Erland, thanks for the warm words :)
And no, I won't implement playlist saving, Logitech shall do that (it
would be sooo simple.... well, almost) ;)
mikael_b wrote:
>
> I still believe they should have stayed with the SBoxes , perhaps
> invested in a mayor software rewrite?
>
Well, I agree on that one (could even elaborate for days how that "major
software rewrite" should IMHO have looked like), but it's not what they
chose to do.
IMHO, they overall made a big mistake, but it's not _all_ bad. They had
a few goals and they did in fact meet those:
- Handling on the transition between local and remote servers works
much more seamless. Face it: While most of _us_ here probably run
their own 24/7 server, most people out there in the wild do not. They
want an internet radio and from time to time fire up their PC or Mac
to listen to what's stored on there. With this scenario, the Smart
Radio works much better (read: easier) than the Squeezebox. Heck, you
can even run 3 PCs and mix and match tracks from all of these into one
playlist. No Server switching. Now if you could only save that one...
- Their new App, while certainly very limited in functionality and
technically not well done (they don't support VoiceOver at all, for
example, IMHO a no-go for a professional App these days) _does_ have
something to it: it has a very simple (and actually very
well-designed) Favorites screen where you can store your favorite
radio stations. This does have it's merits: I bet a significant number
of Smart Radio users really want to use this thing mainly as an
internet radio for two handful of stations and the occassional
listening of something else. If you are this type of user, I bet
Logitech's App is perfect (well, unless you need VoiceOver, of
course).
A number of people have asked me about such a screen for iPeng and I
have refused to do it. With reason: iPeng is made for a different kind
of user, power users who listen to lot of different music from
various sources and want an effective and powerful way to handle that
task and who use it a lot.
That's a different use case and I believe it doesn't make sense to
combine the two use cases in one App. The result would be an App that
fits neither use case well. Why not have two which are very different
for each type of user and that's now exactly what you see here: the
Logitech App that is perfectly suited for people who above all want
quick and simple access to their favorite stations and to be able to
maybe control the volume while listening. And iPeng for those who want
to explore their library or the depths of Spotify, MOG & Co.
So while I personally still prefer my Squeezeboxes I do see that there
will probably be a type of user who clearly prefers the Smart Radio.
Now, whether that particular user might not actually be even more
satisfied with an iPhone dock or an AirPlay receiver, that's a different
question, but not everybody wants to stream from his or her mobile
device all the time while carrying it around.
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