Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
510 of 517 people found the following review helpful.
Great functionality and sound but needs some work
By Jason M. Page
I am a long time owner of Squeezebox products and was pretty excited
to find out about the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I
picked one up and thought I would share my thoughts.
The first thing you notice is how much heft this little player has.
It is really well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has
plenty of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won't skid around on
your night stand or table top. The screen looks great and all of the
buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to many other cheap
wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of
magnitude better in its construction quality. The only disappointment
here is the lack of back lit buttons, for using the radio in low
lighting. It's also worth noting that the entire radio has a high gloss
finish that will be a magnet for fingerprints. Looks great though!
The biggest challenge for most consumers with this device will be
the initial set up. You need to create an account at [...] in order to
set up your new Squeezebox Radio. The device uses this connection to
play free internet music services as well as download software updates,
etc, to the Radio. I already had a Squeezebox account so this was not a
huge challenge for me, but it might be for some people who might be
confused that they need to set up an account before they can use the
device. There is an option to set up the account from the device
itself. Don't do this (it is slow and tedious)! Go to the website and
set it up in a few seconds and then just type your login and password on
the device.
Other than the laborious task of entering my full email and password
for [...] the rest of the setup is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio
supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is common on many newer
model wireless routers. It's similar to programming a garage door
opener. Simply point the Squeezebox Radio at your wireless network and
for 120 seconds it will try to connect with the push to connect
functionality. Then just push the connect button on your router and
it's automagically all set up.
Once set up the Radio will update its firmware and reboot, a process
that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.
In addition to the many built in free online services, you can also
play your own music through the Squeezebox Server application. I run
the Squeezebox Server application on my HP EX495 Windows Home Server but
you can also run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux
box (there are even installable distributions for many Network Attached
Storage units). This allows the Squeezebox Radio (and any other
Squeeze players) to access all of the music on my home network. It's
absolutely wonderful to be able to take the little table top radio
anywhere in the home and listen to your entire music collection.
Sound quality is very good, easily enough to fill a small to medium
sized room. It gets quite loud with little to no distortion and the
controls are easy to use to change tracks, change volume, etc. Wireless
strength is superb. I get a full signal anywhere within about 40 feet
of my router, and the radio works anywhere on my suburban property with
no audio hiccups or dropouts.
In addition to the intuitive controls such as "home", "play",
"stop", "back", etc, the unit also features six programmable "preset"
buttons similar to what you have on a car radio. Setting these up is a
bit more of a challenge than you would expect. You are supposed to be
able to hold these down on any song, album, playlist, etc, that is being
displayed in the radio menu and have it added as a preset.
Unfortunately some items don't add correctly and must first be
programmed as a "favorite". It turns out that you can only add
favorites for some items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server
web based menu, which is quite inconvenient. I don't doubt that Slim
Devices (the arm of Logitech that makes these devices) will fix this
soon enough.
Other minor glitches include some weird alarm behavior (it will show
the time of the alarm when it is going off but strangely won't show the
current time, which is annoying if you have hit the snooze button a few
times and need to know what time it is), some auto dimming issues (the
auto dimming works great but gets almost TOO dim in a dark room to see
the radio) and a few other very minor nits.
Slim Devices have a long history of enhancement and improvement of
device firmware, so I would expect a lot of these issues to be worked
out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery
pack and small infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a
$[...] add on purchase. Personally I think at $[...] the Radio should
include these items, but considering the great sound of the radio, the
high quality screen and the superb fit and finish it is justified that
this device costs as much as it does.
Also worth noting is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you
can get the iPeng application $[...] from the Apple App Store which
makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an absolute
breeze. iPeng is really a must have if you have these devices and want a
wonderful pocket control that works from anywhere in your home. Beats
the pants off of what Sonus has to offer!
//Update 1 (Nov 2nd 2009)
Yesterday my SB Radio lost all of the preset buttons which is most
annoying. It also turns out that many of the requests for fixes around
the alarms functionality have not been addressed and don't appear to be
scheduled to be addressed in the next release or two of the software.
If your primary use will be a night stand alarm clock I would recommend
holding off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues.
If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating
as it should then be a three star product.
//Update 2 (May 13 2010)
Logitech has not only not fixed many of the initial annoyances with
the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less
stable and reliable. It still does an admirable job of playing your
local music library if you run the SB Server on a PC or Mac in your
home, but the network streaming functionality seems to be having issues
and I've found the alarm to be terribly unreliable. I would now under
the current circumstances rate this only 3 out of 5 stars. It's really a
shame too, as the "Slim Devices" that originally brought us these
problems was very open and communicative about issues and what was being
done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying useful
information to its beta testers, err, customers and instead gives us the
run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.
165 of 175 people found the following review helpful.
Buggy!
By William G. Schmidt
I've had the Squeezebox Radio for just over a week but that's long
enough to decide what I like and what still needs some work. First,
set-up was a snap. The radio found my wireless network instantly and I
was able to enter the password and connect quickly. The radio them
updated its own software so I was working with the newest release.
What do I like? The radio seems solid. It's heavy enough that you
can press the buttons with the radio on a nightstand and not have it
slide. The front is angled back which helps even more. I'd call the
sound quality - though not stereo - excellent. There's no comparison
between how this radio sounds and the Sony clock radio I replaced it
with. It has a very clear, crisp sound.
What don't I like? I had the radio only three days when it lost all
it's presets. I re-entered them and all has been well since. This is a
well known bug. I am using [...] and NOT using my PC so the problem is
likely there. Presets should be stored locally, not on a server. I saved
all my presets as favorites so they MIGHT be there the next time this
happens (then again, maybe the favorites list will be erased, too). I'd
like to see an easier way to set the sleep timer. You have to use the
menu and it should be a simple button press. Why not use the power
button and cycle through sleep settings? i.e. ON ... 45 ... 30 ... 15
... OFF? There also needs to be a simple way to snooze. Maybe the big
button in the middle?
The auto-dimming setting gets awfully dark at night! I should be able to set a minimum brightness level that suits me.
And I'd love to see the apps include weather radar. Yes, this is a
radio but it's got a great color display and being able to watch live
weather radar on the screen would be super. A general weather app that
makes use of this display would be a plus! Come on Logitech, get with
it! This radio has more possibilities than, well, radio!
Later: I've had the radio for a month now and am no longer quite so
excited. I reduced my initial 4 stars to just 2 stars. This radio is
buggy! My initial loss of the presets has now been followed by a loss of
the volume control. There was absolutely no way to get it back besides a
"factory reset" which removes every setting I so carefully made. You
should be able to simply sit down and enjoy a radio, not beta test a
product.
I am returning it within Amazon's 30 day window. I've had enough.
73 of 80 people found the following review helpful.
Better than expected
By G-Radio
When the Boom came out, I wanted to purchase it right away, but the
$300 price tag and the inability to truely make it wireless detered me.
Now that the Radio is out with a lower price tag, battery capability
and a color LCD, I was totally sold. I've had the Radio for about a
week now, and I simply love it. Even the wife was jamming to it when I
got home from work the day after I bought it.
So far I have only had one issue with it...I can not find a setting
to set the Album Art size to full screen on the Now Playing screen. It
says in the manual that it is under the Screensaver settings, but when I
go there it doesn't exist. I sent an email to Logitech support, but
have not heard back from them yet. [Updated] Logitech just released a
new software version that will correct this issue.
Another cool feature that I didn't realize existed, was the ability to control the Radio from the web.
As far as sound quality goes, it is far better than expected. There
is virtually no distortion even at maximum volume. I even plugged a
set of Computer Speakers into the Headphone Jack and it didn't make that
much of a difference. The Base levels aren't that deep, but they are
there. I can put it in my livingroom and pump it up near max volume and
hear it clearly throughout the house.
I haven't tested the Wireless strength extensively yet, but I was
able to hook it up in the garage (1 Floor below and 50 feet from the
router) and the signal strength was near full.
Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and can't wait to get
the battery pack so I can just carry this thing around anywhere.
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