erland;211452 Wrote: > If I'm not mistaken, Apple provide their own streaming hardware in > Airport Express, I'm pretty sure they would do everything they can to > make it as hard as possible for a competitor (like Logitech) to make a > tight integration with iTunes. It doesn't need to be that tight - as long as the SB can get access to the files via the network, it can read and decide them itself. It might need a small app to monitor changes to the iTunes directory and provide a socket for data transfer, but that can be much, much simpler than Slimserver.
Personally, I'd write a plug-in for iTunes that keeps the player up-to-date. I've written several and one of them sends information to a remote connection. The Airport express probably uses hardware decoding as it's cheaper than using a general purpose CPU and all the ancillary hardware that that entails. erland;211452 Wrote: > But making the SqueezeBox be a fat device instead of a slim device, > would be a radical change of the current architecture. Some problems > with this: > - It would require everyone to by a new SB (SB4?) to get the > functionality > - It would probably not be compatible with previous SB versions, so if > you have multiple SB's in your home you would have to replace them > all. > - The number of plugin developers would decrease radically since it is > a lot different to program an embedded device compared to server > software. At least there is less people available that have the > knowledge to program an embedded device. I'm not sure that any of the reasons you give have any relevance to a product that is targeted at the larger mass market. They don't have pre-existing SB systems and if a plug-in is that useful, it should be in the product anyway. There is no reason to not keep the old software/systems going as well if it is profitable - the Transporter didn't make the Squeezebox obsolete. It's just a thought - I'm not suggesting it as the way to go as it is very different to the current philosophy, just that if I were part of Logitech's management I would be considering all options to make the system more attractive to the huge number of iTunes users (100 million at least). -- CardinalFang ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CardinalFang's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=962 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35881 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
