Slim Devices Clearing Out The SLIMP3

[jtfields]

As most of you are probably aware, Slim Devices has replaced it's SLIMP3 with a new device called the Squeezebox.

Now that the Squeezebox has been rolled out for a few months Slim Devices announced a close out special for their remaining stock of SLIMP3's. The price is $199 and once they're gone that's it. For comparison the wired version of the Sqeezebox is $250 and the wireless is $300. There are some major differences between the SLIMP3 and Squeezebox to consider:

1) The Squeezebox plays PCM (uncompressed audio) as well as MP3's.
2) The Squeezebox has digital outputs (coax and S/PDIF) and a headphone jack.
3) The Squeezebox is available with built-in wireless capabilities (a $50 upgrade over the wired Squeezebox).

The first item can be significant if you listen to many different types of audio files. The SLIMP3 will play just about any type of audio file (Flac, Ogg Vorbis, etc.) but it is done through transcoding them into MP3's by the server. The Squeezebox will do the same except you can have the server simply decode them into raw PCM rather than transcode into MP3's (although it will do that as well.) I'm sure the sound quality is much better than transcoding.

If digital outputs are important to you then it is probably worth it to spend the extra $50 and get a Squeezebox.

The third item is a non-issue to me. For the $100 you save over the wireless version of the Squeezebox you can get a wireless bridge for the SLIMP3 that supports 802.11g and WPA encryption (neither of which are supported by the Squeezebox.)

Other than that they are pretty much the same, except for the looks. If the above differences don't matter to you (especially if you are like me and only listen to MP3's) then $200 for a SLIMP3 is a great deal although I would have liked to have seen the gap between the SLIMP3 and Sqeezebox be a little bigger. Who knows, if $50 isn't enough to entice most to get a SLIMP3 over the Squeezebox then we may see the price come down even more. I'm trying to decide if I want to pick up another one myself (don't really have a use for it right now but you never know what the future holds.)

http://www.slimdevices.com

[jtfields]

Sold out!!!!!!!!!!

[znaps]

Have you checked out the Roku Soundbridge from http://www.rokulabs.com/ ?

They're not out yet, but they are taking orders for $225. It seems to compare favourably with the Slim devices and it looks a hell of a lot better in my opinion.

[jfila]

We're trying to get the Soundbridge for reivew - hopefully soon.
Here are my reviews of the SLIMP3 and Squeezebox
http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review784.html
http://reviews.designtechnica.com/review835.html

I just saw on their site that the Squeezebox is $249 now. That is a good price for that.

[Ioman]

Personally as far as looks go, the sound bridge looks more stylish IMO. What do you guys think?

[jfila]

Definitely - I think it looks way better and would look at home in a home theater setup or even on top of a flat panel TV.

[synergicity]

Interesting fact: For the soundbridge, Roku is using the opensourced slim server. They have made modifications to it, but it is the slim server. Not even the most recent version (i.e., the version they use has some bugs that have long since been fixed with the current stable release). There is much discussion and gnashing of teeth about the fact that Roku has not seen fit to make the source of their modifications available to the open source community from whence they got their server.

For me this is a reason to think twice or three times before purchasing a Roku. They are profiting on their use of the slim server (which is allowed under the license) and do not seem to be giving back (which is not allowed and also very bad form).

[jtfields]

The Squeezebox now offers a $249 version that is only wired. The original wireless version is still $299.

The Roku Soundbridge is a blatant ripoff of the SLIMP3/Squeezebox. It uses the same server software and their interface is a modified version of the Fishbone skin (a skin created by a very dedicated person in the third party developer community. The version they are currently displaying is a 4.x version of the SlimServer software while the most recent version for the Squeezebox is 5.1.1.

The demo video I saw of it showed that it operated identical to a SLIMP3. In fact, I found it funny that the Roku website shows a Soundbridge with a unique display as far as how the information is shown. However, in the demo video everything on the display is identical to the SLIMP3. My guess is that the Soundbridge's display on the website was created using Photoshop or something. Of course, it's not available yet so we won't know for sure until who knows when.

I agree that the Soundbride is a better looking device. I certainly like that they offer the two sizes of the unit. But you will not get the kind of support for it that you will for the Squeezebox, in fact the Soundbridge will lag behind as new versions of the SlimServer software is released and Roku must modify it to support the Soundbridge.

On top of that it just irritates me that they haven't adopted the same open source attitude as Slim Devices. They denied that they were even using the Slim Server software until they were pressed on the issue. They are well within their rights to use the SlimServer, only because Slim Devices was kind enough to make it open source, but they are required to keep their modified version open source as well and they have not.

The Squeezebox just earned a 10 out of 10 rating by MaximumPC Magazine and was a feature of their recommended items to have if you have a wireless network. I will add that it is a must even for a wired network. I wish it looked as good as the Soundbridge but you know what they say "you can dress her up but that doesn't mean you can take her out."

[Cloud]

Originally posted by synergicity
Interesting fact: For the soundbridge, Roku is using the opensourced slim server. They have made modifications to it, but it is the slim server. Not even the most recent version (i.e., the version they use has some bugs that have long since been fixed with the current stable release). There is much discussion and gnashing of teeth about the fact that Roku has not seen fit to make the source of their modifications available to the open source community from whence they got their server.

For me this is a reason to think twice or three times before purchasing a Roku. They are profiting on their use of the slim server (which is allowed under the license) and do not seem to be giving back (which is not allowed and also very bad form).

So you get an updated software but an ugly unit with the slimp3 devices and old outdated software but a sleek looking unit with the Roku.

*sighs, why cant we have the best of both worlds?

[znaps]

Well if Slimserver is released under the GPL only, surely Roku will have to release their changes, whether they want to or not.