New Logitech Squeezebox 2020 Edition

[dmcdayton]

I heard a rumor that Logitech product management has now recognized that:
-In 2020, 80% of the music business will be streaming content
-That their SlimDevices Squeezebox line may have been 10 years ahead of its time.
-That there still isn't a product on the market that streams as easy or as well as the original SB3 Classic and Squeezebox Touch, even 10 years later.
-That even now, years past purchase, they have a large, loyal, dedicated fan base with a hunger for a new product.
-That the vast majority of stereo owners would love to move to streaming but don't need a new receiver or amp, just something to deliver the music.

I also heard they are contemplating a simple update to Squeezebox Touch 2020:
-Same physical design with upgraded DAC, WIFI and Screen
-Build a focus on streaming first and easy setup, with full integration of Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music/HD/Ultra HD and others through mysqueezebox.com
-Full support for all streaming formats, bitrates and resolutions
-Bitperfect output via digital outs up to 24/192 for those with external DACs.
-Robust integration with Alexa, Siri and Google assistants
-Updated Optional LMS with Roon like features for hard core audio folks managing large local libraries

That's what I heard anyway. And by heard, I mean, that's what I day dreamed about this afternoon while looking at CES 2020 highlights.

Come on Logitech, get back in the game. You could still be the standard bearer of the streaming age.

Has anyone else heard this?

[garym]

Good dream. First thought was, "Is it April First already?"

[rcampbel3]

I heard a rumor that Logitech product management has now recognized that:
-In 2020, 80% of the music business will be streaming content
-That their SlimDevices Squeezebox line may have been 10 years ahead of its time.
-That there still isn't a product on the market that streams as easy or as well as the original SB3 Classic and Squeezebox Touch, even 10 years later.
-That even now, years past purchase, they have a large, loyal, dedicated fan base with a hunger for a new product.
-That the vast majority of stereo owners would love to move to streaming but don't need a new receiver or amp, just something to deliver the music.
[...]
Come on Logitech, get back in the game. You could still be the standard bearer of the streaming age.

Agree with your sentiment. I haven't found anything that is better all around than the SB Radios. Logitech was way ahead of Sonos, and then just stepped aside and gave Sonos *YEARS* to attempt to catch up. Give me a stereo radio with Alexa built in or another voice control option, and I'd upgrade every Radio in my house. My kids can't be bothered to use radio controls -- they'll walk downstairs to the tiniest speaker in our house and ask Alexa to play a song.

I'd add that it should have an integrated LMS server installed with great defaults because that kind of target audience today would probably be for households that own ONE squeezebox, as opposed to me with my... 10 or so...

Here's my wishlist for the new year:

- Wish Michael and the contributors here all the best. I don't expect any profound reversal from Logitech, but I would be happy to be surprised.
- Hope the SB community continues to grow in new places -- I've recently gotten into home automation using hass.io -- squeezeboxes work fantastic in this, and I bet a lot of home automation nuts who are putting raspberry pis in every room for bluetooth presence detection would be interested in being able to send audio messages to any room via squeezebox hassio integration -- there's probably a growing demand for a raspberry pi distro build customized for home automation... (maybe when I finish all those other projects... I'll think about this)
- Wish there was a squeezepad app for my iPhone - I have all the others, but I just really like squeezepad on my ipad as a control surface
- Wish we had a working SiriusXM app
- Wish there were more SB Radio-like hardware options for PiCorePlayer that had knobs and buttons so I wouldn't have to design and build my own

[Apesbrain]

Oh man, you had me going!

[w3wilkes]

Pretty cool dream, but I'm not holding my breath.

[dmcdayton]

I mean, Squeezebox is a unicorn. Most electronics have a product life cycle of 3-5 years, at best. These things are still providing value and doing things no other devices can do (at least not as easily/elegantly) 10 years down the road. For the life of me I can't understand why Logitech would buy, then bury, SlimDevices. I would love to know what the founders think about it. What a waste.

I would bet good money that Amazon will simply yawn, roll over and put a digital out on their Echo Show devices next year with bit perfect streaming and half these services will be rolling up their tent in 3 years. Its sad, there is a real need for a Swiss Army knife of streamers like SB to keep the streaming playing field even.

RIP Squeezebox. RIP.

[dmcdayton]

Give me a stereo radio with Alexa built in or another voice control option, and I'd upgrade every Radio in my house. My kids can't be bothered to use radio controls -- they'll walk downstairs to the tiniest speaker in our house and ask Alexa to play a song.

I hate to admit, its not just your kids. I've taken to playing on Echo for convenience instead of my good system. Siri and Google just SUUUCK but Alexa has magic juju beans somewhere because it just works. I'm listening to more music in my kitchen now on an Echo Show because we can change genres in 2nds from across the room and the sound isn't...bad.

[philchillbill]

I hate to admit, its not just your kids. I've taken to playing on Echo for convenience instead of my good system. Siri and Google just SUUUCK but Alexa has magic juju beans somewhere because it just works. I'm listening to more music in my kitchen now on an Echo Show because we can change genres in 2nds from across the room and the sound isn't...bad.

You do know there's a decent Alexa skill called MediaServer that will control that 'good system' of yours by voice ? And also allow you to stream LMS-sourced songs to that Echo Show if you like...

[dmcdayton]

You do know there's a decent Alexa skill called MediaServer that will control that 'good system' of yours by voice ? And also allow you to stream LMS-sourced songs to that Echo Show if you like...

I did not, thanks for mentioning it. Scanning to the available commands, I don't see a command to "Play XYZ artist" or a specific song. The rest looks good.

I suspect though that next gen Echo's will get optical out with full HD Ultra support and it will be game over for many streamers.

[Paul Webster]

I did not, thanks for mentioning it. Scanning to the available commands, I don't see a command to "Play XYZ artist" or a specific song.

"play something by {Artist}" and variants.

[philchillbill]

I don't see a command to "Play XYZ artist" or a specific song.

Both commands exist - see the online docs:

https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech/commandref/PlaySomethingBy.html#27

https://mediaserver.smartskills.tech/commandref/PlaySong.html#28

[hertzberg]

2020 edition

I heard a rumor that Logitech product management has now recognized that:
-In 2020, 80% of the music business will be streaming content
-That their SlimDevices Squeezebox line may have been 10 years ahead of its time.
-That there still isn't a product on the market that streams as easy or as well as the original SB3 Classic and Squeezebox Touch, even 10 years later.
-That even now, years past purchase, they have a large, loyal, dedicated fan base with a hunger for a new product.
-That the vast majority of stereo owners would love to move to streaming but don't need a new receiver or amp, just something to deliver the music.

I also heard they are contemplating a simple update to Squeezebox Touch 2020:
-Same physical design with upgraded DAC, WIFI and Screen
-Build a focus on streaming first and easy setup, with full integration of Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music/HD/Ultra HD and others through mysqueezebox.com
-Full support for all streaming formats, bitrates and resolutions
-Bitperfect output via digital outs up to 24/192 for those with external DACs.
-Robust integration with Alexa, Siri and Google assistants
-Updated Optional LMS with Roon like features for hard core audio folks managing large local libraries

That's what I heard anyway. And by heard, I mean, that's what I day dreamed about this afternoon while looking at CES 2020 highlights.

Come on Logitech, get back in the game. You could still be the standard bearer of the streaming age.

Has anyone else heard this?

I have a similar dream. But really, I just want them - or someone (it is open source!!) to start making Squeezeboxes again. Integration with other services would be great, like chromecast, and support for more streaming services. It already makes a great Roon endpoint, btw. The DAC really doesn't need to be upgraded, neither the digital output. Both the analog and digital section is good enough.

[Paul Webster]

I expect Philippe still has some SqueezeAMP systems available for sale.

[philippe_44]

I expect Philippe still has some SqueezeAMP systems available for sale.

Yes, I've built a new batch of 50 which is on its way :-)

[NFLnut]

I hate to admit, its not just your kids. I've taken to playing on Echo for convenience instead of my good system. Siri and Google just SUUUCK but Alexa has magic juju beans somewhere because it just works. I'm listening to more music in my kitchen now on an Echo Show because we can change genres in 2nds from across the room and the sound isn't...bad.

I could have said the exact same thing! I LOVE my collection and listen to it 85% of the time. BUT I also ask my crappy Alexa speaker (who seems to get dumber and more hard of hearing every day ..) to play a playlist or two when I don't want to grab my Controller or go to my laptop or phone to queue up music .. like when I am cooking or working on a task around the house. For that, I tell "Alexa-idiot" ( as I commonly refer to her) to play something so that I can listen to some music while I work. But yeah .. it doesn't come close to the sound quality of any of my Squeezebox attached speakers. It just gets the job done for the time being.