For me it was around August-September 2005, when we were thinking about turning our unfinished basement into a rec room. At the same time I dragged out the college-era JVC amp and ESS speakers that had been banished from the living room (too ugly for my other half) and did some minor repair work to get them back to operating condition. So now I had a second audio system, and didn't want to be shuttling CDs back-and-forth between the two.
Around the same time I saw 'Netgear's network music player' (http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/mp101.asp) on sale for what seemed like a ridiculously low price, something under $100, maybe as low as $50. Seemed like a good solution, but after some more research I didn't like the Netgear, or the 'Roku' (http://www.roku.com/products_soundbridge.php), or the 'D-Link' (http://www.dlink.com/products/?sec=1&pid=318), or 'the Linksys' (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1115416830950&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper), or 'the other Linksys' (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?childpagename=US%2FLayout&packedargs=c%3DL_Product_C2%26cid%3D1115416831192&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper). But the the SB, and especially the 'recently released SB3' (http://web.archive.org/web/20051101094932/http://www.slimdevices.com/) was -just right-. I picked up a surplus Dell desktop for $30 from my workplace, loaded Ubuntu and slimserver 6.2, and started playing with SoftSqueeze on it and our other computers. Got my first SB3 for Christmas 2005, and in Feb 2006 picked up a 2nd hand SB2 for the kitchen for a great price from a kind user on this forum. A few months after that got another SB2 off eBay for the basement. Probably the biggest mistake I made with SB was not taking advantage of the "Buy 2 SB3s and take $100 off" promotion And SB just keeps getting better and better. New products like Duet and Boom (thank you beta programs!!) are great, but even the old products keep getting better with new versions of SC and new music service partners like Pandora and Rhapsody. Meanwhile my music listening and music buying (take note RIAA) habits have increased tremendously, and that is good. -- aubuti Nothing high-end, but music anywhere I want it. LinkStation HD-HG (debian) feeding: Basement: SB2 > JVC JA-S44 > ESS Tempest LS8; Kitchen/Dining: SB Duet > AudioSource Amp100 > 2 pairs Polk RC60i; Living room: SB3 > Technics SA-EX140 > Bose Acoustimass 3; Bedroom: SB Boom + SBC; Study: SB Duet > Klipsch ProMedia 2.0; Kid's bedroom: SB2 > Klipsch ProMedia 2.0 http://www.last.fm/user/aubuti/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ aubuti's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2074 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=53831 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
