AVForums Squeezebox Touch discussion thread

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amcluesent

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http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/products/squeezebox-touch.html

Logitech Squeezebox Touch.

The color touch-screen Wi-Fi music player that lets you discover a world of music. Listen to your personal digital music collection, new music from online music services, and thousands of Internet radio stations—all through your stereo. A 4.3-inch color touch screen makes it easy for anyone to use.
 

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No announcement, but spotted on the interwebs...

Logitech Squeezebox Touch.

The color touch-screen Wi-Fi music player that lets you discover a world of music. Listen to your personal digital music collection, new music from online music services, and thousands of Internet radio stations—all through your stereo. A 4.3-inch color touch screen makes it easy for anyone to use.

Hmmmm ... nice, but I prefer lounging around and controlling my Squeezebox(es) via iPeng. Could be a more consumer-friendly unit than a SB3 though as its small display can put some off.

I guess pricing will be critical.
 
Hmmmm ... nice, but I prefer lounging around and controlling my Squeezebox(es) via iPeng. Could be a more consumer-friendly unit than a SB3 though as its small display can put some off.

I guess pricing will be critical.

Any reason you would think you could not use iPeng?
 
Any reason you would think you could not use iPeng?

I think you've misunderstood me - I don't see the point in paying for a big touchscreen on the device when I would use iPeng for control anyway.

If they can implement the touchscreen for no extra cost, fine - but I'd bet this will be priced at quite a premium over the SB3 (aka Classic).

I'd guess it'll fill a 'lifestyle' niche in the range but it's not for me.
 
A few years late and a couple hundred dollars short. Remote control via an existing device (eg Windows Mobile phone, Iphone) is what people expect. And they dont expect to pay for it either.

At this point, they would be better off putting their money into developing phone remote software and selling it or improving integration with the Logitech remote controls that already are in peoples hand - not this. This is greed gone to far and with not enough buyers to make it anything but a failure.
 
I suspect that when Apple eventually release their 'iTablet' we will all be rushing to buy one to control our Squeezeboxes.
 
A few years late and a couple hundred dollars short. Remote control via an existing device (eg Windows Mobile phone, Iphone) is what people expect. And they dont expect to pay for it either.

At this point, they would be better off putting their money into developing phone remote software and selling it or improving integration with the Logitech remote controls that already are in peoples hand - not this. This is greed gone to far and with not enough buyers to make it anything but a failure.

I'm not sure i get your point, your making assumptions about a product you know next to nothing about. What makes you think you can't use harmony remotes etc? "greed gone to far" is a very odd statement, it normal business practice to bring out new products, in fact you have to if you want to survive. And why too late? Look at Sonos, they have not significantly updated their hardware for years. Speculation of features etc is one thing, which nothing is really known about, but we should be waiting for release before posting judgement.
 
I say "greed" because what they are going to obviously be trying to do is bake functionality into hardware, when any number of smartphones - and probably their existing remotes - can be made to do the same with software.

But the existing remotes are not a revenue stream and the software market is competitive, so they will be looking to proprietary hardware to make more cash.

Its still puzzling for me. We will see, but frankly I think one can smell this one a mile away.
 
I say "greed" because what they are going to obviously be trying to do is bake functionality into hardware, when any number of smartphones - and probably their existing remotes - can be made to do the same with software.

Like what?
 
I suspect that in this day and age, the 4.3" colour touchscreen will be cheaper to source than the VFD on the SB3, and that a touchscreen won't be much more than a standard screen. I'm sure the 'touch' will be relatively expensive when it first appears (as the SB3 was), but will come down as time goes by...

I just see this as an updated SB3 with a nice colour screen on it and the ability to control it through this. If you don't want to have (or pay for) a display on your streamer, then get a Receiver. Use whatever you want to control either. I don't see the problem, and I don't see how anyone is being 'locked in' to any proprietary hardware they don't want or need?

Is this just not about a company providing a range of hardware products as building blocks that you can pick and choose from?


The Moog
 
Requests for album art display on the player pop up from time to time over on the slimdevices forums. His might be a response to that or a mock up to see what one might look like. I'm sure there was also some discussion on hosing the album, art out to a network enabled picture frame thingie, but I don't think it got too far.

Personally I quite like the idea, it would be a good wall mounted unit for kitchen/bathroom service, but I don't see much use for one on an equipment rack. I have a SB classic built into one of my kitchen units and I'd be happy to replace it with one of these....depending on price.
 
I'm new here but am quite interested in Logitech's new baby. If it is nothing more than a pretty SB3, then no thanks. I'm good with my SB3, Duet and Controller, thank you. But, if it is actually a piece of technology that can play back 24/96 with build and component quality approaching the Transporter, then I'm very interested.

Where have you seen info about this posted?
 
There's some blethering on this over at the slimdevices forums, a lot of it is speculation at this stage as the Slim folks are traditionally reluctant to announce forthcoming products.
 
I say "greed" because what they are going to obviously be trying to do is bake functionality into hardware, when any number of smartphones - and probably their existing remotes - can be made to do the same with software.

But the existing remotes are not a revenue stream and the software market is competitive, so they will be looking to proprietary hardware to make more cash.

Its still puzzling for me. We will see, but frankly I think one can smell this one a mile away.


I don't see how they're being greedy when they have open-sourced their server allowing people to write third party apps like iPeng and plugins for third party functionality. If they want to make more fully functioned hardware then good luck to them but they need to make stuff that people will buy in sufficient numbers....


I think they are trying to go for the B&O 'lifestyle' niche with this product although if the price was right, it could just be a straightforward replacement for the classic as suggested by another poster.
 
Hmmm, a piece in Engadget about Logitech preparing to update the Squeezbox range:

Logitech prepping Squeezebox updates

Cashing in on the all-things-touchscreen craze, word comes to us from ZatzNotFunny that Logitech will be bringing updates to its Squeezebox lineup which include refreshed Boom and Duet specs and the all-new pictured "Squeezebox Touch." A bit redundant on the name, isn't that, Logitech? We'll also overlook the fact that "Squeezebox Touch" makes us think of something decidedly Chumby-ish, as details on the line updates are thin and the name could change. Either way, the device is definitely lacking in hard buttons, which is more to go on than the FCC line art of whatever Sonos is conjuring up with its CR200 controller.

Updating the Boom - typical, just bought one. D'oh!
 
It seems the real new bit in this Squeezebox Touch is not so much the touch screen than the fact that it has a USB host port which means that you can connect a USB Drive directly to it.
That means that this device would host a version of Squeezecenter : no need for a server a PC or a NAS to run squeezencenter on a network anymore.
This would the first autonomous Squeezebox and there certainly would be a market for this. The fact that you had to have a network and squeezecenter running somewhere always was the main barrier for the deployment of the squeezebox on the mass market.
Now, if that touchscreen could somehow become a remote, that would be even nicer.

This is pure speculation but on the basis of the above, the possible evolution of the Boom and the Duet, could be this possibility to be similarly autonomous and have USB ports.
We could also think about a Touch Controller to react to everyone using their Ipod Touch and Ipeng.
 
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It seems the real new bit in this Squeezebox Touch is not so much the touch screen than the fact that it has a USB host port which means that you can connect a USB Drive directly to it.
That means that this device would host a version of Squeezecenter : no need for a server a PC or a NAS to run squeezencenter on a network anymore.
This would the first autonomous Squeezebox and there certainly would be a market for this. The fact that you had to have a network and squeezecenter running somewhere always was the main barrier for the deployment of the squeezebox on the mass market.
Now, if that touchscreen could somehow become a remote, that would be even nicer.

This is pure speculation but on the basis of the above, the possible evolution of the Boom and the Duet, could be this possibility to be similarly autonomous and have USB ports.
We could also think about a Touch Controller to react to everyone using their Ipod Touch and Ipeng.

A Squeezebox with built-in Squeezecenter server and mass storage would be a smart move. Although I like the current architecture, the bottom line is that you have to be pretty techie and have something like a NAS or Home Server to get the most out of the product.

Putting out an 'all in one' solution would be a consumer friendly move and boost the appeal of the system. They could continue to market the other SB models as 'satellite' units. So long as they keep with the open-source Squeezecenter approach at its heart and don't go all proprietary on the back-end technology I think it would be a positive development.
 
It seems the real new bit in this Squeezebox Touch is not so much the touch screen than the fact that it has a USB host port which means that you can connect a USB Drive directly to it.
That means that this device would host a version of Squeezecenter : no need for a server a PC or a NAS to run squeezencenter on a network anymore.

And I for one would love such a device as I've 2TB of HDD music that at this moment runs through a Soundbridge Home via my old laptop.

I was looking at the Classic but if the above is true then it ticks the boxes of just what i need.
 
Some more details appearing...
DABDig: Logitech Squeezebox Touch on the way

Page includes FCC report and specs:
• 4.3” LCD panel with capacitive touch screen
• High quality analog and headphone outputs (24bit/96k)
• Optical and coax S/PDIF outputs
• 802.11g wireless
• 64MB SDRAM & 64MB NAND flash
• SD card slot & USB host connector
• Internal speech-grade microphone and speaker – sound effects and preview
• IR sensor for remote control
• Ambient light sensor for dimming screen at night
• IR proximity sensor for detecting user approaching
• Digital temperature sensor for home automation
 
Assuming that the specs are correct, and that it sounds good, I can see that ending up in my lounge in the nearish future.


Some more details appearing...
DABDig: Logitech Squeezebox Touch on the way

Page includes FCC report and specs:
• 4.3” LCD panel with capacitive touch screen
• High quality analog and headphone outputs (24bit/96k)
• Optical and coax S/PDIF outputs
• 802.11g wireless
• 64MB SDRAM & 64MB NAND flash
• SD card slot & USB host connector
• Internal speech-grade microphone and speaker – sound effects and preview
• IR sensor for remote control
• Ambient light sensor for dimming screen at night
• IR proximity sensor for detecting user approaching
• Digital temperature sensor for home automation
 
I think this would be ideal for our kitchen. I don't want a remote lying around as it'll get knock or have something spilled on it, especially with kids in there making their jam sandwhiches :D.

Just need a price now.
 
International price seems to be around 230 - 250 Euro - but I didn't put that into my blog post (DABDig reference above) because there was too much variation in the various retail sites that listed it prematurely.
 
Really looking forward to this one, I'm putting off buying anymore Squeezebox zones until the full details/release date is out.

For me this would work well in the living room
 
Here's a link to a NZ site that's got them listed for sale (but no comments of whether they actually have any in stock):
Welcome to ITD IT Direct NZ's Online Computer Store Adobe Software & Mobile Phones

Their price is $563 NZ, which I believe equates to around £240. Having said that, direct price conversion is not exactly a great way to confirm a price. On the website, it's priced just lower than an SB Boom, which are sold in the UK for £200. That's probably a better guideline and does infer that the touch is not going to be killer expensive.
 
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