect through Phono/Toslink?
2) I have music on my Laptop. My laptop has wifi. Can Squeezebox get the music off my laptop and how is it controlled? Do I control it through Squeezebox or can I control it through my laptop?
3) Read something about Internet radio stations? Does this get picked up through my wifi router?
4) I've got a Spotify premium account. Will this play through Squeezebox and how do you control what it plays?
5) Longshot, I have a iomega iConnect which has a 1GB hard drive connected to it. Can Squeezebox get music from there?
I'm getting fed up of listening to my music on my laptop through the stupid speakers whilst I have a lovely amp sitting there. Trying to get my head around Squeezebox but I'm not sure which one would do what I want it to do. So this is a list of things I think I want it to do.
1) I want to connect something up to my Amp. Does the Squeezebox sit by my amp and connect through Phono/Toslink?
Yes.
2) I have music on my Laptop. My laptop has wifi. Can Squeezebox get the music off my laptop and how is it controlled? Do I control it through Squeezebox or can I control it through my laptop?
Either, your choice.
You run a server program on your laptop, and your squeezebox connects to the server. The server indexes all your music and lets you play it through the dqueezebox. You can access the server via a web browser interface, or from the squeezebox itself through it's own interface. Both are straightforward.
3) Read something about Internet radio stations? Does this get picked up through my wifi router?Yes
4) I've got a Spotify premium account. Will this play through Squeezebox and how do you control what it plays?Yes, though I don't know how you control it as I do not have spotify premium and therefore don't have t he squeezebox plugin
5) Longshot, I have a iomega iConnect which has a 1GB hard drive connected to it. Can Squeezebox get music from there?
I hope you mean 1TB.
If your PC can see it as a network drive, then you can use the web browser to add it to your server's file locations. Then the squeezebox would be able to use it. See here:
http://logitech-en-amr.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16637/~/using-multiple-folders-or-disks-as-music-sources-in-squeezebox-server
I recommend you download the server software and see if you like it.
You don't really need to interface with it on a day to day basis but it will give you an idea of how powerful it is.
http://mysqueezebox.com/download
Any questions, let me know. Maybe drop me a private message as I don't check the hardware forum often.
degeneration
18-04-2011, 15:35
Just picked up a Duet from RicherSounds for £149.99. Ex display, but unused. Setting it up now.
degeneration
19-04-2011, 10:39
Hmmm... A little disappointed that Spotify isn't supported on the Duet, and although there is a hack using the Squeezebox server, it does mean I need to have a computer on whenever I want to play my music.
That said, I am liking it so far.
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