R.I.P. Squeezebox

coolsax

very true, and hopefully someone will realize how decent the SB system was and do something similar, but will it be the same cost as the SB?.. currently the price/performance ratio is one of the best if not the best in its segment. as stated it looks like they will at least support mysqueezebox for a little while.. I got mine earlier this year. If i get a good 4-5 years out of it (if I keep it that long) then its been well worth it.

nspindel

For those of us who use the Squeezebox to stream our local music library, this is all being very overblown. I bought the Squeezebox to replace my cd player. Whether Logicrap supports it or not doesn't really matter to me. I will be able to continue using it to play my flac library for as long as I want. Unless you're big into using all the online services, there is absolutely no reason to think that your Squeezebox is going away. Guaranteed I will still happily be using mine in 5 years from now.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Same here, I'm not saying it won't be a big deal to those folks who do use those services but for those like me who just bought it to stream local content this isn't an issue. I certainly won't be jumping ship anytime soon, as I already have quite a bit invested in the Touch with the added Power Supply and I'm not currently aware of another unit that can replace it. The Sonos is nice, but last I checked they did not support hi-rez audio which is a deal breaker for me.

I bought another Touch from Amazon as a backup yesterday while the price is still reasonable. Maybe I over-reacted, but as long as they don't start selling them for $100 tomorrow then there's no real harm.

steveinaz

Exactly, I couldn't care less for internet radio, or music "services".

nspindel

Actually, internet radio is quite handy. I listen to internet radio all the time on my Squeezebox Radio. But internet radio stations should continue working just fine. The issue will be things like Rhapsody and Pandora. If they change their interfaces without support on the LSM side, then people who use those services will be screwed.

coolsax

to me its more just a disappointing thing that a good entry into Computer audio is being removed or at least it'll be harder to get, for those that care about music on a budget. i'm good as long as I can access my local server with the squeezebox software. If it comes a time when that doesn't work any more i'll deal with it then.

mdaudioguy

tonyb wrote: »

True to an extent, but some things still won't work and who wants a product thats suddenly limited ? Something else will come along to take it's place and just watch how many jump ship.

I'm not quite sure how you're suggesting that it might become suddenly limited, unless you're suggesting that a third party like Pandora might change their protocol, which would require a change to the (LMS) software. If that were to happen, I'm sure the OS community would tackle it.

coolsax wrote: »

to me its more just a disappointing thing that a good entry into Computer audio is being removed or at least it'll be harder to get, for those that care about music on a budget. i'm good as long as I can access my local server with the squeezebox software. If it comes a time when that doesn't work any more i'll deal with it then.

Your local server should always be accessible, especially if you just keep using your current version of the software. It may actually be desirable for most legacy SB users NOT to update to any newer version that Logitech would try to push out from this point forward. Just my opinion.

tonyb

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Your local server should always be accessible, especially if you just keep using your current version of the software. It may actually be desirable for most legacy SB users NOT to update to any newer version that Logitech would try to push out from this point forward. Just my opinion.

Good advice there. For certain things, nothing will change really but for me personally, I like using music services and internet radio on my Sonos. If that were to change, I'd be looking at alternatives lickety split.

What I ment by something new will come along is.....just that. Another product will rise to take the SB's place and everyone will be selling theirs on craigslist. Remember the older music servers, bigger units, crappy sound....all sold on e-bay or craigslist when SB came out. Same thing will happen again.

nspindel

So what though? If something better comes along, that will happen regardless of Logicrap continuing to support the Squeezebox. Bottom line is, if you're happy with the thing, keep it for the rest of your life. You may not be able to upgrade whatever server machine you're running the backend on to Windows 13, or whatever, but there's no reason why for basic local library streaming functionality you can't keep it going for as long as you want. And if something better comes along, of course people will be dumping them on eBay. But that's the case with any gadget.

Drenis

nspindel wrote: »

For those of us who use the Squeezebox to stream our local music library, this is all being very overblown. I bought the Squeezebox to replace my cd player. Whether Logicrap supports it or not doesn't really matter to me. I will be able to continue using it to play my flac library for as long as I want. Unless you're big into using all the online services, there is absolutely no reason to think that your Squeezebox is going away. Guaranteed I will still happily be using mine in 5 years from now.

That's fine and dandy but when it fails? I particularly like the form factor and what is the Squeezebox Touch. I think it's revolutionary and has better advantages then other options out there. However, when mine ultimately DOES fail, it will be time to start ALL over somewhere else.

nspindel

If it's that important, buy a spare now while you can still get them.

Drenis

It's just an observation on my part. I guess I always like to have a contingency plan in place to a point...

tonyb

nspindel wrote: »

And if something better comes along, of course people will be dumping them on eBay. But that's the case with any gadget.

Agreed, but thats the whole point. Why buy an extra now at current list price when in a years time from now it will be dirt cheap on the used market ?

Sit back, relax, enjoy your SB as is. When the right product arises make the switch and don't look back.

nspindel

tonyb wrote: »

Agreed, but thats the whole point. Why buy an extra now at current list price when in a years time from now it will be dirt cheap on the used market ?

Sit back, relax, enjoy your SB as is. When the right product arises make the switch and don't look back.

I wouldn't count on them getting cheaper so quickly. The opposite may well occur. When they stopped selling the SageTV extenders after google bought Sage, prices on eBay doubled.

tonyb

That all depends on the newer products that may arise. Granted, another product at the same price point with even better dacs and a few xtra bells and whistles....what would make an older SB value rise ? Certain vintage products do hold value, even increase in value, but one only has to look at electronics in general from even just one year ago and see they do not hold their value well, generally speaking of course as there are exceptions. My gut feeling is, another product will come about that offers the same thing or better, with the same sound quality or better, taking away everything that made a SB special. You take that away, value declines. The opposite occurs when nothing arises to take it's place, but I find that highly unlikely.

None of this matters much anyway. When the time comes, people hold on to what they like or venture out to discover new things. That decision is a ways off anyway.

mdaudioguy

The SB receivers from the Duet used to be available separately. When they were discontinued, they continued to sell on e-Bay at a pretty good premium for a long time. It always seemed to me that this was when they started killing the product. They de-emphasized the use of the product to run zones in a system and focused instead on the Touch as a single-zone player. With only the Touch in the lineup, it was suddenly far less appealing to buy one for a zone that might not get as much use. For example, I have two outdoor zones, but the players are in my basement, completely out of view - no need for a pretty touchscreen there. That was my beef with their most recent lineup.

That said, I have no reason to doubt that my current 5 zone system will keep me satisfied as long as the hardware may last.

Blownrx7

Drenis wrote: »

Why do I always buy into products that are discontinued or decommissioned after a years time... Can't help but feel a little angry.

This is the nature of digital. The rule I try to follow on digital products is never get more than the bare minimun of what you need and never pay a premium.
The prices will always drop like a rock, usually right after you put your money down...
And never get too invested in any one standard as it will surely become obsolete.
Just look at the Iphone 5 with it's new connector!