Several weeks ago I wrote about the fun I was having with the open-source Slimserver software for streaming your music collection to any other networked computer. An alert person at SlimDevices, the company that develops the software and also produces the Squeezebox computer-to-stereo bridge, e-mailed me to ask if I wanted to review the product. It took me about 30 seconds to say yes.
The Squeezebox -- a small black box about the size of a book, with a bright, readable display -- sits at your stereo and pulls in, over your existing Wifi network, any music file or playlist sitting on your computer's hard drive. The Slimserver software sits on the computer and talks to the device. Mine set up very easily, with only one glitch (the box immediately wanted to upgrade its software, but had trouble getting the upgrade downloaded automatically). If you had the modest skill required to set up a wireless network, you won't have any trouble getting the Squeezebox running. It may not be for total neophytes, but, in my home at least, it didn't require full system-administrator chops, either.
Once set up, the Squeezebox instantly transformed my music-listening life: suddenly, all the music I'd been listening to on mediocre computer speakers, or on my Ipod, was available at the click of a remote on the much more pleasing living-room stereo that had fallen into digital-music-age disuse. (It probably helps that my kids are finally past the maximum-childproofing-level stage and so I've recently removed the extra door from the stereo system cabinet!) I loved it so much, I bought my review copy.
This week Walt Mossberg reviewed another product from a company named Roku that seems to do pretty much what the Squeezebox does. I haven't used it, and it may be really good (Walt didn't like how it handled the security on his wireless network), but as far as I can tell, it's more expensive, it doesn't have wireless built in and it's not even quite available yet (ships mid-July, according to the Roku site).
I'm happy with my investment in Squeezebox, not only because it's changed my music-listening life, but because I know that, if the tumultuous tech business crushes the small company that makes it and orphans the device (it's been known to happen in the Valley!), there will most likely be a core of enthusiasts who will keep working on upgrades for the software. For consumers buying on the bleeding edge, that's becoming an important "feature" in its own right.
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