In terms of whether there's a demand for 'audio only' solutions, in a world of 'media boxes'. I think there is, personally. Most TVs now, here in the UK, can receive radio stations broadcast over digital TV channels. I have yet to see anyone put the TV on to 'listen to the radio'. Some people will watch music TV channels for a while, sure, but people also put music on while they're doing other things, or to 'really listen to', and in those cases, a 'radio' is preferable to a TV. A lot of people will want music, but not a TV, in their dining room, or bedroom, or garage, or kitchen. The radio, as a product design archetype, works.
So, I don't think radio is destined to evolve into the media server. I think the Touch concept is actually pretty spot on. An audio player/interface that can (as a bonus) double as a digital photo frame (surely the screensaver/plugin -par excellence-). I think the main competition is 'Chumby One'-type gadgets. They're arguably converging to the same thing, just coming from a different starting point. Not sure who has the edge, but I wonder if Chumbys might be squeezed out by polished audio players on the one hand, and cleverer mobile phones on the other. Or maybe they've found a great niche in between, who knows. But I reckon that's what Team Squeezebox should be pondering, rather than the 'home server linked to a big TV' angle. -- oktup ------------------------------------------------------------------------ oktup's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1117 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=72512 _______________________________________________ beta mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/beta
