Why do need a Logitech Device?

[banned for life]

I know that you may find this incredibly hard to believe but there people who don't have and don't want an iPad, iPhone or any kind of smart phone. Plus Airplay isn't all that great, especially when one takes into account all the file formats it does not support, which is just about all the non-Apple ones.

and I still don't need a data plan.

[DennyL]

I know that you may find this incredibly hard to believe but there people who don't have and don't want an iPad, iPhone or any kind of smart phone. Plus Airplay isn't all that great, especially when one takes into account all the file formats it does not support, which is just about all the non-Apple ones.

HeadBanger simply made a reasonable contribution to this topic that didn't warrant rudeness and childish sarcasm. What is is about Apple that makes makes people lose their judgement? Yes, I can imagine people who don't want iPad, iPhone, etc, and I can equally easily imagine people who don't want Logitech products. What's this got to do with helping the OP with his query?

[ralphpnj]

HeadBanger simply made a reasonable contribution to this topic that didn't warrant rudeness and childish sarcasm. What is is about Apple that makes makes people lose their judgement? Yes, I can imagine people who don't want iPad, iPhone, etc, and I can equally easily imagine people who don't want Logitech products. What's this got to do with helping the OP with his query?

Since you asked.

I've been an active member of this forum for five years during which time I've seen and read many, many posts dealing with the shortcomings of the Apple universe. Such things as trouble with iTunes, lack of flac support, lack of high resolution support. I also own several other media streaming devices such a WD TV Live and a Panasonic streaming blu-ray player. The one thing these devices have in common is that they suck when compared to any Squeezebox device when it comes to streaming music. Can they stream music? Yes (in the case of the WD TV Live) and maybe (in the case of the Panasonic which, like any Apple device, will not play flac) Would I want to use them as music streaming devices? No because in the case of each device their music library management abilities are simply terrible.

But the real reason I responded with "rudeness and childish sarcasm" is because any and all Apple fanboys deserve no better. I've been using Windows based computers for many years and I can do anything an Apple computer does, only better. Plus I can listen to or watch music and videos of ANY type without having to worry about whether Apple refuses to support a particular format. And finally I don't use or like Apple simply because I like to "Think Different".

[totoro]

Since you asked.

I've been an active member of this forum for five years during which time I've seen and read many, many posts dealing with the shortcomings of the Apple universe. Such things as trouble with iTunes, lack of flac support, lack of high resolution support. I also own several other media streaming devices such a WD TV Live and a Panasonic streaming blu-ray player. The one thing these devices have in common is that they suck when compared to any Squeezebox device when it comes to streaming music. Can they stream music? Yes (in the case of the WD TV Live) and maybe (in the case of the Panasonic which, like any Apple device, will not play flac) Would I want to use them as music streaming devices? No because in the case of each device their music library management abilities are simply terrible.

But the real reason I responded with "rudeness and childish sarcasm" is because any and all Apple fanboys deserve no better. I've been using Windows based computers for many years and I can do anything an Apple computer does, only better. Plus I can listen to or watch music and videos of ANY type without having to worry about whether Apple refuses to support a particular format. And finally I don't use or like Apple simply because I like to "Think Different".

WTF? OS flame wars? Really? Windows is "thinking different"? At least OSX is a unix and has a reasonable command line. I prefer linux, but whatever. Why don't we stick to the subject at hand, rather than go down this rathole?

[ralphpnj]

WTF? OS flame wars? Really? Windows is "thinking different"? At least OSX is a unix and has a reasonable command line. I prefer linux, but whatever. Why don't we stick to the subject at hand, rather than go down this rathole?

I just love it that Apple fanboys are morally compelled to respond to even the slightest anti-Apple post. The "think different" was a reference to a one time Apple advertising campaign which went along the lines that Apple users somehow were thinking differently from Windows users. Now that Apple owns overwhelming majorities of both the smart phone and tablet markets I thought my statement was funny in an ironic sort of way. I guess you missed it.

Back to the original subject, I gave my answer in post #7 above. The sidetrack into a mini-flame war only happened because some fanboy felt compelled (yes they are always "compelled" since being compelled goes along with brainwashing) to tell us how great Airplay is. I felt compelled to remind him of how great Airplay ISN'T.

[totoro]

I just love it that Apple fanboys are morally compelled to respond to even the slightest anti-Apple post. The "think different" was a reference to a one time Apple advertising campaign which went along the lines that Apple users somehow were thinking differently from Windows users. Now that Apple owns overwhelming majorities of both the smart phone and tablet markets I thought my statement was funny in an ironic sort of way. I guess you missed it.

Back to the original subject, I gave my answer in post #7 above. The sidetrack into a mini-flame war only happened because some fanboy felt compelled (yes they are always "compelled" since being compelled goes along with brainwashing) to tell us how great Airplay is. I felt compelled to remind him of how great Airplay ISN'T.

I more or less agree about the fanboy thing. I am aware of the attempted irony.

[RANT]
But someone who is claiming that using windows is "thinking differently" is being recursively meta-ironic. I mean seriously, I've never had the it trolls at any company I've worked at try to force me to use Osx. I have had that experience with windows, even when the software I was writing would end up running on some kind of unix. Windows owes its dominance, to a great degree, to the dumbing-down of system administration as a job. Thanks to the fashion for apple, and the fact that all the executives want to use macbooks and ipads, corporate networks are becoming less monocultural, and I'm more likely to NOT have to listen to a lot of shit when I insist on loading ubuntu on my workstation. I'd call that a win.
[/RANT]

[ralphpnj]

I more or less agree about the fanboy thing. I am aware of the attempted irony.

[RANT]
But someone who is claiming that using windows is "thinking differently" is being recursively meta-ironic. I mean seriously, I've never had the it trolls at any company I've worked at try to force me to use Osx. I have had that experience with windows, even when the software I was writing would end up running on some kind of unix. Windows owes its dominance, to a great degree, to the dumbing-down of system administration as a job. Thanks to the fashion for apple, and the fact that all the executives want to use macbooks and ipads, corporate networks are becoming less monocultural, and I'm more likely to NOT have to listen to a lot of shit when I insist on loading ubuntu on my workstation. I'd call that a win.
[/RANT]

Sounds good to me. While I may do my best to trash Apple every chance I get, I make it a point not to throw the first punch. In the case of this thread I was merely pointing out that Apple products and the Apple universe do have their fair share of problems/issues, just as Windows does and unix too. What makes Apple different is that they do a great job of hiding the shortcomings from the user.

Back to the original theme of this thread, sure now that just about every computer, audio and video equipment manufacturer has some kind of network enabled device that can be used to play the music collection on one's computer does not make the Squeezebox family of devices less useful. Instead most of these devices only help to show how far ahead of everyone else Logitech is when it comes to streaming audio. Sure I can stream mp3s using my $59 networked blu-ray player but there is no way that this device makes doing so as easy as streaming is with a SB Touch. Plus the networked blu-ray player doesn't play flac, ogg, etc., and high resolution files.

[HeadBanger]

I know that you may find this incredibly hard to believe but there people who don't have and don't want an iPad, iPhone or any kind of smart phone. Plus Airplay isn't all that great, especially when one takes into account all the file formats it does not support, which is just about all the non-Apple ones.

Blimey ralphpnj that was plain unnecessary - I do hope you felt better for that. Anti-Apple/Microsoft/Sonos rants really serve no purpose other than to stir up ill feeling. Forums should be a place to offer advice in a constructive manner.

The OP asked 'why do I need a Logitech device?' and I simply pointed out that if you already have an AirPlay device and a iPad/iPhone you don't actually need to purchase a Squeezebox as LMS and iPeng will stream to your AirPlay device. Now you may not believe it but there are people that own these devices and they do work.

I'm (un?)lucky enough to have both a work iPhone and iPad plus I have a Marantz amp with AirPlay inbuilt. You'll see from my signature what I run and I don't actually run the AirPlay configuration anywhere in my household nor do I own any other Apple product. I have installed iPeng (and it runs beautifully) and it will stream directly to my Marantz (I have tried it) hence my reply. You are correct that AirPlay does not support many audio formats but LMS/iPeng will transcode to WAV/Mp3 (not ideal I know).

I'm certainly no Apple fanboy (or anything else for that matter) and if you re-read my original post I don't really think there's anything to suggest that I am and nor did I say how great AirPlay is.

I'll say no more really other than to ask you for an apology.

HB

[ralphpnj]

Blimey ralphpnj that was plain unnecessary - I do hope you felt better for that. Anti-Apple/Microsoft/Sonos rants really serve no purpose other than to stir up ill feeling. Forums should be a place to offer advice in a constructive manner.

The OP asked 'why do I need a Logitech device?' and I simply pointed out that if you already have an AirPlay device and a iPad/iPhone you don't actually need to purchase a Squeezebox as LMS and iPeng will stream to your AirPlay device. Now you may not believe it but there are people that own these devices and they do work.

I'm (un?)lucky enough to have both a work iPhone and iPad plus I have a Marantz amp with AirPlay inbuilt. You'll see from my signature what I run and I don't actually run the AirPlay configuration anywhere in my household nor do I own any other Apple product. I have installed iPeng (and it runs beautifully) and it will stream directly to my Marantz (I have tried it) hence my reply. You are correct that AirPlay does not support many audio formats but LMS/iPeng will transcode to WAV/Mp3 (not ideal I know).

I'm certainly no Apple fanboy (or anything else for that matter) and if you re-read my original post I don't really think there's anything to suggest that I am and nor did I say how great AirPlay is.

I'll say no more really other than to ask you for an apology.

HB

First off, please accept my apology.

As I have stated in my prior posts on this thread I don't feel that Airplay or just about any other DLNA streaming device offers anywhere near the functionality or ease of use that the Logitech/Squeezebox system delivers. And I am speaking from experience and not just trying to bash Apple since I own two other media streaming devices. Namely a WD TV Live Plus (Ethernet) and a Panasonic DMP-755 Blu-Ray player (also Ethernet). While both of these devices are great at streaming from Netflix they are both really terrible at streaming music from my computer. They offer little or no library management and without good library management features finding music becomes unnecessarily difficult. There are no search capabilities, no nice displays, no plug-ins, etc. Plus each of these devices expects one to use Windows Media Player Library, which is so bad that it makes iTunes seem absolutely wonderful.

So while just about every manufacturer has jumped on the streaming bandwagon, outside of Logitech (actually Slim Devices), there seem to be few of them who have taken the extra steps necessary to provide a complete system: streaming device PLUS a method of communicating with the server (computer) that doesn't leave one completely frustrated.

[HeadBanger]

Accepted - thank you - no harm done.

HB