New Squeezebox Radio

[Fahzz]

So... I am also the proud owner of two Palm Pre smartphones. The parallels of what happened at Hewlett Packard after they bought up Palm are pretty striking. The practice of wrecking great products by companies that fail to understand the true value of what they have would be devilishly funny if I wasn't a victim...twice.

[maggior]

Wow. This is a direction I did not see coming. I think I'd be less upset if they just pulled the plug instead of reinventing the one squeezebox that was wildly successful. Using the UE badge just seems silly.

As you can see from my Sig, I made a significant investment in squeezeboxes. As these die over time, they will have to be sadly replaced with some other technology.

Ben, thanks so much for the background info. It really provides insight to the cluelessness of management there. What a damn shame.

So the search begins for another solution. By the time I need to make a move due to booms or receivers dying, hopefully there will be an attractive alternative.

This is really depressing...

[paulster]

It wouldn't have been quite so bad had this been a new version of the Boom. But to use the Ultimate Ears name to re-hash a 3 year old product that's not even stereo is just embarrassing.

I'm really glad I got my IEMs from UE before Logitech took the helm.

[m1abrams]

It wouldn't have been quite so bad had this been a new version of the Boom. But to use the Ultimate Ears name to re-hash a 3 year old product that's not even stereo is just embarrassing.

I'm really glad I got my IEMs from UE before Logitech took the helm.

I would not put much stock in "stereo" when the speakers are less than a foot apart and the listener is usually more than 5 feet away if not further. All the stereo does on such a device is provide louder output, stereo separation is non-existent.

[Grumpy Bob]

But nothing here concerning the status of Squeezebox and support for their current customers. Just new products which seem to cater to music on the go. Nothing for the person who enjoys quality sound from a traditional audio setup. -Bob

You are absolutely correct. The press release says:

“Today’s fans have their music with them wherever they go – they carry it with them on their tablet or smartphone,” said Rory Dooley, Logitech senior vice president of music. “But no matter how or where you choose to store or access your favorite music, this lineup is the best way for you to experience it. Whether you want to be completely immersed in your favorite song, to share music with friends, or to discover new favorites, Logitech UE is the clear choice.”

This is complete nonsense, they don't offer a device in this UE range that works in the way I want to listen to music via my HiFi, for example. And they seem to have sold out to the Apple vision of low quality music reproduction.

Robert

[Grumpy Bob]

CNET Review of UE range :

Logitech UE Smart Radio
The Logitech UE Smart Radio is the next generation of the company's Squeezebox Radio music player. That 2009 model was a favorite of ours for years -- sort of a "poor man's Sonos," with easy streaming of most music services such as Pandora, Spotify, and Rhapsody, as well as thousands of free online radio stations. The UE Smart Radio is essentially the same hardware device, but the user interface has been updated. Similarly, a new Logitech UE Smart Radio Controller app for iOS and Android devices will enable easy remote control over your Wi-Fi network. Look for a full review with comparisons to the legacy model coming to CNET soon. (Logitech says owners of the existing model will get the same software update and app support soon.)

There is so much wrong here. "Poor man's Sonos"? "Next Generation"? Perhaps when CNET do a full review the apparent reduced functionality of the UE Smart Radio will be clearer.

[mfieger]

To say that rehashing a 3 year old product is embarrassing is a bit of an understatement.

I’ve been very curious as to what would be next for this product line. Most of my squeezeboxes have died, as they were prototypes that were subjected to some harsh compliance testing. The only players I have now are production models. I still have my working hand soldered Slimp3.

I can second everything bklaas said earlier. Everybody worked incredibly hard on the Radio, and we finally had Logitech’s manufacturing and parts purchasing power. The Radio was going to be our first high volume product; I remember the excitement very well.

Suddenly, 1/3 of the team was let go, 1/3 went to Google TV, and the other 1/3 went to the speaker group, it was like loosing 2/3 of the tightly knit team at once. With shock and disbelief, I was working for the speakers department on who knows what. During that time, we did nothing to advance the hardware. Products were planned and quickly cancelled. Even our parts suppliers were moving forward; we had to recertify various eol parts for products which should have been updated long before. Eventually, I had nothing to do. During my last two weeks at Logitech, I checked my phone’s voicemail. I was finally given something to do; clean out my desk. Watching Logitech take a long, slow, steamy crap on all of our hard work was incredibly demoralizing.

I have a Touch mounted on the wall in my kitchen, and speakers above the cabinets. Everybody who sees the setup immediately has fun playing with it. Sometimes I wonder if the management at Logitech ever realizes how we were able to design products with such a small team and shoestring budget. Nope, they are probably wondering about how to increase the sales of their mice, keyboards, and speakers by 1% at Best Buy.

My wife and I use our Squeezeboxes all the time, we hope to continue to use them in the future. Best wishes to everybody still maintaining the products.

[erland]

So the search begins for another solution. By the time I need to make a move due to booms or receivers dying, hopefully there will be an attractive alternative.

I'll re-post this even though I've posted similar in other places, but I'm a bit afraid that people won't read through this long thread and it might be missed, sorry for the re-post for those of you that have already read my previous posts.

First of all let's not panic yet.

I can't go into any further details at the moment but I want to remind everyone that even though we might love the Logitech software we also really love the Squeezebox hardware, the Squeezebox hardware is very open and with custom/patched firmware it's possible to use it without the need for a Logitech maintained software/firmware at all.

I do realize we need something that isn't dependent on Logitech hardware/software on longer terms but on short terms the Logitech software/hardware will continue to work great and there are solutions for people that need additional hardware players:
- With Apple iPhone/iPod Touch:
-- iPeng on an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (even have audiophile support with the right docking station and latest iPeng version)
-- SqueezePad on an iPad
- With Android based hardware:
-- SqueezePlayer on an Android devices
- With a Vortexbox Appliance, which as previously mentioned isn't just a server, it's can also be a Squeezebox player.

Also remember that due to their open solutions it's a not that unlikely that your Squeezebox hardware and the above hardware devices will be reusable in another system, a Sonos hardware would on the other hand very likely only be usable in a Sonos system so going out and buy a Sonos already now would make you even more stuck than you already is. Sonos might turn out to be the best option in the end, but in my opinion it's too early assume that yet.

Your Squeezebox system worked great August 28'th, it's working great today and it's also very likely going to work great 6-12 months in the future. On longer terms you might need something else but it's not urgent, so I suggest you wait and see a bit what happens during next 6-12 months before starting to switch to a competing closed or more limited system.

I personally don't have any plans to abandon or replace my Squeezebox hardware at the moment.

[mherger]

> Logitech Smart Radio is semicatchy . Hopefully for $179, msrp it will
> include battery, but it really needs to be no more than $120 or so.

Yes, the SR comes with the battery.

--

Michael

[jean2]

So... I am also the proud owner of two Palm Pre smartphones. The parallels of what happened at Hewlett Packard after they bought up Palm are pretty striking. The practice of wrecking great products by companies that fail to understand the true value of what they have would be devilishly funny if I wasn't a victim...twice.

I own two TouchPads, and I totally agree that how HP killed Palm was stupid. However, in Palm case, from what I read, the company was running out of cash and options when HP bought them. Let's face it's not like the Pre was selling in large numbers, and they were on nobody's network. So, I feel it's more that without HP the death would have been much quicker, and that the Touchpad showed promises on how it could have been resuscitated.

Jean