[slim] Anyone tried the Olive Opus No4?
I have a couple of transporters but the hassle of running a separate server and dodgy wifi connections is killing me. Has anyone tried the Opus? The display on the machine looks great - not as large as the transporter but more character width and you can see the album art. It's cheaper than the transporter despite integrated CD (useful from time to time I guess) and a 400GB hard drive. My real concern is the ease of loading my flac music collection and the ease of selecting tracks. On the transporter I only use the browse music folder path based technique, anyone know how the opus works. Many Thanks -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=58653 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone tried the Olive Opus No4?
I emailed them and it suports flac and Wav, FLAC, and MP3 and .jpg album art. They did not say if folder.jpg would work or or I would need to write a script to change the file names. They said they have no folder based browse, like the iPod you can only select by genre, artist etc. That's a hassle.. anyone know if there are plans to release a transporter with a hard drive? -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=58653 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Apple puts top down management style back in fashion
Kevin wrote.. I expect at some point that there will be a Logitech branded tiny, fanless computer that you plug an external USB drive into. All it will do is run Squeezecenter and it will find the files on the USB drive. If someone wanted to get crazy, maybe it would have a CD drive and software to rip encode too. Yea something like that would make all the difference I think. Except would Steve Jobs make you plug in a USB Drive? Too geeky I think. Hard drives are pretty cheap, just have one included in all the units. I would far rather have every unit with a built in hard drive and simple a program I can run that copies music to all the units with the click of a mouse. I found my transporter problem I think - when I use a homeplug ethernet connection the stuttering went away. My laptops uses the wirless ok but the transporter must loose it and the buffer empties without warning. With build in hard drives you can never have a hassle. I also think the slim center thing is not something apple would bother with. Apple TV Take 2 is great becuase it has no pc interface. And building sotware is so hard all anyone is ever going to do is say 'gee this is nowhere near as good or fast as itunes or media player etc'. No doubt people will hate me for suggesting squeezebox gets junked, but I am pretty sure it's what apple would do. All i want to do is play music without having to load CDs. The rest is geek. Remember Dyson - one of his first vacuum cleaner also had a carpet cleaning feature. He stripped it out and it sold better. That's branding for you. People in Japan like widgets on everthing but in Europe only geeks do. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45950 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Apple puts top down management style back in fashion
Linux is the ultimate flat management style, and its complex products have limited or no mass consumer appeal. Microsoft's weak management is also producing increasingly chaotic feeling products. Google's flat management has served it well in the production of an accomplished search engine, but its share price is down 37% since the peak and its many attempts to diversify are looking shaky. Steve Jobs of Apple, on the other hand brings the geeks down to earth and designs proprietary, easy to use and aesthetically appealing products that consumers love. Unless Logitech also embrace this philosophy I believe their geeky Squeezeboxes will never achieve mass appeal. My qnap is working again but now my transporter is stuttering. Playing music should be a joy not a battle. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45950 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Apple puts top down management style back in fashion
apple is 156 vs a high of 200... thats 78% of its peak, a 22% fall. Also the apple high was in december but the google high was back in early november. here is an article about it: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bafbd8ec-042d-11dd-b28b-77b07658.html?nclick_check=1 A handful of high-profile departures does not mean Google is facing a brain drain. But the company is starting to suffer something that could have an equally significant impact: a drain of some of the entrepreneurial energy that drove its early growth and on which its unique culture depends heavily. ... One Silicon Valley headhunter, who also thinks that Google is no longer a magnet for all the regions best talent, questions whether the company could retain its creativity as it makes this shift though, as this person adds, Apple at least has proved that it is possible for a mature tech company to remain highly creative. That does not account for Googles particular culture, though. This relies on a form of barely controlled chaos in which workers are encouraged to come up with their own ideas for future products in what the company calls their 20 per cent time a system that is the complete opposite of the one that Steve Jobs has built. Apple is completely top-down, Google is bottom-up, says Mr Sacca. As Silicon Valleys entrepreneurial talent starts to look elsewhere for the next main chance, that could threaten the engine on which Google has relied to drive the next phase of its growth -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45950 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] The Future... After the internet....
I think i have seen the future After messing around in my cinema on my apple TV last night and watching the girlfriend pile into the tv shows with glee and ask why anyone needs a tv... !!!IT CAME TO ME Currently the internet is the network of choice we spend hours on browing wiki etc. But the future is an endless pay per view or subscription to an endless copyright content database containing every film, tv show, sporting event, news program, documentary, music video, and cd ever made anywhere in the world. Loosing hours checking out the 1969 moon landings, the 1952 helsinki summer games (the first one in which russia competed, with big hairy female russian shot putters at $2 an hour), tv adverts from hungary in 1950s featuring ice scaters, you name it all the worlds copyright content online. it's the next step in evolution after the net. and supported by subscription payments the content will explode and explode in exponential ways. you tube done right -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45445 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Apple Subscription Service!
www.ft.com, March 19 2008 Apple in talks with music companies Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices. The all you can eat model, a replica of Nokias comes with music deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apples hardware. Apple would not comment on the plan, but executives familiar with the negotiations said they hinged on a dispute over the price the computer maker would be willing to pay for access to the labels libraries. Nokia is understood to be offering almost $80 per handset to music industry partners, to be divided according to their share of the market. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, two executives said. Its who blinks first, and whether or not anyone does blink, one executive said. Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers for deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange for a monthly subscription, executives said. One executive said the research had shown that consumers would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model. Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to be examining a subscription model. Subscriptions would work only for its iPhone devices, where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the comes with music model would work with iPhones and with iPods. The subscription models under discussion in the music industry include the provision for customers to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, which they would retain even if they changed their device or their subscription lapses. Other music groups are understood to be in talks with Nokia, which is keen to sign up as many of the major labels as possible before launching its first comes with music devices in the second half of this year. At last the days of CD scanning are all over. It will be a great day for consumers but the impact on Apple is pretty amazing as well: As well as killing off amazon.com and making sure they control content as well as hardware, apple can extract the best possible deal from the record comapnies due to thier larger market share and kill off competition. In addition they can drive sales of higher capacity iPods. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45000 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Apple Subscription Service!
Of course it will have DRM - you can't let someone downlaod all the music and then give thier friends a copy! The french ruling that consumers should be able to covert purchased music between formats is not going to apply to this. Indded, it's of course one of the reasons for the move. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=45000 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
It's an important point. I have mentioned it lots of times but Logitech have still not got the point. The Yamaha CDRH1500 does not have it, apple tv does not have it, and it makes absolutely no sense at all anyway. I know Logitech love covering their keyboards with buttons no one ever uses but that is not cool anymore (if it ever was). But in thise case it's much much worse because most 99% of users are too dumb to understand that should not use the thing. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
Why kill it? Yes you can find a thread on here where you can hack a file and disable the volume control for good. But 99% of the users are not going to do that and are going to find they have to play with the volume on thier amp and on thier squeezebox to try and get the level they want. and then they are going to switch the channel to the radio and blow their speakers. it's just a totally stupid idea - hifi equipment is desiged to certain specs and 100% output on your player is supposed to be 6 votls. if no one here gets it and no one at logitech gets it either i give up. but before you think i am wrong LOGITECH ASK YOURSELF: why do apple not have a volume on the apple tv? do you think you are as smart as steve jobbs? i don't think so why does the denon ipod dock disable the ipod volume control and fix the level correctly? (what do most people buy instead of a squeezebox - an ipod dock of course) why does your cd player not have a volume control? logitech you got to stop listening to the nutters on this forum who all want xyz. think about the average user and make his life simple. do you you really think that Grandma is going to telnet into her dodgy qnap and edit various text files in vi (notepad can't see the line ends) before she can leave her computer off at night You must be barking mad -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
It's a lonely world -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
amazon.co.uk squeezebox duet product description: Product Description Listen to the music you love in any room in your home Music everywhere Connect the Squeezebox Receiver to your stereo or powered speakers and create a musical oasis OK I am really wrong. Maybe this is the way most people use it- I didn't know that. So the stereo market is not so important. This is why on the Sonos web site: http://www.sonos.com/products/zoneplayers/zp80/features.htm Analog and digital audio output Enjoy your music anywhere by connecting to your home theater receiver or amplifier with analog, optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. We also provide fixed or variable audio output volume control. But the Squeezebox does not bother, has only variable volume, and mostly sell to the power speaker market. And transporter users or those in the know can get around the problem by editing some config files. Only the variable volume on the digital out makes no sense since that is only used by pros. - smc2911 if you are using powered speakers its fine. it's only an issue if you have the line out going to a stereo which then adjusts the signal to the voltage you want for your speakers acording to the way you have set the volume knob. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
yes if you use a stero and the volume control you are making a big mistake. in your case (maybe you are only a small part of the logitech market however) you have significantly reduced sound quality becuase logitech gave you a stupid setup and or did not explain it properly. do you understand it now? in your case, logitech have screwed you! now you can get round this problem, if you don't mind editing the linux config files, using the info i posted before. or just make sure the volume is at max and check it from time to time in case the wife changed it. i guess that is what most people do. (unless they changed the functionality of the latest version of slimserver) -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
ok maybe i am wrong on the exact details but smc2911 i will try and calculate just how bad the quality of your squeezebox playback has been the last few years. using: http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/voltageloudness.html To get a doubling of loudness, it is important to note that an increase of 10dB is necessary. And to reproduce that volume through our loudspeakers, note that we require ten times more power from the amplifier, which is voltage increase of 3.16 times. If your stereo volume is set to a point where at squeezebox music keeps the party ticking... now if in normal listening it is say half as loud... then i think you are going to drop from 16 bit resolution to one third of that. but anyone can correct me if they like... its not really my area either way at least i now have one LOGITECH PLEASE GET RID OF THE VOLUME BUTTON - YOU MESSED ME UP FOR YEARS AND I DIDN'T EVENT KNOW IT UNTIL NOW -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
I don;t think you work for Logitech... manger of a mac donalds? -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
gee you are not reading it... not me they messed up. are you understanding what i am saying... if 6v is the max level that when it comes out of his hifi makes a party kick... then one third of that will be the level for normal listening... imagine the line in had an analogue to digital convertor on it... then one third of the resolution would be lost. ok it does not have a a a/d... instead it uses analouge gain... but the noise and resolution must come into it... -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
yes the volume adjustment in done in the digital domain -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
smc2911 i guess the 16 bit signal gets the volume level applied to it and then it get output directy in one place, and then upscaled and output as analogue in the other place. but it would be possible to build a computer soundcard that applied the final volume adjustmet in the analogue domain after all the signal processing and mixing etc... and then if you put that into your powered speakers the quality would be fine for most sensible volume settings. i am not sure how out creative labs sound etc cards work -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
thanks for that - i did not know about the plugin- that's very good -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
st2lemans, Ah that's interesting and makes sense. So reducing the loudness by half cuts 1.66 bits off the resolution. I knew there might be a problem with my calcualation- didn't know it's as big as that! I see that now at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth It looks like you know a lot about it. Can you confim that squeezebox works in the digital domain and then passes this through the DAC? What about my average computer sound card? Another question: From: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?ConnectToPowerAmp the output line levels vary somewhat by type of connection and between devices. This is typical of source devices... This difference is one of the things the preamp controls So how can the preamp control this? I thought the line in was pure analogue... If I play a 1kHz tone at half volume down the 'line in' how can it tell that this input uses a different maximum level from some other? That makes no sense to me- unless they mean the preamp has phono and cd inputs which are hardcoded differently. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Anyone noticed the Apple TV has no volume control?
Thank god for common sense :-) -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=44546 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] AppleTV and SlimServer/SqueezeCenter
He said that owning films was pointless and renting them much better. He said that didn't apply to music where people wanted to hear the same thing many times. By that does not mean a music subscription service would not work. To date none of them have proved that popular, but that's probably becuase you have to be connected to the net and mostly have to play the music on the PC (the Slimdevices Rhapsody serives is an exception). Would you pay $20 a month for all the music in the world if it included the ability to copy it to your iPod? I think many would... It's also perfect for Apple becuase the security around making sure the music on the portable player expires when the subscrciption expires and can not be distributed requires you own the hardware and software - thus they can lock people into Apple TV with the iPod. Also Apple collect all the revenue, no one on this service is going to buy any music at all. What do the numbers look like: Some people put worlside users of iTunes at 200million ( see http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,69193,00.html ) - if 25% of them took the service we would be talking $12 billion of revenue a year - twice as high as Apple's entire revenue today. It's a mouth watering prospect... -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42292 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] GUTTED: The end of Pandora in the UK!
I don't understand this. It looks like this is for browsing in a window where the url you connect to is different from the url you are seeing so you can beat the work firewall etc. And they can pay for it by putting advertising banners into the page. But for squeezebox (I have no interest in playing music on my PC through a web browser) we would need to input the new ip address into slimserver? We don't want to redirect all our ip traffic, just the slimserver stuff. My router has no redirect http traffic to this address to this other address function. And even then all the audio traffic would be going through their servers so using up their bandwidth - why would they do that for free since no advertising is possible? If this is wrong can someone post an idiots guide to getting Rhapsody Unlimited working on the squeezebox? No one is going to into trouble for posting this theoretical information. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41900 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] AppleTV and SlimServer/SqueezeCenter
You could always pick up a tiny monitor if all you wanted was audio and it would have the advantage of a big interrface. The movie rental deal with all the studios and for many countries not just the USA is of course amazing and really shows Apple's power. Clearly they can and will put together a subscription service for audio as well. Then you could play anything in the world and move anything you listen to a lot onto your ipod all for a monthy fee. Thats the dream. The problem anyone will have in competing with apple is getting the same content offerings (eg I can't get Rhapsody in the UK), the economies of scale in equipment costs ($325 for 160Gb Apple TV vs $400 for simple duet + remote), and the extreme difficulty of writing software sexy enough to compete with Apple (slimserver vs itunes). I think Sonos has had it too - but if there is a lesson in the popularity of that it's that slimdevices have been too focused on the people on this site who like to hack and play with degrees in geeek. But even Sonos has no buit in hard drive and you can not seriously recommend the qnap to the man on the street. I guess Apple pretty much have it in the bag even though their focus is so far on TV not music. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42292 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Rumor: Microsoft to buy Logitech?!
I think after the apple tv presentation last night (discussed here http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42292 ) we can say Microsoft is going to have to lot better than logitech and slimdevices. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42018 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] AppleTV and SlimServer/SqueezeCenter
Yes, but the potential is there with buffering. Apple TV is the be all and end all of video on demand, but a few more things are needed before they take audio. Still I think the future is clear and if they play thier cards right they can take it. Quite an amazing thing and with the shares at $162 right now its a buy. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42292 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Wireless - yes, Homeplug - No
I use ethernet cable for one squeezebox and homeplug for all the rest of my transporters and squeezeboxes (five in all). It has proved much more reliable than wireless and stopped my wirless commected laptops having dropout issues as well. Uing the software netstumber I can see dozens of wireless networks in my area which of course must be my problem. I would highly reccomend homeplug even though setting up the network key to stop neighbours getting into your network is pretty ugly with my netgear devices. I guess the next generation of routers will have homeplug all built in and i would love to see this in slimserver devices as well. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42220 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] AppleTV and SlimServer/SqueezeCenter
Wow yea I was just watching that AppleTV advert over at apple.com. Amazing that for the less that the price of the new duet plus remote you get the whole 160Gb apple tv system. It looks really really strong. Pro audio people will want multiple audio only units with no dependence on a tv set, but for the mass market it's the way to go. And with the tv as your interface all the hassles of small screen displays are gone. I am blown away - I think I have seen the future and I am bit gutted that it's apple. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42292 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Microsoft takes a shine to SlimDevices?
Copied from Reghardware... Microsoft wants to buy mouse maker Logitech, if investor speculation is to be believed. At this stage, neither company is commenting on the rumour, though it pushed Logitech's Zurich-traded shares up 12 per cent today, according to Reuters. The big question is why Microsoft would make such a move. Logitech was once the world's leading mouse manufacturer, but Microsoft has built a solid business of its own, and the growth of Asian manufacturers means Logitech' no longer the pointer powerhouse it once was. But Logitech doesn't just make mice, and its Harmony universal remote control family might complement what Microsoft is doing to drive demand for Windows Media Center. The software giant might also have taken a shine to Logitech's Squeezebox networked music player operation, gained when it acquired Slim Devices last year [for $20m]. Squeezebox could fit in with Microsoft's plans for its Zune range, and help it compete more effectively with Apple, though the deal would surely cost it future Mac and Linux customers, all of whom are currently supported thanks to Slim Devices' and now Logitech's commitment to open source software. Microsoft's bid was alleged to value the takeover at $8bn, enough to make it the company's biggest acquisition yet. If it was for slimdevices that would be pretty exciting and make the squeezebox 3 into the biggest media player around. It would also make that $20m purchase price look pretty good value. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42209 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Microsoft takes a shine to SlimDevices?
ah yea sorry, just see other thread now. i see most people here are anti it, but i thought it was pretty exciting. my guess is the attraction is more slimdevices given the failure of the zen. a fully intergrated digial audio player wireless home media server sounds just the ticket to take on the ipod. for squeezebox or logitec it really makes sense becuase the downside of logitec and slimsever is that good gui software is really really hard to do well, as the dodgy and slow slimserver perl open source interface show. if microsoft buy it then we will could see a flashy fast c++ gui like windows media player and my transporter will feel like it's back in the 21 Century! i guess the qnap will be junk though :-( -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42209 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Microsoft takes a shine to SlimDevices?
I use a qnap ts109 but setting it up was a pain and the performance is not good. I would happily see all this stuff reworked with logitech hardware skills and microsoft software skills. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42209 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Price Difference
the prices are usually different between the usa and europe etc becaause: (1) the slim devices web site is only going to sell these things at the retail price becuase otherwise shops would complain if the mail order and shop price differed (shops could refuse to stock the goods). (2) the retail price only gets adjusted from time to time unlike exchange rates (3) the retail price reflects the wages and property and tax rates in the economy in question. (4) manufactures do not sell products and a fixed percentage over cost - instead they try to charge a price which gives them a maximum income. eg if they charge 20% more for the unit and sales fall 10% then this is a good increase but if sales fall 30% it is not. this equality comes out differently in different countries - so windows in china costs a fraction of windows in the usa. So although we consumers make a lot of fuss it's totally normal and our only way out is to import if the price diff is that big. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42113 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] Rumor: Microsoft to buy Logitech?!
Yes sorry zune not zen of course. the attraction is that slimdevices are making home media servers not competing DAPs of course. if msft could own the home media server market they might be able to win in DAPs. currently the home market mostly works on ipods connected into a dock attached to your hifi and the slimsevere is a niche product - but it's got potential. apple might think carefully about the importance of a home media server to defend the ipod. the funny thing about apple is that sound quality matters so little to them - both the tinny ipod sound electronics and the 128k compression standard. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42018 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] Disable Slimserver database?
I only use Browse Music Folder and it have a very big music collection. Is it possible to turn off the database somehow so slimserver is faster? Thanks... -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41015 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] DIGITAL VOLUME CONTROL OUTPUT FIXED bug
Thanks for those replies - I will go the IR route. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39912 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] DIGITAL VOLUME CONTROL OUTPUT FIXED bug
I can't stop people messing with the darn volume control. There is a setting on both the player interface and the Web interface that says Disable Volume Adjustment or Digital Output Level is fixed but it does not work. Anyone know why I have this bug? -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39912 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] network not active till i log in
sorry, i should have tried harder to find the answer myself. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33382 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] refresh track information etc
the search on these forums is so unreliable. ok i wanted to find my message and i type willyhoops into the search and it gets no hits. then i get an advanced screen where i can search by user and again no hits. its not the only forum with terrible search. in the frequently asked questions i don't see info on how to refresh the collection. i think it would make life easier to have a few screen shots and a introduction to the product. i never saw a gui in there just a start, stop and open option on the right hand mouse. i could do with some scanning advice as well. should i sue wma or flac? what do i do with muti cd collections? put each cd in a separate directory or put together? i used dbpowerAmp to rip some CD and the singers and orchestras came out in the artist name so on the squeezebox i could not see composers only performers. deleted all that and will have another go this weekend. it's a big learning cure all this ripping stuff and this web site makes no effort to bring me up the curve quickly. how about an idiots guide to ripping your music collection and using the squeezebox? -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33383 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
Re: [slim] refresh track information etc
...but after looking at for a while i could not find any server settings. i just called tech support by phone and they explained that its on the web interface half way down the page. maybe i am blind and stupid but i have been looking at this for two days trying to figure out where that was! i thought the web site was just for playing music. -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33383 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
[slim] refresh track information etc
I am really sorry for a question that 1000 people must ask but it's not in the online help and i can't find it with search the forums... When I copy new folders of music or delete folders of music from the slimserver directory how do i tell slim server to rebuild its database of whats available? I am finding that I can only access music via the music folder browsing option as everything else is a mess with many things either missing or present when they shouldn't be. Am I supposed to reboot the PC? It's a server hosting a web site so I would prefer not to do this... -- willyhoops willyhoops's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10563 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33383 ___ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
