Since you're new, a little background: Normally, Squeezeboxes must be
connected to a computer running Squeezebox Server to play audio files
located on the server. The Squeezebox Touch is an exception to this
model, as it's capable of running a stripped-down version of the server
software internally and playing music on either a USB connected device
or an SD card.

sl_sjo;686129 Wrote: 
> - Does the SBT have an on/off button other than on the remote?

On the Home menu, the button in the upper left becomes On/Off. As with
the button on the remote, however, it only puts the Touch into standby.
There is no true On/Off, but you can configure a screensaver to turn the
screen off completely. A touch to the screen when 'off' wakes up the
screen and a second touch of the On/Off button in this screen brings
the Touch out of standby.

> - How quickly does it switch on before you can play a track?

If coming out of standby, it's instantaneous. However, if you're
booting or coming out of a no power state, it takes about 30 seconds to
boot up. If you're also running the internal server then it also has to
rescan any attached storage device, which can take several minutes. It
sucks.

> - How easy/quick is it for someone to plug in a USB stick and get
> playing a track?

Easy, but it can be time-consuming. If you're running the Touch's
internal server then you need to wait while the server rescans the
contents of the USB drive. If it's a small USB drive, it can be quick,
but with a large one it can take several minutes. What's equally
frustrating is that you're not forced to wait, but the system can be
unresponsive while it scans any attached media, so it's better to do
nothing while it scans.

> - Any pops/crackles during power on/off or changing track?

Not that I've noticed.

> - Ultimately how reliable is it? I need this to be 100% reliable in
> operation (hardware failures excluded)

Running the internal server? It can be pretty unreliable. With an
external server, it's very reliable. There's a large difference.

> - What are the power requirements? (I think its 5v@3a?)

Right. It will only approach 3 amps with an attached USB spinning hard
drive. Much less without one.

> I need a reliable platform where a judge can sit in the car, plug in his
> USB stick, and get playing music very quickly (< 30 seconds from power
> on). I have to meet this requirement or I lose points.

I suppose you could leave the Touch always on, even with the key off.
Certainly for a competition, if not for real-world use. The battery
drain would be minimal. As for the USB think, I'm not so sure how well
that would work. Another quirk with the Touch's internal server is that
it scans the entire USB storage device, so if a judge plugged in a full
128GB USB stick, he's have to wait while it was scanned, even if there
were only a dozen songs on the stick.

It's been done, but I'd personally never consider a Touch for a car
audio system. If you like the interface you can get all of the
functionality and few of the hassles by running SqueezePlay on a
touchscreen car computer that also runs Squeezebox Server. It won't
have the simple USB connectivity that you're looking for, though. That
doesn't exist for the server-based version of Squeezebox Server.


-- 
JJZolx
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