I believe that this person is the same as a person that was asking very
pointed questions about very specific things the SB did not do as well
as the Sonos system.  They were questions that the answers were known
ahead of time to make it look more natural and put the Duet in a bad
light.  This post is at Cnet in the comments after a great review on
the Duet.  I don't believe this person has even used a Duet and used
this forum to try to convince people on moving to the Sonos system. 
Anyway read for yourself, it seems very underhanded to me when you link
them together the way this person did.  Alludes they are a hifi
consultant and acts like WPA security is a bad and unusual thing.  All
the wording seems planned to scare non technical people away from the
duet and squeezebox altogether.  They throw in a bit of very
condescending good points about the SB, just enough to make people
think they are judging it fairly. It all sounds like a certain person
asking "innocent advise in this thread to me. 



-User Summary

"Not Entirely Convinced"
by ro53ben (see profile) - March 5, 2008

Pros: Improvement on existing product offerings, low budget
alternative

Cons: Setup woes, synchronisation problems, Rhapsody limitations
41 out of 142 people found this review helpful.
hide (x)Full user opinion
I'm not entirely convinced.

As a freelance consultant to some UK based hifi resellers and
publications I've been following the Duet closely since it was
announced. Previously Sonos has always been very high up on my
recommended list...a true 5 star product.

Duet certainly improves on the previously very limited control
mechanism offering Squeeze owners a glimpse of the full Sonos
experience.

Looking into it a little closer, you can see it still offers some of
the same negatives that all Slim products have come packaged with.
Setup still isn't as simple as it could be, juggling with wifi
encryption keys and fiddly interfaces makes it a little more like Plug
& Pray that ease of use.

The Slim communities are full of similar setup woes, with even hardened
geeks getting it all wrong at times.
One particular thread from the community is worth a read:

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43155

It compares some of the market leading Sonos functions with Duet and
shows where Slim have fallen short. Music services like Rhapsody can
only be played back in 3 rooms and can't be synchronised. Same goes for
internet radio, so your favourite radio station will echo annoyingly
between your kitchen and Den areas.

Sonos can play these services in up to 32 zones in perfect sync. As
Slim Devices Developer andyg said in their own forum "We can't do that"
"this is not possible because our server is open source". But will it do
it in the future, andyg? "don't get your hopes up about that."

Ironically the whole open source nature that attracted geeks to
Squeezebox is what is holding it back when it tries to compete
effectively in the market place. Years since the Sonos launch and it
still can't sync zones efficiently which is what attracted people to
Sonos in the first place.

Delay between the players can be such that you feel you're listening
not in your home but in the Grand Canyon...which kinda describes the
gap between Duet and Sonos when it comes to core functionality.

Even the new controller falls way short of the full control offered by
Sonos in their handheld controller which is totally intuitive and easy
to pick up for new owners.

If people just wanted to put their digital music in different rooms of
the home with a remote control, they could just buy a Bose Sounddock -
the clear winner at the low end of the market. But if they want full
control and a whole house experience, Sonos is still going to take the
gold medal.

So where does this leave Slim? Well, I guess the guys over at Gizmodo
cover it well. 'because of the Linux-friendly nature of Squeeze, the
"tweaker or hacker type" will have lots of fun'. Certainly more fun
than it is trying to train retail staff how to set it up. -


-- 
Nonreality

*-If the rule you followed brought you to this, what good is the rule.-*
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Nonreality's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=15723
View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43155

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