Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi Internet Radio Receiver

I've been wanting a Squeezebox for some time but didn't want to pay for the controller. The Logitech Squeezebox software has long been open source and has a large and very active online community that is supported by the company. I looked through their forum (http://forums.slimdevices.com/) and found that one of their senior members wrote software allowing the Squeezebox Receiver to be configured WITHOUT the remote control. A link directly to the software, as reported in a comment to a previous post, can be found at http://robinbowes.com/projects/Net-UDAP. It's not officially supported by the Logitech, but I was able to get my receiver configured with it in less than an hour.

One caveat though; you should be a bit tech savy if you are going to go this route. The software is still in beta, has not been *offically* released (by reading through the thread on this topic (http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43722&highlight=network+configuration), mostly because the guy who wrote it hasn't had time to package it up). So, currently the software is only available through an online subversion repository, which if you haven't worked with before, could take an hour or two of fiddling around to get repository software and check out the code. The configuration itself is done via a perl command line, so windows users will need ActivePerl. Check out the documentation, it's pretty straightforward.

So if none of that scares you, this is an incredible solution for wireless streaming music from a computer to a stereo for 150 bucks.

I currently have the Logitech Squeezebox Duet Network Music System which includes one receiver (like this one sold here) and the controller. I wanted to add an additional receiver without spending $400, so this worked perfectly. My one squeezebox controller now controls both receivers, so my husband can listen to talk radio in one room while I get to listen to my favorite Pandora stations in the other room. This will not work stand-alone as the other reviewer stated, but if you already own the Squeezebox Duet system, you can expand and add several receivers and there won't be a need to buy another controller.

If you love music, and if you have a decent home network, wireless (preferred) or wired, do not hesitate to take a plunge in the Squeezebox Revolution. I first bought the Duet, then a few more Receivers, then the Classic, then the Boom, well you get the picture. If I had set up my house in the traditional way of distributed music system, with in-wall speakers and zone-based amps and a rackful of disc changers, it would have cost me over $10,000 to achieve half of what I have accomplished with the superbly cost effective Squeezebox. But cost is not even the point here. It is about quality and philosophy. Squeezebox products simply work, in a elegantly simple and reliable way that you would usually only expect from Apple. And they work both as joyful listening devices for causal internet radio, home server streaming, and as utterly serious audiophile grade equipment to digitally feed you high-end 2-channel system. Sync them, run them independently, set an alarm, wake up a sleeping computer, read an artist bio, hide it in a closet or display it on your precious system rack, Squeezebox simply rocks. Unfailingly. Now the philosophy. I love the technology, but it is the Squeezebox vision of freeing your music by way of adhering to open audio standards and open source computing that has earned my highest respect and devotion. If you are a passive user, great - Squeezebox will be routinely updated to bring you the latest new features, from 192/24 high definition audio decoding to power saving digital amp update, just enjoy them all without having to go out and buy new components (remember the days when you just bought a great CD player then SACD suddenly came out?). If you are geeky (not that anything's wrong with it), you can tweak your SqueezeCenter (the totally free software server powering your SqueezeBox hardware devices) in a myriad of creative ways, from importing your entire iTunes library to writing your own plug-ins, so that you can make your SqueezeBox experience that much more special. It is unfortunate that most reviewers reporting problems are in fact having underlying issues with their home network. Let's hope SqueezeBox keeps making its products more user-friendly to overcome some of the more complicated computer / network difficulties associated with enabling such a powerful digital music reproduction experience. One beef I have with the product - in this day and age, it is a shame that the N wireless protocol is not yet integrated in SqueezeBox. While I applaud you and thank you for all the great new firmware and software upgrades, it will be a dream come true if all my devices can be updated with N support one of these days. Remember folks, it is all about the music! Happy Listening.

I can't say enought great things about this baby!
The sound is fantastic.
The price is very very good for what you get.
The system works like a charm.

Details:
I bought a Logitech Squeezebox Boom and it was nice but not great. Sounded like a (decent) boom box... hence the name I guess!
I already have a great sounding Klisph iFi system for my computer and adding just this receiver (w/o paying big bucks for a remote)
worked like a charm (as someone else posted).

My setup:
Good computer speakers/amplifier (Klisph iFi)
squeezecenter software running on a linux box
squeezebox receiver (this product)
ipod touch (used, just over a [...] bucks) running "ipeng" software gives you an even better user interface than the squeezebox duet.
I also control my receiver through the squeezecenter's web interface on my computer.

Warning:
If you have a linux system and you know the basics of home networking (what is an ip address, a gateway address, a netmask your primary DNS address etc)
than it's pretty easy to setup (the instructions are ok and there is an associated discussion forum where you can as for help if needed).
Note that a friend with a linux laptop can come and help you set it up. It's only a one time deal to setup the box. After that you don't need
linux to run it.

If you are windows only user and don't know any linux user, then if you're very technically inclined you could install perl (activestate)
on your machine and setup the software. But it seems like it would be a pain in the butt to setup that way. You may just have to pay the
premium of getting the squeezebox duet (OR borrowing the remote from a friend who has one!).

I found the instructions and links to the software to setup this box at:

[...]

Good luck and enjoy a fantastic product!

It is not 100% because the software that runs on the server is still under development and have a couple of rough edges. Nothing major.

Also, one can setup the receiver without the remote control. My remote control is my wireless laptop. Works beautifully.