Like many of you, my Soundbridge Radio R1000 has failed (the usual power supply issue, I am sure). I have been looking for some time for an alternative device that features a clock radio and a decent sized sub and speakers to fill the average bedroom with sound. I cannot find anything. Does anyone have any ideas for alternatives to the (for a while, anyway) excellent Soundbridge Radio R1000?

Thank you,
Doug Allen

Doug,

a good replacement for the R1000 (SoundBridge Radio) might be the Logitech SqueezeBox Boom.

The problem with SqueezeBoxes, however, is that they require a proprietary software (SqueezeCenter) for local streaming of audio files.

If your main interest is listening to internet radio, you could also have a look at devices based on Reciva boards. You will find a comprehensive list here.

Another list of different internet radio devices can be found on vTuner's website.

But why not contact Matt (user name Burkhardi in these forums) and have him repair your R1000?

Greetings
dupondt

Thank you. My primary use of the device is to stream music from iTunes. The alarm clock and radio features were quite nice as well. My additional concern is in finding something that sounds as good without the need for external powered speakers. I will review the list of products on vTuner's site. Thank you for your help!

douglaswallen wrote:

My primary use of the device is to stream music from iTunes.

Bad luck. Due to Apple's "Client-DAAP-Validation" no third party applications or devices (with the exception of Roku's SoundBridges) can stream from iTunes servers. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Access_Protocol#DAAP_authentication for details.

Greetings
dupondt

Now that is truly amazing. All of these devices and none of them know how to talk to the most widely used digital music management software? I have about 1100 CDs, all of them ripped to a central iTunes Windows XP "server" (actually a very old laptop). The music is then accessed throughout my house via iTunes running on 4 Macs, 2 Windows machines, and my Rokulabs devices. Amazing that none of these streaming music players know how to talk to iTunes. I hope my Rokulabs devices (once the Soundbridge Radio is fixed) all last for a very very long time.

Thanks again for the information.

douglaswallen wrote:

Now that is truly amazing. All of these devices and none of them know how to talk to the most widely used digital music management software?

Apple doesn't allow them to talk to iTunes. Reverse engineering the authentication and using it in a device would be illegal, because DAAP is Apple's intellectual property.

Greetings
dupondt

douglaswallen wrote:

Amazing that none of these streaming music players know how to talk to iTunes. I hope my Rokulabs devices (once the Soundbridge Radio is fixed) all last for a very very long time.

That's Apple...

The solution (for those that are dependent on iTunes to manage their music libraries) is that there are third party UPnP server applications which can happily access an iTunes library and serve that content to other UPnP capable clients, which can also include the SoundBridge. A benefit is that you don't need to have iTunes running to make this work. The requirement then is that the player must support the codecs used in the encoding of your media - not too much of a problem these days, with many players supporting AAC, MP3, WMA, etc. The exception would be if you have media which is coded in the Apple Lossless format which is not widely supported - you would either need to transcode in real-time in the server, or batch encode your media to a more widely compatible lossless format such as FLAC.

Logitech's web site says that the Squeezebox Boom and Touch work with iTunes. Follow the "Music In the Air" link here: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers- ... vices/4707

douglaswallen wrote:

Logitech's web site says that the Squeezebox Boom and Touch work with iTunes. Follow the "Music In the Air" link here: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers- ... vices/4707

It doesn't say the Squeezeboxes work with iTunes as a server. It says "buy your music from services like iTunes®" which in reality means "buy your music from services like the iTunes Store".

All Squeezeboxes require the Squeezebox Server (formerly known as SqueezeCenter) to stream local media. The Squeebox Server builds its own database containing the music files on your computer. Furthermore the Squeezeboxes don't support the UPnP-AV based solutions S80_UK pointed out. Please see the Specifications page at http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/wireless-music-systems/devices/4707 for details.

Greetings
dupondt

My M1001 died. I got a Logitech Squeezebox Classic from Amazon for $197. It is an older version but $100 cheaper than the Squeezebox Touch which isn't available from Logitech. Oh my! It is much easier to set up than the Soundbridge and works with iTunes on my iMac. The menus are easy to understand. I'm in love!

dvanhuele wrote:

Oh my! It is much easier to set up than the Soundbridge and works with iTunes on my iMac. The menus are easy to understand. I'm in love!

To redress the balance....

Anything is easier if you've had problems with something else. And I realise that personal preferences also come into play. But for most users, the set-up on the SoundBridge is every bit as simple as with a Squeezebox - I have both products in use. As for the menus - again I think that is personal choice - I prefer the SoundBridge menus myself. And the big negative against Squeezebox for me (but not for everyone, I will accept) is the fact that one is required to run their proprietary server software, rather than a regular light-weight UPnP server as may be found on many NAS boxes. At least SoundBridge gives you choice of multiple servers and of multiple server types (iTunes, Firefly, multiple UPnP servers, and even Sqeezebox Server can be used).

If I am reading this correctly, the Squeezebox products do indeed work with iTunes - I am just required to run the Squeezebox Server software on the same machine as iTunes to do the "interpreting" between iTunes and the Squeezebox player(s)?

This would work fine in my situation, as my music server is an old laptop running Windows XP with an old USB hard drive attached to hold all of the music. The machine is not powerful enough to be used for anything but a music server.

Thank you for your insight.

douglaswallen wrote:

If I am reading this correctly, the Squeezebox products do indeed work with iTunes

No, you need Squeezebox Server.

I am just required to run the Squeezebox Server software on the same machine as iTunes to do the "interpreting" between iTunes and the Squeezebox player(s)?

No, there's no "interpreting". All Squeezebox Server does is parse iTunes' library file (iTunes Music Library.xml) and add the music files and playlists it finds there to its own database (please see http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Beginners_Guide_To_iTunes for details). For this process to work, iTunes does not have to run, it does not even have to be installed on the machine running Squeezebox Server.

However, as Squeezebox Server usually scans the folders containing your music files, parsing the iTunes library file isn't necessary (provided your files are correctly tagged). Furthermore using the latest iTunes version on an old and therefore slow laptop can be a real pain.

Greetings
dupondt

S80_UK wrote:

dvanhuele wrote:

Oh my! It is much easier to set up than the Soundbridge and works with iTunes on my iMac. The menus are easy to understand. I'm in love!

To redress the balance....

Anything is easier if you've had problems with something else. And I realise that personal preferences also come into play. But for most users, the set-up on the SoundBridge is every bit as simple as with a Squeezebox - I have both products in use. As for the menus - again I think that is personal choice - I prefer the SoundBridge menus myself. And the big negative against Squeezebox for me (but not for everyone, I will accept) is the fact that one is required to run their proprietary server software, rather than a regular light-weight UPnP server as may be found on many NAS boxes. At least SoundBridge gives you choice of multiple servers and of multiple server types (iTunes, Firefly, multiple UPnP servers, and even Sqeezebox Server can be used).

@ dvanhuele:
I don't like the whole press the right navigation button to enter the next menu. For me it's very cumbersome and not very intuitive, but that is just my taste...
I do like the RSS screen save on the Squeeze box, but there is an application for the soundbridge to do this as well, but it's not native.
But that bottom line is your happy and that is the important thing. Thanks for the feedback.

What are the latest recommendations of internet radio devices with easy controls? Other features are unimportant. I'm in the U.S. Thanks.