The core components of a "Network Music Player" solution are: 1)a hard disk/other physical medium with music files on it (let's ignore Internet Radio for a moment)
2)a piece of software that can interrogate the music files and compile a searchable/browsable/playable music "database" 3)a UI/Control Interface that can interact with the database (either directly or via a network) and cause selected music data to be transfered from the hard disk to the network... 4)...a piece of software/hardware that can receive the music data from the network and drive it through hardware that renders it into an analogue signal or digital bitstream The key difference between a typical "MP3 player" and the Squeeze NMP products are: 1) in an MP3 player there is no external network - Items 1-4 are all implemented within the player hardware/firmware. This achieves total portability at the expense of a whole bunch of functionality and optionality. As a result, it is a much simpler, more reliable, but less functional item. 2) an MP3 player is designed to be a completely standalone solution, whereas an NMP is - by definition - just one component of a much larger, more complex solution to a rather more complex problem domain. Each product is well suited to its niche. They are not really interchangeable. Yes, there is an intersect set in the Venn diagram of functionality but it's the aspects outside of the intersect set that truly define these products and this is why they are marketed differently and should be purchased wisely according to the use-case of the customer. The Touch complicates this discussion for both Users and Marketeers, because it offers the additional option of bundling items 2-3 above within itself and directly attaching item 1. A Conventional (?) Squeeze hardware product is merely item 4 and a bit of item 3... SBS provide the rest of item 3 and item 2, and the user provides item 1 (from a PC, NAS etc) However, because it is still an assembly of disparate logical components within a single box, it still doesn't behave like an "MP3 player", whose firmware and hardware are totally dedicated to the task and under the complete control of the manufacturer. With greater flexibility comes greater complexity. -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/XP) - TACT 2.2X (Linear PSU) + Good Vibrations S/W - MF Triplethreat(Audiocom full mods) - Linn 5103 - Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Townsend Supertweeters, Blue Jeans Digital,Kimber Speaker & Chord Interconnect cables Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=79212 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
