Squeezebox distributors UK

[Gibbo]

Just wondering if there is a reason that ebuyer don't stock the squeezebox? just noticed they sell the soundbridge, which I guess is a competitor, i'd personally consider ebuyer one of the larger online computer etc suppliers.

Seems strange given they sell pretty much everything else logitech make, and when I started looking at finding some kind of wireless media player, it was pretty impossible to find out what existed.

Did anyone else find it quite difficult to find out what wireless media players were around before they found the squeezebox? or was it just me?

please feel free to ignore as ramblings.

[amcluesent]

>Just wondering if there is a reason that ebuyer don't stock the squeezebox?<

They used to, I bought one off them! Maybe too many calls to the ebuyer helpdesk asking for assistance in setting it up? Or they couldn't agree a wholesale price that would let them discount?

[mvalera]

That's actually a decision that's not in our control. The regional sales and marketing groups, AMR, EMEA, and APAC, run that show.

Mike

[Gibbo]

I just find it a little odd.

moving on from just the ebuyer thing. finding a wireless music system was very difficult. I found the wireless dj, through john lewis just randomly, then decided to look more into it, and could find anything at all, its so difficult to find wireless music sections in online stores and magazine reviews, and no high street shops want to stock that kind of thing.

after spending 2 weeks looking, spending quite a lot of time searching the net, i was about to buy the wireless dj, then stumbled along the roku soundbridge, and through people talking about its competition in reviews of that, found the squeezebox and sonos.

I just find it crazy, and to be honest obvisouly someone isn't doing there job, everyone that has seen my squeezebox loves it, and thinks its amazing, I know so many people that would probably have bought one when they designed their stereo if they had known about it.

[ultra238a]

Hi,

Paul here from Progressive Consumer Electronics Ltd, we are the UK distributor for Squeezebox and Transporter products from Logitech. We have been the exclusive UK distributor for these and previous products since the age of the SliMP3 (so quite a while)

We have a number of online resellers in the UK who have been selling the products for many years including:

amazon.co.uk
dabs.com
scan.co.uk
ripcaster.co.uk
multitaskcomputing.co.uk
advancedmp3players.co.uk
broadbandstuff.co.uk
mediahome.co.uk

and many others

Ebuyer does list the product when they have stock but the buyer for the category seems to change quite frequently so they lack focus on the Squeezebox (they do sell a lot of products!). We aim to rectify this shortly.

You will also notice the PC World.co.uk are now selling the Squeezebox and now have stock in the majority of the stores across the UK. Initially some key John Lewis stores took the Squeezebox but I now believe the product will be available in all John Lewis stores either now or in the not so distance future. We are also working with Anvika who are putting Squeezebox in their three Tottenham Court Road stores as well as their concessions in Harrods and Selfidges in London. Anvika have twelve stores across the UK including other concessions within Selfridges stores which we hope to be getting Squeezebox in to over the next few months.

As we now get our supply of Squeezebox and Transporter stock directly from Logitech in Europe, our aim is to go out and get these products in to high-street hi-fi retailers as we now have an even better story to tell to them. We are also joing forces with the Brigantia buying group to push the Squeezebox in to their 1000+ high street members.

With amazon.co.uk, dabs.com and scan.co.uk listing Squeezebox (and Ebuyer again shortly) I think you will agree that along with PC World that we have most of the major ecommerce companies working with us in the UK.

Feel free to pm me or post here if you have any further questions.

[funkstar]

Excellent post there Paul. It's good to hear about these interesting developments

[Gibbo]

Thanks for that, its good to hear that the technology is starting to be advertised etc.

[ultra238a]

No problem

You have got to remember that whilst Squeezebox has always been a great product, Slim Devices were always quite small and hence no marketing money but more importantly I think is the fact that streaming media files from a computer to a device to play through your hi-fi or TV is still a very new concept to the main stream (even if we have been doing it for 4 or 5 years) and getting high street retailers like PC World etc needs at the very least a big brand like Logitech to get them interested.

[SomeChap]

I'm glad that there's a thread on this. Thanks to Paul for his information.

Squeezebox is certainly available online in plenty of online places in the UK, including Dabs, Amazon, Ripcaster etc. However I'm sorry to report that a year on from this discussion the high street situation is no better - if anything it's got worse.

Indulge me a short moment while I tell you my story. I checked my employer's rewards/incentive scheme yesterday and found to my pleasant surprise that I had about £500 of redeemable awards on my balance. My mind went straight to squeezebox! However the awards are redeemable against high-street stores only, such as Currys.Digital, Argos, John Lewis, Debenhams etc. They come in the post as pieces of paper that I have to present at a counter in an actual shop.

Clearly this was no good for Amazon, Ebuyer etc - and that aspect is clearly not SlimDevices's fault, it's my employer's fault for having such a backward-minded awards system. No mention of squeezeboxes on the websites of Currys, Argos, Debenhams, Richer Sounds. However there was still hope - I could get vouchers for John Lewis and PC World. So I headed for Oxford Street. The nice man at John Lewis remembered what a squeezebox was, but said he hadn't seen one since about last Christmas, and that there was no indication of any pending re-orders in the system. The most helpful thing he could find to say was 'never say never'. The rather less nice man in PC world had not heard of a Squeezebox, seemed unwilling to assist me in sourcing one, and suggested I try the web-site where presumably I wouldn't be taking up his valuable time. Squeezebox classic does appear on pcworld.co.uk (not that I could have bought it from there anyway), but is out of stock across the whole country, with no indication of re-stocking on the site.

I did see Squeezebox products on the shelves in Anvika on Tottenham Court Road and finally met a squeezebox classic in person. (It's a bit bigger than I imagined it.) However I can't get vouchers for Anvika since they're such a small, niche retailer.

I went home with empty shopping bags, having absolutely scoured England's premier high-street retailing centre. I have been looking out for one of these products for about a year now. I've still never clapped eyes on a Transporter, or a Duet not sealed in its box.

Clearly I had a rather specific set of purchasing circumstances, but I can't understand the virtual invisibility of these products in the shops where people in the UK buy these sorts of products. I can't believe it wasn't even in PC-World near Warren Street tube, which is a huge store. Not one major national retailer carries a single one of these products on its shelves in the UK.

These are all retailers which stock many Logitech Mice, Keyboards, Speakers, Pure-Fi's, Web-cams, iPod docks and so on. During my afternoon I saw a number of Sonos systems set up ready for demonstrations - including one in PC-World.

What gives here? Why is Squeezebox so utterly hidden from UK buyers? Please excuse my rant, it may sound negative, but I'm trying to give realistic feedback on the frustration of trying to purchase one of these devices.

regards, SC

[norderney]

Hi,

Paul here from Progressive Consumer Electronics Ltd, we are the UK distributor for Squeezebox and Transporter products from Logitech. We have been the exclusive UK distributor for these and previous products since the age of the SliMP3 (so quite a while)

We have a number of online resellers in the UK who have been selling the products for many years including:

amazon.co.uk
dabs.com
scan.co.uk
ripcaster.co.uk
multitaskcomputing.co.uk
advancedmp3players.co.uk
broadbandstuff.co.uk
mediahome.co.uk

and many others

Ebuyer does list the product when they have stock but the buyer for the category seems to change quite frequently so they lack focus on the Squeezebox (they do sell a lot of products!). We aim to rectify this shortly.

You will also notice the PC World.co.uk are now selling the Squeezebox and now have stock in the majority of the stores across the UK. Initially some key John Lewis stores took the Squeezebox but I now believe the product will be available in all John Lewis stores either now or in the not so distance future. We are also working with Anvika who are putting Squeezebox in their three Tottenham Court Road stores as well as their concessions in Harrods and Selfidges in London. Anvika have twelve stores across the UK including other concessions within Selfridges stores which we hope to be getting Squeezebox in to over the next few months.

As we now get our supply of Squeezebox and Transporter stock directly from Logitech in Europe, our aim is to go out and get these products in to high-street hi-fi retailers as we now have an even better story to tell to them. We are also joing forces with the Brigantia buying group to push the Squeezebox in to their 1000+ high street members.

With amazon.co.uk, dabs.com and scan.co.uk listing Squeezebox (and Ebuyer again shortly) I think you will agree that along with PC World that we have most of the major ecommerce companies working with us in the UK.

Feel free to pm me or post here if you have any further questions.

I have had my Transporter for about 9 months now and I am very pleased with it. I had a SqueezeBox previously for about 3 years.

Just wondering about Audio-T (http://www.audio-t.co.uk/?section=ne...NEW_Sonos_WiFi). I see that our local Audio T stock Sonos. When I spoke to them about the Transporter the mananger said he had heard of the SqueezeBox, but had never heard of the Transporter. Might be worth trying to get Audio T to stock SqueezeBox and Transporter, if you have any contacts with their Head Office?