Squeezebox vs. Apple TV - Give me some arguments for keeping my Squeezeboxes

[slimfast]

Main advantage of the Squeezebox system has to be its openness and hence flexibility on the server and client side. If you really wanted to, you can just get the server and a suitable client for free and roll your own hardware.

Until recently, there were quite a good number of actual Squeezebox badged hardware options to choose from too. It's great that you don't need the device (if it's an actual branded squeezebox) connected to a TV/display to function and that they are generally pretty compact, requiring small amounts of power and totally silent. The Squeezebox Boom! is simply superb and I really regret not snapping up a spare when they were available and cheap.


Against is the amount of jumping through hoops you tend to have to do, especially if you are running it on a non-mainstream platform (one of my systems is on an old QNAP NAS and it's such a pain whenever something 'breaks' due to an upgrade somewhere in the chain). Why on earth do they keep rolling out new versions of the server requiring new firmware all the time???

[MrSinatra]

you're right, i should have added that as a pro to the logitech way: is that they finally added DLNA ability to the server, long time coming, altho it doesn't seem to be the most robust or elegant or prioritized task. seems like something that was done to help revue, but now that thats dead, not sure its a big part of the agenda anymore.

[pski]

you're right, i should have added that as a pro to the logitech way: is that they finally added DLNA ability to the server, long time coming, altho it doesn't seem to be the most robust or elegant or prioritized task. seems like something that was done to help revue, but now that thats dead, not sure its a big part of the agenda anymore.

Yes.

From my experience DLNA means a very limited folder <account> navigation structure. Tag awareness is <I haven't found it.>

I could be wrong. It's happened before. It could happen again.

P

[DaveWr]

Yes.

From my experience DLNA means a very limited folder <account> navigation structure. Tag awareness is <I haven't found it.>

I could be wrong. It's happened before. It could happen again.

P

That's not always the case, it depends on the server what tags and tree structure are presented to the control point (controller). I can't see its relevance for Squeeze people, but I have a Squeeze and DLNA environments, and using a product called Minimserver, I can get a very comprehensive search mode, that is better than the 'as delivered' LMS Squeeze experience. This is especially the case for classical music since it supports a flexible tag search order, and user specified tags.

[Steven Moore]

I have had a squeezebox for many years, still have it in fact but it's in the drawer.
I got an AppleTv at Christmas and haven't looked back. The device is not perfect but it's a damn sight more reliable than the sb2 it replaced.
With this AppleTv I can not only listen to all my music but watch ripped movies, you tube, vimeo videos etc.
The sound from it is excellent as is the sound from the sb2 but the thing that really annoyed me is the sb's reliability. You could be just sitting there and the machine just stops playing, or it skips to the next track or whatever, I don't think you could go for a few hours without it messing up.
Every time there was a software update to correct the problems, new bugs were introduced, this is were the sb was let down the software was to buggy and for untechnical users. I could not recommend a sb to any of my untechnical friends for example.
The AppleTv whilst not perfect has performed great, very few problems and most of those can be traced to human error.
iTunes as has been said is not perfect but I rarely use iTunes except to add new content, it usually just sits there running in the dock.
Btw as far a DRM is concerned I have never bought a music track from Apple, I prefer lossless and rip cd's into iTunes.

So it's really choice £100 for a device that plays all your music, videos etc. Has regular updates and Apple is not going anywhere soon.
Or £250 for a device that just plays music and from what I can see the players future is in doubt.

[Gingernut63]

So it's really choice £100 for a device that plays all your music, videos etc. Has regular updates and Apple is not going anywhere soon.
Or £250 for a device that just plays music and from what I can see the players future is in doubt.

I understand why you have chosen AppleTv. I haven't used it myself and probably won't. My issue is the Apple juggernaut itself. To make their products super reliable they allow no flexibility. You have to do it their way, the Apple way. I like the flexibility offered by other companies and systems. With that flexibility comes competition, and the user has some input into the direction the technology will take. With Apple you are a follower, a disciple, they dictate the future for you.

I also agree that Squeezebox is a little buggy at times, especially leading up to the release of LMS. However it is flexible for the user and programmer. That is the issue, if you want flexibility in a system, to allow anybody to have an input i.e. programming, the reliability of the system will slip. For Squeezebox to be as reliable as Apple systems then it would have to be closed source software managed by a core group of people with limited input from the masses.

You can have any colour you like as long as it is white, bright white, with subdued grey text.... Personally I like all colours.

Cheers
Gingernut63

[routehero]

You don't have to do things the "Apple way". You can jailbreak ATV1 and ATV2, and presumably the ATV3 will follow.

With the jailbreak, you're able to install XBMC. XBMC should give you all of the flexibility you want to stream your content.

In my personal case, I have my XBMC master system that is directly connected to my receiver. In the bedrooms, I have ATV2s running XBMC, which use the mysql server running on XBMC master to provide synchronized libraries, shared pause/resume, etc.