I think it is the combination that will be the strength. Scenario 1. In my home I like to be able to listen to my whole library. A portable device will never have enough memory, so I really think we also in the future will see a home storage that is some sort of computer or external USB disk or similar.
Scenario 2. In my home I like to listen on the stereo with full sound quality, that is uncompressed music. However, I think most people in the new generation don't really care about audio quality this much, they will settle with compressed MP3 files and don't really need a big stereo to listen to their music. Scenario 3. In the garden I also like to listen to my whole library, but here the sound quality doesn't have high priority. A compressed MP3 file will be fine in this situation. Of course I like to be able to change tracks and select what to listen to in the same way as I'm able to do in the living room. Scenario 4. When I leave the house I like to take part of my library with me. The optimal solution would of course be to take the whole library, but the storage space on a portable device is never going to be large enough. When leaving the house there are at least three different listening positions: Scenario 4.1: In the car Scenario 4.2: Within Wifi/3G range Scenario 4.3: Outside Wifi/3G range Scenario 5. I already have both the iPod Touch and the Jive prototype remote. Having used both these devices I can say that the improvement of a large screen compared to the two line display on the SB is huge. This is especially the case when you are searching for something to listen but you don't know exactly what you want. Unfortunately the browsing functions in SS/SC to find stuff when you don't know exactly what you are looking for, isn't really good enough yet. Scenario 6. I like to be able to purchase new music in all the above mentioned listening positions. When doing this I like to get a lossy compressed version suitable for the portable device but also lossless version suitable for the home stereo. Of course, even though I still like to purchase music so I own it, this might not be the future. The future is probably a solution similar to Pandora where you pay a monthly fee to listen to what you like. Logitech has already covered some of these points with SC7 and the Jive remote. More specifically: Scenario 1: Covered with SS or SC7 Scenario 2: Covered with SB/Transporter Scenario 3: Covered with the Jive remote (if it starts to support the headphone output.) Scenario 4.1: Not covered at all Scenario 4.2: Not covered at all (The Jive remote doesn't have the correct physical format) Scenario 4.3: Not covered at all Scenario 5: Covered with the Jive remote (although the iPod Touch is so much cooler in comparison). The thing that is missing regarding this scenario is improved ways of browsing your library. Scenario 6: Not covered at all (at least not outside US) So the main missing pieces for me is really a portable device that works together with SlimServer/SqueezeCenter and of course the music store connection. The iPod doesn't really solve this case because it requires you to manage two libraries (iTunes + SC) and it requires you to manually handle two file formats (lossless + lossy). I've had the iPod Touch for a few days now and one thing I miss is the wireless headphones option. The idea of having a cord between your pocket and ear is really one of the things that doesn't feel good. -- erland Erland Isaksson 'My homepage' (http://erland.homeip.net) 'My download page' (http://erland.homeip.net/download) (Developer of 'TrackStat, SQLPlayList, DynamicPlayList, Custom Browse, Custom Scan, Custom Skip, Multi Library and Database Query plugins' (http://wiki.erland.homeip.net/index.php/Category:SlimServer)) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=40106 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
