Your Songbird suggestion is a good one. We’ll look into it. Feel free to add such requests to our bugbase at bugzilla.slimdevices.com.

We can support music in other libraries besides iTunes. Pick your library and playlist locations under the Basic tab of SqueezeCenter. Your Songbird folder might just work. Or you can also run something like MusicIP.

As for the receiver working standalone, I’m sorry to say that you need a Controller to do the initial set up. You’re not able to use the iPhone app to set up a controller from scratch.

I am a fan of the Squeezebox hardware and Logitech’s decision to keep SqueezeCenter Open Source when it was bought.

The Boom is a nice piece of equipment and since it’s the only device with actual buttons to press it is unique. (No “Where’s the remote?!” moments.) But when we moved into this house I installed speaker wire through the walls to create a “distributed” sound on the main floor. Each of the two central areas have 4 speakers apiece. The end result is that it has a nice even sound level everywhere without having to turn the music up very much. It’s great for when we have people over – the music doesn’t drown out the conversation. Sure the speakers themselves are only Creative Labs satellites but they work well enough. (And no wires on the floors!) So the Boom’s speakers would only be used if I took it outside – which is not an insignificant feature.

Does the Squeezebox receiver work with no controller, other then an iPod Touch?

That would probably be the best solution for me, but then what would be the point of it? The receiver is still nearly double that of a Airport Express with less overall features. (Save for what I imagine would be technically better sound reproduction, but until I can upgrade the audio equipment I have I doubt I’d hear a difference.)

And then we come to SqueezeCenter. When I first moved in about 3 years ago I was chomping at the bit for a Squeezebox device. Then I downloaded the software for it. Ug. SqueezeCenter is probably the biggest reason, even more than price, that I’ve never pulled the trigger and gotten a Squeezebox. I’ve just downloaded the Windows version and trying it out on my laptop I have rediscovered my dislike of it.

The interface is just painful, and the weak integration with iTunes just pours salt in the wound. Unless I’m missing something you can’t even set a rating from the Squeezebox itself. It’s like driving a Hummer without power steering, all this power but it’s just too difficult to get it pointed in the right direction.

As for Pandora, Slacker and the rest, I’m in Canada and most (if not all) of those services are neutered North of the 49th Parallel. You can’t imagine how stunted my social education is without access to Hulu.

I really, *really* want to like Squeezebox but I need a better way to manage things. I’m no fan of iTunes, but Apple gives a very easy interface to everything and if come across a random song playing I can quickly set a rating for more frequent playing. Which is exactly what I want.

If only I didn’t have to use iTunes.

Does Logitech have any plans to use the Open nature of Songbird as an auxiliary interface for SqueezeCenter?

Or, ideally, bypass SqueezeCenter all together and have Squeezeboxes run off of Songbird. *That*, I’d pay the extra cost for easily.

I don’t mean to come off just complaining about Squeezebox products, if I didn’t have high hopes for them I wouldn’t care enough to highlight the problems I have with them. You should hear my incessant whining on the Songbird forums: http://getsatisfaction.com/people/wayne_74461 (Including asking for support for Squeezeboxes. )

Thanks,
Wayne

And of course with any Squeezebox you get access to a world of music from Pandora, Slacker, last.fm, Rhapsody, Napster, Classical.com, SIRIUS Internet Radio, Mediafly, RadioIO and the tens of thousands of Internet radio stations. So when your hard drive crashes, you can still listen to great music.

As for getting the s/w to work on your powermac, that’s an interesting question as that configuration is supported and should work. I suggest you try technical support and see if they can set you straight. Another option is to store your music on a NAS drive which runs the Squeezebox software. There are several makers out there that support it (Netgear ReadyNAS, Exito Bubba, Synology, QNap and others).

Matt Cuson
Director of Business Development
Streaming Media Business Unit
Logitech

If the chick is perky enough to run away, I’d say it is
OK to let them go, and hope that the parents take over.

The standard line is to leave fledgelings alone.
I know some wildlife rehabbers. If they take care of
them too long, they will imprint, and be unreleasable.
Most of the time, all they do is feed, rehydrate and hope.

IMOHO, for a non-threatened species, Try to re-hydrate, perhaps feed for a few hours.
If they perk up, let them go. If they don’t perk
up…. let them go anyway. I’d like to be
all compassionate, but I’m not going to go
to wildlife rehab for a common or introduced species.

If you care for them too long, you
end up with an imprinted, illegal pet (If it was
a native species). You can keep introduced species
like starlings or house sparrows.