The Logitech Squeezebox Lives On
This past week I bought our fifth Squeezebox
streaming music player. It’s a used Squeezebox Classic sourced via E-Bay for a rather approachable $89. This new-to-us Squeezebox replaces a Squeezebox Touch model that failed a few months ago.
We now have three in service and two that have failed. Two failures over about eight years is completely tolerable. We remain committed to using the Squeezeboxen even if Logitech has discontinued the line.
I think that Logitech stumbled in their decision to discontinue the Squeezebox line. The product range has a substantial and very loyal user base. It will continue to do so since they have ported both the Squeeze Center Server and Squeezebox player software to the little Raspberry Pi SBC.
Since the product line started out as open source I’m hopeful that the user community will continue to support the installed base. My sense is that the SqueezeCenter software had evolved far enough that there isn’t a lot of new development required, just some occasional maintenance.
At present our music resides on a little Acer Aspire Revo. That device arrived running Windows 7 Home Premium but with a relatively small hard drive. I cloned the drive onto a 750 GB Seagate Momentus XT
that I happened to have on-hand, providing ample room for my FLAC collection.
Since the little net-top has just the one disk the music collection is backed up to HAL, our LaCie 5 Big NAS. HAL has 10 TB of storage in a RAID5 arrangement providing some protection against disk failure. Most of the music is also backed up onto DVD-R as well.
When I first became aware of the product it was still known by its original name, SliMP3. I pointed it out to a co-worker who purchased several of the first generation players. One was connected to a very impressive Meridian sound system.
By the time I made an investment in a Squeezebox they were offering the third generation of the hardware. Our first Squeezebox remains in service. It’s a Squeezebox 3 that was branded “Slim Devices” so it comes from prior to the companies 2006 purchase by Logitech.
Since the lineup was discontinued the asking for new-in-box Squeezebox Touch units has gone through the roof. It’s not uncommon to see people asking north of $600 for them where they once sold for under $300.
I still think that a streaming device connected to a pair of powered speakers makes a brilliantly capable, high-performance and highly affordable solution for casual listening to music. Around our house we still have a combination of the M-Audio BX5 D2s, Alesis M1 Active 520
s and Behringer TRUTH B2030A
. If I had to replace any of these I’d look at the Audio Engine line, and I’ve been recommended to Yamaha’s professional near-field monitors
as a good option.
I might also also like to audition Behringer’s forthcoming Nekkst series designed with the help of Keith R. Klawitter, founder of KRK. These include a couple of very novel and possibly handy features. For example, a USB port allowing you to connect directly to a computer in the digital domain. They also feature Bluetooth connectivity allowing you to wirelessly stream music right off a cell phone or laptop. In truth these kinds of features are much more useful in the home, office or home studio than a professional facility.
It’s pity that a company like Logitech doesn’t see the value in sustaining the Squeezebox product line. I suppose that creates an opening for someone more visionary to eventually fill that gap. Until then, we’re happy to keep using the Squeezebox. We may even buy a spare one or two just to be on the safe side.
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If it were me, if prefer a Bluetooth speaker as this would allow me top take it places like the beach or to work. I completely understand the appeal to have the music centrally located and remotely accessed, though, as this would be a much better way to prevent duplicates. A few years ago, deviceslike the squeeze box were selling for a lot of cash and that’s the main reason from keeping me from getting one. Today someone could have a few raspberry pis connected to a NAS doing almost
what a squeezebox can do.
Do you think devices like the SB are fading out or just beginning to become more popular?
While I appreciate that some people will find things like the Jawbone Jambox attractive for their portability, the options that I offered provide higher-performance for fixed installation.
i also have 6 of logitech streamers and 1 radio.
my friend have sonos, i think sonos is much much fun to use.
Very true. I’ve got five various Squeezeboxes around the house. I’m currently trawling ebay for two classics for two extra rooms, plus extras for when these fail. It’s a cracking platform for the price!
I love my Squeeze. Don’t know what I would do if it were to fail. I have the receiver connected to the whole home audio system, and two wireless remotes on different floors (also have the app on cell phones). We use it all the time. Our server is also the NAS.
It’s a brilliant system. We use it more than anything else on the audio system, which also has outdoor speakers. Long live the Squeezebox.