Setting up SB-Boom & Squeezebox Classic?

[Jazz1]

I've just ordered the Boom, and it dawned on me I have no idea of how these two are going to work in the same house. Do I set up a second Squeezecenter account on the Boom? Can I access the same subscription Internet radio account on both devices at the same time? Can I assume that the Squeezecenter and Squeezenetwork will see both devices and allow me to control them from my computers?

I also thought about work where we use 802.1X protocols. I'm thinking I'd be out of luck trying to get the Boom on university's Wifi. I'm not sure what authentication the university requires for a direct Ethernet plug-in but I'm sure it requires user name and password.

[dwilliams01]

From almost all of the technology points of view (non-audio) think of the boom as a squeezebox. If you can get one of those to work then a boom will work.

SqeezeCenter is run on your own computer so they can both happily coexist there. On SqueezeNetwork they all can share the same account as well - that is my understanding, anyway, I don't use SqueezeNetwork.

I think that a device can exist on a wired network without a user ID/password in most situations. A wireless one, is a different story, though. Of course, if the IS group comes around wondering what it is that is connected to their network you might have to let them play with the remote... :)

[Jazz1]

From almost all of the technology points of view (non-audio) think of the boom as a squeezebox. If you can get one of those to work then a boom will work.

SqeezeCenter is run on your own computer so they can both happily coexist there. On SqueezeNetwork they all can share the same account as well - that is my understanding, anyway, I don't use SqueezeNetwork.

I think that a device can exist on a wired network without a user ID/password in most situations. A wireless one, is a different story, though. Of course, if the IS group comes around wondering what it is that is connected to their network you might have to let them play with the remote... :)

Thanks for the help. My work IT guys says he has to submit the Boom's "MAC" number and it will get recognized via an Ethernet connection within 48hrs. Wireless probably won't fly at my workplace due to their 802.1X protocols. I'm not seeing that supported on the SB Classic, so I doubt the Boom will do it. Too bad though as many universities use that. So your locking yourself out of the college market. My iPod Touch recently got a firmware upgrade that allows 802.1X connections.

[toby10]

I've just ordered the Boom, and it dawned on me I have no idea of how these two are going to work in the same house. Do I set up a second Squeezecenter account on the Boom? Can I access the same subscription Internet radio account on both devices at the same time? Can I assume that the Squeezecenter and Squeezenetwork will see both devices and allow me to control them from my computers?

I also thought about work where we use 802.1X protocols. I'm thinking I'd be out of luck trying to get the Boom on university's Wifi. I'm not sure what authentication the university requires for a direct Ethernet plug-in but I'm sure it requires user name and password.

I cannot tell you how simple it was for me to install my new Boom! It just arrived yesterday. Like you I have had an SB3 up and running for quite a while.

To my complete amazement, once I connected the Boom to my network via WiFi the Boom AUTOMATICALLY connected itself to my SC7 AND to my SqueezeNetwork account!
Honestly, I did NOTHING other than select "Connect to SC" and "Connect to SN" from the Boom menu (almost identical menu's to your SB3).

Yes, both units are completely controllable from your computers (SC and SN). You simply select which player you want to control within that GUI interface. You could SYNC the players as well, if you wish.

I have not tried accessing SN separately from both devices (good question). I'll try later today and report back. But my guess is yes as these are identified by SN as two separate and unique units.

EDIT: Yes, both players work fine streaming simultaneously fron SN using different radio feeds. :)
BTW: If you are connecting your Boom via WiFi and need to enter your WEP/WPA encryption key I'd suggest using your SB3
remote as it contains the numeric and alpha keys missing from the Boom remote. It just goes faster this way. :)

[dwilliams01]

I know that people are doing MAC filtering when using 802.11 wireless so I know that the SB classic and boom both have that and I've got to think that it would be available in a wired connection as well. They both also support 802.11g - which means that if the network there is "b" or "g" then they should work. I actually have mine running on a 802.11n network because the network supports backward compatibility from "n" to "g" and "b".

Is 802.1X some sort of completely different protocol? I was thinking that it was just a generic reference to the various letter types of 802.11.

[toby10]

I know that people are doing MAC filtering when using 802.11 wireless so I know that the SB classic and boom both have that and I've got to think that it would be available in a wired connection as well. They both also support 802.11g - which means that if the network there is "b" or "g" then they should work. I actually have mine running on a 802.11n network because the network supports backward compatibility from "n" to "g" and "b".

Is 802.1X some sort of completely different protocol? I was thinking that it was just a generic reference to the various letter types of 802.11.

I think most routers allow for the option of MAC filtering to be applied to just WiFi or both WiFi and wired. I'd guess most people don't bother with wired MAC filtering on small home networks as the device in question would have to be inside the house and wired directly to the router to gain unauthorized access. Probably very different for a university network though.

One of the problems he may encounter when using ANY "open" WiFi system is that even though these WiFi networks are open to any and all WiFi devices, they often require a login and acceptance of the terms of service before gaining actual internet access. Devices like SD streaming products have no way of seeing nor utilizing a login protocol.

[Mark Lanctot]

I have not tried accessing SN separately from both devices (good question). I'll try later today and report back. But my guess is yes as these are identified by SN as two separate and unique units.

Yes - Boom works fine with SN. Separate, unique, controllable.

Boom looks like an SB2/SB3 to SqueezeCenter and its networking components are SB2/SB3 hardware.

[SuperQ]

For those who don't know:

802.1x is a "wire level" authentication protocol for ethernet devices. Most of the time it's is used for wifi networks (which are similar to ethernet) to improve the security of wifi.

Unfortunately both 802.1x and WPA-EAP (another enterprise authentication system for wifi) are not supported on the Squeezebox products right now. This is true of many consumer devices because very few people have this type of security at home, and many business networks don't even have them. Also the ones that do have strong security also tend to have "no unauthorized devices" policies anyway.

[Jazz1]

For those who don't know:

802.1x is a "wire level" authentication protocol for ethernet devices. Most of the time it's is used for wifi networks (which are similar to ethernet) to improve the security of wifi.

Unfortunately both 802.1x and WPA-EAP (another enterprise authentication system for wifi) are not supported on the Squeezebox products right now. This is true of many consumer devices because very few people have this type of security at home, and many business networks don't even have them. Also the ones that do have strong security also tend to have "no unauthorized devices" policies anyway.

Is this something that could be a feature request that could be implemented via a laptop computer communicating (via the browser) with the Boom or a Squeezebox classic? The university where I work somehow prioritizes (as a low priority) MP3 and video traffic. Those using computers for instance can listen to Internet Radio, but not at very high sample rates. The Boom may end up at home rather than work if I can't get it on the Internet.