GeorgeO
Well-Known Member
In addition to this one can also access your personal music collection, which can be built up over time.
Re Squeezebox RIP?
- Thread starter GeorgeO
- Start date
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
And, of course, a PC can always access internet radio --- and there is an add in to send to the squeezebox whatever your pc is "playing." I don't think I ever got that one to work on my Linux machine, but no problem with Windows.
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Looks like time to do it ourselves...
I am not at all sure where the legal rights line is drawn. I think that the Squeezserver software is open source, but the receiver software (firmware) is not.
On the other hand, I have squeezeplayer software for my android phone, so it either is available, or someone has done a very good job of emulating it. I have no idea if that program is open source. If it is, then surely what is available for Android must be reasonably easy to port to Linux? Anyway, a network player is surely not a very tough thing to throw together? How about native processing of FLAC. etc?
It is easy for those who are not developers to underestimate such things: correct me if necessary.
In my imagination is forming up the picture of a box containing one of the new tiny pc boards, eg Rasberry Pi, along with wireless-net hardware, and a high quality DAC. NwAvGuy's ODAC is open hardware and has a good reputation.
It should be within the budget of a squeezebox buyer and, of course, the DAC/analogue output should be at least as good. I know little/nothing of the actual hardware/software challenges involved: is my idea feasible?
I am not at all sure where the legal rights line is drawn. I think that the Squeezserver software is open source, but the receiver software (firmware) is not.
On the other hand, I have squeezeplayer software for my android phone, so it either is available, or someone has done a very good job of emulating it. I have no idea if that program is open source. If it is, then surely what is available for Android must be reasonably easy to port to Linux? Anyway, a network player is surely not a very tough thing to throw together? How about native processing of FLAC. etc?
It is easy for those who are not developers to underestimate such things: correct me if necessary.
In my imagination is forming up the picture of a box containing one of the new tiny pc boards, eg Rasberry Pi, along with wireless-net hardware, and a high quality DAC. NwAvGuy's ODAC is open hardware and has a good reputation.
It should be within the budget of a squeezebox buyer and, of course, the DAC/analogue output should be at least as good. I know little/nothing of the actual hardware/software challenges involved: is my idea feasible?
Last edited:
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Thad E Ginathom
Well-Known Member
Call me a sad old cynic, but can I believe in "audiophile-grade amplifier" in something the size/cost of a phone? Most of us do not accept that the sound-card chip on a PC motherboard is good enough.
Portable devices can be good indeed --- but how good? Good enough for a quick listen, or good enough for long-term use. Plugging the headphones into my phone (it's a Defy+: I'm sure some other phones may have better sound) yields surprisingly good results, but not so good that I would use it instead of my ancient Cowon portable, and not so good that I would want to connect it up to my amplifier.
Future development may change all this, but I'm still cynical because mobile-phone development is always going to be aimed at the mass market --- and the mass market listens to highly-compressed MP3s.
Where my phone wins is that it is actually better than the fancy remote control of the Squeezebox Duet. It makes a better, easier to use remote control, and a perfectly fine Squeezeplayer to take to bed with the earbuds. That works, of course, without any Logitech hardware!
We need DIYers here!
My bet on tomorrow's non-Logitech "squeezebox" would be something like squeezeplug, running on Rasberry Pi, with wifi and a USB DAC.
Links ... Links ... Links
The phone or tablet fits in as the perfect remote control
Portable devices can be good indeed --- but how good? Good enough for a quick listen, or good enough for long-term use. Plugging the headphones into my phone (it's a Defy+: I'm sure some other phones may have better sound) yields surprisingly good results, but not so good that I would use it instead of my ancient Cowon portable, and not so good that I would want to connect it up to my amplifier.
Future development may change all this, but I'm still cynical because mobile-phone development is always going to be aimed at the mass market --- and the mass market listens to highly-compressed MP3s.
Where my phone wins is that it is actually better than the fancy remote control of the Squeezebox Duet. It makes a better, easier to use remote control, and a perfectly fine Squeezeplayer to take to bed with the earbuds. That works, of course, without any Logitech hardware!
We need DIYers here!
My bet on tomorrow's non-Logitech "squeezebox" would be something like squeezeplug, running on Rasberry Pi, with wifi and a USB DAC.
Links ... Links ... Links
The phone or tablet fits in as the perfect remote control
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