If you're tired of having gigabytes of digital tunes languishing on a desktop PC far from where you listen to music on your stereo, check out Slim Devices' top-notch new $300 Squeezebox Wireless Network Music Player.
Functionally identical to its predecessor, the Squeezebox2, the new version sports a fresh look. With its snazzy, upright design and improved display, the new Squeezebox sits in your entertainment center, or wherever else your sound system lives. To get it up and running, you simply install the free Slim Server software on your Linux-, OS X-, or Windows-based computer, and configure it using the Web browser of your choice.
In my tests of a shipping 802.11b/g wireless unit, the device performed flawlessly (there's also a $250 ethernet-only version). The screen is easy to read, and the unit responds nimbly to its simple, well-designed remote.
The device supports a dozen file formats, but (not unexpectedly) it chokes on files with proprietary DRM, such as those sold at the iTunes Music Store. The Squeezebox can tune in to thousands of commercial-free Internet radio stations and can download headlines from RSS feeds and scroll them across its multiple-line display.
I've had a first-generation Squeezebox for nearly two years, and it has become one of my favorite toys. The new Squeezebox is a fine evolution of a product that was so good in its 1.0 incarnation, I really can't understand why it hasn't been more widely copied by competitors.
Matthew Newton
