I've had my Squeezebox Radio (SBR) since Christmas and have encountered
several bugs and annoyances, some of which are mentioned elsewhere in
this forum others not AFAIK.

This is my fourth Squeezebox product and a bit of a disappointment
although hopefully fixable in due course.

I'm running a ReadyNAS NV+ with stock 7.4.1 server software. That in
itself and for the first time in my experience has been a bit buggy
(Squeezebox 3's freezing on a Favourites screen) but that's a different
subject. Also using  the corresponding 7.4.1 SBR software.

Here are my observations/issues with the Radio:

1) WLAN: I guess this is everyone's least favourite aspect of the SBR
looking at other threads. I have a Cisco 1200 series AP using
WPA2-PSK/AES. The SBR connects OK to the WLAN so long as it is at *just*
the right distance from the AP. If I switch it on in the same room as
the AP it won't see it or connect to it. If I try and connect in a weak
signal area, it'll see the AP but won't connect.

So you have to do daft things like use a long extension lead to get the
SBR connected and then move it to its final position. Hopefully this
will be less of an issue when the battery pack comes out, but it is
really irritating - and very poor design.

2) Connection but no sound: I've had the SBR apparently playing a track
but with no sound from the speakers irrespective of reselecting the
track, volume control setting, or anything else I could think of. Power
cycling fixed the problem. Not good though.

3) Slow response: Compared to the Squeezebox 3's, the SBR is really
slow and getting itself set-up to play a track. Getting the album art up
also takes some time.

Poor first track buffering: The SBR often gets a bit ahead of itself
and tries to play tracks before it's buffered enough data. The net
result is that playback stutters to start with. This is very annoying if
you're trying to play a track cleanly. Generally it works OK if you then
restart it from the beginning of the track but this shouldn't happen.

4) Inability to play a single track directly off a compilation album:
If I select an artist and it shows that that artist has a track on a
compilation album you can't play that track by pressing play or select.
Instead the SBR starts playing the whole album from Track 1. This is
very very annoying.

5) Getting lost in the track list: I've had the SBR getting lost about
what it is playing - and what it *thinks* it's playing according to the
display.

6) Album art display: It's oversized with no control over how you want
it to appear. This is different to photos of the SBR I've seen where the
art fits entirely into the window. This should be a user-selectable
option.

7) Incompatible remote control: Why on earth doesn't the standard
Squeezebox 3 remote work correctly with all functions on the SBR? It
seems beyond comprehension that although some key codes are the same
others don't map correctly or aren't recognised. This is particularly
important now before the accessory pack has been released.

On top of the above I've had the SBR crash completely. These days it's
behaving but only because it's staying plugged in in one room - hardly
sensible for what is supposed to be a portable radio. :-(

My overall impression of the SBR is that it could be very good but has
been rushed out with insufficient testing. I see some people are running
a later firmware version but I assume that requires a ReadyNAS update to
the 7.4.2 Beta Server software.


Richard


-- 
Reeshar
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