Squezebox Touch...RIP!

If that is true, the bad news on that is that the SB Music Server and especially the iPhone remote software are buggy little critters, and I was hoping that they would be ongoing in their support and bug fixes/updates.

However, I am not surprised - when I have called the Logitech SBT support line the person on the other end knew less than I did about the product.

From what I've read the entire Squeezebox line has been dropped, as well as the name. Logitech is aiming at mass market devices with a new brand called "UE". Only the then Squeezebox Radio survived as the UE Smart Radio but with a new and different software with no need for the Squeezebox Center/Server/Logitech Media Server.

The previous generation Radio (the "Squeezebox" one) will be able to accept the new software, but then it will loose many functionalities as Logitech moves forward to a simpler consumer experience.

So be careful with the upgrades ! Anything above firmware version 7.7.2 must be checked carefully to ensure this is really what you're looking for. Apparently, the other models (Touch, Boom, Transformer) should not be affected by this change in software, but better safe than sorry. The future of the Logitech Media Server is not clear yet as far as I understand, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not sure Logitech ever understood what they bought with the Slim Devices acquisition, but this part of the story is over and Sean Adams' legacy has been flushed down the drain. A very sour ending, and a shame, really.

More here (is that OK Richard ?):

http://forums.slimdevices.com/...New-Squeezebox-Radio

HTH

Maurice

this company did more for streaming than any

Yeah, but count on the fact that your device and the supporting firmware, SBMS, etc, are going to be on a dead end street at some point.  As a recent purchaser, I am kind of pissed at them - why did they even buy the company if they weren't going to really go with the product line.  Very short-sighted, and knowing that I have a unit that will likely be nothing more than a paper weight in 2-3 years (max) is rather annoying...as I said above, their support sucked while the product was active, it will be non-existent going forward.

It makes me want to not purchase any Logitech products any longer, even in other areas where they make things.

The SBT as it is is still a nifty piece of kit IMO. Who else offers a network 'bridge' with a pretty damn good SPDIF /optical out for a DAC to bolt into?

Logitech has allowed and even encouraged tweakers to try things out as published on their forum's. There are quiet a few useful things these tweakers have made work and published

For example a useful 'toolbox' that allows you to disable unused elements such as WLAN when on a wired network, Analog out when you only need digital and dispay off if you want to get the very best sound out of the SBT.

There is also a way to set the SBT up to stream Hires at 192/24 over and above the standard 96/24 capability.

I am not saying it is OK that Logitech has stopped these products but I don't think owners should feel cheated that much, especially considering the really quite low purchase cost.

Geoff

It's a shame - it was reading about Slim Devices and their Transporter that first made me think seriously about streaming. I still used the Transporter as my primary source (via a DAC/555PS DR these days) and have a Squeezebox Boom in the living room for background music.

From what I've read Logitech thought the Squeezebox family was associated with geeks rather than mainstream music fans and wanted more mass market appeal. Following their aquisition of Ultimate Ears they have decided to use this as the primary brand for their audio line up.

It's ironic that the flexibility of the Squeeze platform which was open for 3rd party development was seen as 'geeky' when most of the time it just worked straight out of the box. Compare this to uPnP/DLNA which is supposed to be a consumer orientated 'standard', yet seems to have loads of interoperability issues.

I know what I prefer...

I assume you mean Slim Devices, and not Logitech.

Because the only thing what Logitech did in streaming was buying Slim Devices (which was a breakthrough and a jewel) and let it fade out in competition against more devoted and enthusiastic players of the growing streaming market.

Amen to that...

Geoff - do you think there will be a good "shelf life" on the product as bought?  I can't see them allocating any resources to mySB.com or LMS, and if those fail the hardware is going to be pretty useless.

I am still using the last version of Squeezebox Server because I only use it for music and didn't like LMS as much. SS is rock solid as far as I can determine and mySB.com has all the bells and whistles I need. I have used it for over a year now and have never had a glitch, I have the Logitech control point prog on my Android phone and the Apple version on my i-pod touch ( both free). Both work fine.

So basically no further support on the software seems not to be a worry at least for me.

The hand held remote also works fine and since when in use the font size on the SBT enlarges automatically is usable for all functions 20 feet away. Again until something breaks I am sorted as far as that's concerned.

Over a year of trouble free use as far as both software and hardware is concerned. It seems sturdy enough to survive for a while yet. Fingers crossed.

If its of interest all the versions of Slim device software going back thru' history can be found here

http://downloads.slimdevices.com  

I used this site to get Squeezebox Server 'back' when I decided I didn't like LMS.

Geoff

OK - a dumb question - where exactly is the SBT pulling the internet radio stations from?  I know it goes through my network, but does it use mysb.com for them, or how does it know where the radio stations are?

Can it play the radio stations in my iTunes as well?

If these are really inane questions I apologize.

and so do I 

The Transporter and the squeezeboxes were years ahead of their time. Even now there aren't many hifi companies that can design and make network music players that deliver hires, gapless, bit-perfect playback - witness the number of USB or s/pdif DACs still getting launched. I hope Sean Adams did well out of his sale. A Touch is still a good buy imo.