Complete numptie seeks help with Touch and two Booms

[janesdsg]

Help, please! I've been reading through lots of the posts and it's very clear to me that you all have a much better knowledge of this sort of stuff than me so apologies if my question is very beginnerish. I've got two Squeezebox Booms and would like to play the music on my iPod through these. However, when I connect the iPod via the 'line in' socket the Booms won't sync, only the one that the iPod's plugged into plays. (They sync fine for internet radio, MP3 Tunes Locker and music on the PC.)

Logitech have suggested I buy a Touch and run the iPod through that but I can't see a 'line in' socket on the Touch. Just wondered if any of you out there can tell me if Logitech's suggestion will work - I don't want to buy the Touch if it's not going to do what I need.

Thanks for your help.

[aubuti]

You can't sync another Squeezebox of any type with another Squeezebox that is playing from an iPod. When you connect the iPod to your Boom then you are basically using the Boom as a simple iPod dock, taking advantage of the Boom's amplifier and speakers. It doesn't pipe the iPod music to the music server in any way whatsoever.

And you are correct that there is no input for this on a Touch -- either the person you spoke to at Logitech didn't know what he/she was talking about, or you misunderstood.

This is something that Sonos can do, though I've personally never felt the need to play an iPod on multiple systems when I already have everything connected via the SB system, or could alternatively plug the iPod into any one of the systems.

[garym]

You can't sync another Squeezebox of any type with another Squeezebox that is playing from an iPod. When you connect the iPod to your Boom then you are basically using the Boom as a simple iPod dock, taking advantage of the Boom's amplifier and speakers. It doesn't pipe the iPod music to the music server in any way whatsoever.

And you are correct that there is no input for this on a Touch -- either the person you spoke to at Logitech didn't know what he/she was talking about, or you misunderstood.

This is something that Sonos can do, though I've personally never felt the need to play an iPod on multiple systems when I already have everything connected via the SB system, or could alternatively plug the iPod into any one of the systems.

+1, and why not just have your IPOD music, on your computer that runs SbS and then you can sync everything just fine....

[janesdsg]

+1, and why not just have your IPOD music, on your computer that runs SbS and then you can sync everything just fine....

Thanks Garym and Aubuti.

The music on the iPod is on my PC too but I was trying to get around having the PC turned on - sometimes the noise of the fan is a bit distracting. Would it work to plug the iPod into the Touch through the USB or am I just trying to do something that's impossible?

Grateful for your thoughts.

[garym]

Thanks Garym and Aubuti.

The music on the iPod is on my PC too but I was trying to get around having the PC turned on - sometimes the noise of the fan is a bit distracting. Would it work to plug the iPod into the Touch through the USB or am I just trying to do something that's impossible?

Grateful for your thoughts.

If it is one of the older ipods that can act as if it is simply a hard drive, this may be possible (I recall seeing threads about this way back). On the other hand, pick up a Toshiba 1TB harddrive the size of a pack of cigarettes and put your files on this, and connect it to the TOUCH.

Or better yet, get yourself a fanless, small, headless computer to run as a music server 24/7. Check out the SheevaPlug (squeezeplug), FitPC2i, etc.

[janesdsg]

If it is one of the older ipods that can act as if it is simply a hard drive, this may be possible (I recall seeing threads about this way back). On the other hand, pick up a Toshiba 1TB harddrive the size of a pack of cigarettes and put your files on this, and connect it to the TOUCH.

Or better yet, get yourself a fanless, small, headless computer to run as a music server 24/7. Check out the SheevaPlug (squeezeplug), FitPC2i, etc.

Thanks, Garym.

I'll probably go down the Toshiba route.

[aubuti]

You could attach an externally-powered USB hard drive to the Touch's USB port, and then use the Touch's built-in server to stream music to other Squeezeboxes. The success rate with the Touch's built-in server is definitely mixed. It works fine for some people and terribly for others. The main determining factors seem to be type of USB drive, size of music library, organization of music library (especially album artwork), user expectations, user competence, and user patience.

Newer models of iPod cannot be used as external data drives, but if your iPod is one of the older models with a mechanical hard drive that can be used as an external USB drive then you may be able to use it this way.

Is putting the pc in a different room an option? Or getting a small, inexpensive, fanless computer for running SBS?

EDIT: beat me to it, garym! Yeah, what he said.