Why no buttons?

[plympton]

OK, so I'm sure this HAS to have been hashed out somehwere, but I'll ask anyway.

I'm coming from using Rio Receivers - great boxes, bad software, dead development.

One thing that was REALLY nice was being able to walk up to them and turn down the volume. Nice. Easy. No, "Where is the remote, which button was it...".

So, WHY does the Squeezebox NOT have a volume knob again? (besides audiophile gripes, aesthetics, philosophical mantra, etc..) Oh, and the volume knob doubles as a scroll knob, too.

Has anyone ever made a keypad kinda thing? I'm seriously half temped to buy a crappy small universal remote and gluing it to the front panel some how! :-)

Also, is there any way to get dynanmic playlists on this? I'd like to save a list of 2 genres (alternative & folk), but am I correct in thinking that a random play off these lists would go like:
-Browse -> Genre -> Alternative (play) (playing random from Genre)

->back ->Folk -> Play (adding random from Genre to playlist?)

Go to Now Playing -> Right to save -> Save to favorites

Now that it's saved, wouldn't it be a static list?

Honestly, I'm picking this up for Pandora & a server that doesn't crash (Java....ugh). But it feels like I'm entering a world of lots-o-clicks!

-Dan

[snarlydwarf]

My TV has no buttons. (Well it has a power switch, but that is god-knows-where on the back...)

As for Dynamic Playlist, yes, look at Erland's collection of plugins.

Use Trackstat, SQLPlaylist and DynamicPlaylist and you should have what you want.

[Ben Sandee]

Why no buttons?

On 8/28/07, plympton <plympton.2w1cib1188320701 (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.slimdevices.com>
wrote:
>
> So, WHY does the Squeezebox NOT have a volume knob again? (besides
> audiophile gripes, aesthetics, philosophical mantra, etc..) Oh, and
> the volume knob doubles as a scroll knob, too.


The high-end Transporter does have buttons and a knob so I think their value
is recognized somewhere in the organization and its customers. There
haven't been significant new HW development since the Transporter was
released so maybe a future middle-range product will have something
similar. The development energy appears to be focused on SlimServer 7 and
the Jive/new remote work but who knows about those stealth projects....

Ben

[Rick B.]

Of course, many of us just leave the SB volume at 100 and use our receiver/amplifier to change volume...

[pfarrell]

Why no buttons?

plympton wrote:
> So, WHY does the Squeezebox NOT have a volume knob again? (besides
> audiophile gripes, aesthetics, philosophical mantra, etc..)

Plus, knobs and buttons add costs.
And can break. Cause service calls, etc.

I never, literally never, touch my SqueezeBoxes, and haven't touched my
Transporter in months. I use them every day.

I mostly use a laptop to control them, sometimes the remote.

I would never want them to have buttons or to have buttons raise the
price. YMMV

[plympton]

Of course, many of us just leave the SB volume at 100 and use our receiver/amplifier to change volume...

Well, I feared I was treading close to religion by asking the question. :-)

I'm off to find a small learning remote that I can hack into a box aimed at the IR receiver so that I can add my buttons. That and some velcro should do the trick. :-)

... any other options?

PS: For a networked player (that you can literally put anywhere), having buttons would really help. Who's going to grab the remote when the alarm rings?

-Dan
(I used to design consumer electronics, so I've got my own bag 'o biases :-))

[pfarrell]

Why no buttons?

plympton wrote:
> ... any other options?

It is likely that since Logitech makes very cool remotes, and since SD
announced Jive, which seems to be designed to allow very cool
integration of SlimServer controls with very cool remotes, that one
could speculate that RSN, LogiTech will announce SlimServer V7 with cool
remotes. Of course, like all smart companies, LogiTech doesn't
pre-announce products.

--
Pat

http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html

[mvalera]

You want a remote for the Squeezebox... have you looked in the Jive Platform area?

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=37856

[aubuti]

Well, I feared I was treading close to religion by asking the question. :-)

Not just religion, but tradition. Where is the volume control on CD players, tape decks, or turntables?

[plympton]

You want a remote for the Squeezebox... have you looked in the Jive Platform area?

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=37856

Yeah, I JUST ordered a Nokia 770 to use as a remote - now I'm bummed. That looks COOL! That, and it's got a scroll wheel!! :-)

I'm assuming the beta testers were invited, and not self selected, too? :-)

-Dan

[st2lemans]

Why no buttons?

> Not just religion, but tradition. Where is the volume control on CD
> players, tape decks, or turntables?

My CD player and tape deck have volume controls.

Tom

[moley6knipe]

I never, literally never, touch my SqueezeBoxes, and haven't touched my
Transporter in months. I use them every day.

I mostly use a laptop to control them, sometimes the remote.

I would never want them to have buttons or to have buttons raise the price. YMMV

I like this thread. Let's just read Pat's post again, and cast our minds back 10 years when all this was pretty much in it's infancy. I think it's fantastic that we can have debates about adding physical controls to things when 10 years ago things like SlimServer, Squeezebox etc (to me at least) would sound like Star Trek style jibbering! No controls? Using your what-top to control your music? What is this eyetunes you talk about?

Funny how fast things progress. Old bloke-style moment over now.

[aubuti]

> Not just religion, but tradition. Where is the volume control on CD
> players, tape decks, or turntables?

My CD player and tape deck have volume controls.

Interesting. Do they control the line-outs? My CDP has a volume control, but that's only for the headphone jack.

How about your turntable? ;o)

[ftlight]

Why no buttons?

aubuti wrote:
> Tom;223567 Wrote:
>>> Not just religion, but tradition. Where is the volume control on CD
>>> players, tape decks, or turntables?
>> My CD player and tape deck have volume controls.
> Interesting. Do they control the line-outs? My CDP has a volume
> control, but that's only for the headphone jack.
>
> How about your turntable? ;o)

I have an Ion USB turntable for converting vinyl to digital, and yes, it
does have a volume control!

--
Bill Burns
Long Island NY USA

http://ftldesign.com

[Sam Lowry]

Interesting. Do they control the line-outs? My CDP has a volume control, but that's only for the headphone jack.

How about your turntable? ;o)

My turntable does have a volume control (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...092571-1129700)