Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio
by Logitech
Our Price: $499.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Category: Speakers
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: LogitechBrand: Logitech
Edition: Electronics
Format: CD
Platform: Windows
Model: 930-000033
Color: Black
Publisher: Logitech
Studio: Logitech
Music Label: Logitech
Product features:
- Intuitive hand-held controller with color screen for easy access to all your digital music
- High-fidelity 24-bit DAC for crystal-clear audio
- Support for all major digital music formats for playing all your favorite songs
- No need to run wires - wireless technology for clean, clutter-free installation
- Rechargeable lithium-ion battery with sleek recharging stand
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- Bose Mobile In-Ear Headset
- Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector with Phone/Ethernet/Coaxial Protection and Extended Cord
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio
Customer Review: Excellent product, but some tech knowledge required
Summary: 5 Stars
So as not to bury the lede, I'll state up front: I really like this product. It works well for me, and meets exactly the need for which I purchased it, which was: to make my entire CD collection easily and conveniently available throughout my house, in a way that was simple enough for family and friends to use without lengthy tutoring. I wanted a way to get my music from a central source to different parts of the house, wirelessly, without having to go back to a central location every time I wanted to change the music. And the Duet delivers, beautifully.
Now for the "however": this is still new technology, and for people lacking experience, knowledge and vocabulary of the technology involved, it could possibly be troublesome to set up, get working, and keep working. Many advocates of the SqueezeBox line of products (or other networked streaming music systems) seem to forget that not everybody is as savvy as they are regarding ripping; configuring router ports and DNS options; IP and MAC addresses; audio compression formats (lossy or lossless) and codecs; ID3v1, ID3v2, APEv2, and VORBIS tags; or the vast array of computer programs and tools available for handling these things.
If the list of geek-jargon terms in the preceding paragraph are unfamiliar or intimidating to you, you should still be able to use this system once it's set up, but to get it all set up and working, you will probably have to spend some time on the Internet researching and learning about those things. If the prospect of that scares you off, perhaps you can get a tech-ish friend to help you get going. But to think that a technical novice can get full use out of this system without having to learn some of the computer-networking-techie arcana is probably overly optimistic. I found it relatively painless to set the system up and get it working, but I'm a computer geek by profession; I wouldn't suggest that my parents tackle the project without assistance.
Fortunately, there is a lot of excellent information available to help the novice along, much of it in the SlimDevices Wiki at http://wiki.slimdevices.com. There is also a good support forum available at http://forums.slimdevices.com. If you are reading this review trying to evaluate the product and decide whether to purchase one, you would do well to explore the Wiki first (the Beginners Guide is excellent), and then perhaps skim through the support forum. (Remember, though, that the support forum, by its nature, gets a lot of questions and complaints from people having problems. Take that with a grain of salt, because most of the people who don't have problems don't spend time posting messages saying "I'm not having any problems.")
As for the product itself: it works very well, the sound quality is excellent, and the controller is terrific. It offers just the sort of interface I was looking for: portable, convenient, easy to use; it allows me to browse through my music collection quickly and select music in a variety of ways, including by artist, by album name, and by genre. I can also search for songs or albums by title, though it is true that entering the letters of a title via the controller can be tedious. However, I personally don't take that approach very often; I generally know what album I want to put on, and get at it by scrolling quickly through the albums or artists in my collection. The browsing/scrolling wheel works very well; I can go through over 900 albums from A to Z in seconds. The design of the interface might not be completely perfect (what in life is?) but it's very, very good, and very flexible to use.
Another feature I really like is Playlists, which should be familiar to any user of media players. Essentially, this is just a collection of songs, as many or as few as you like, which you put together and give a name, for future access. Playing a predefined playlist is very simple, quick and easy. Putting together an extensive playlist using the controller, however, can be quite tedious and time-consuming. But the good news is, you can (if you have some slight technical know-how which isn't difficult to learn) put together a playlist using any one of dozens of media-player applications on your computer, and then make it a part of the playlist collection available to your Duet.
One aspect of the Duet I hadn't given any consideration before buying is the use of Internet radio. However, after getting my own collection of music up and running, I started playing with this feature, and found several stations and services that suit me, and Internet radio (particularly the free Pandora service) is now a common source of music in my house. There are also many other options and features (too numerous to go into here), either built-in or available as "Add-Ons" from the SlimDevices website.
In summary, I'm extremely happy with my Duets, and use them to bring music (not only my own personal CD collection, but also Internet radio) to different parts of my house, with a controller that makes it easy and convenient to select what I want to listen to, and where. But people who are unfamiliar with the world of CD ripping, audio codecs, network administration and other computer-technical jabber should approach it with open eyes and a willingness to do some reading and learning, rather than just assuming it's as easy to install as an old-fashioned record player.
Description of Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio
Listen to the music you love in any room in your home with the Logitech Squeezebox Duet. Play songs stored on your computer, tune in to thousands of Internet radio stations, or connect to online services such as Pandora and Rhapsody . Plus, the multi-room controller with 2.4-inch color display and scroll-wheel navigation makes it easy to browse, select, and play music from the palm of your hand.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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