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741 of 754 people found the following review helpful.
Great functionality and sound but needs a lot of work
By Jason M. Page
I am a long time proprietor of Squeezebox merchandise and was gorgeous excessively affected emotionally to find out with regards to the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I picked one up and thought I would part my thoughts.
The basi thing you observe is how much heft this little player has. It is in truth well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has a great deal of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won't skid around on your night stand or table top. The screen looks outstanding and all of the buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to galore other cheap wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of magnitude better in it is 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 outstanding though!
The biggest challenge for most buyers with this device will be the firstborn set up. You need to manufacture 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 big challenge for me, but it might be for galore humans who might be confused that they need to set up an account before they may 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 internet site 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 set up is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is mutual on numerous 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 undertake 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 it is firmware and reboot, a routine that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.
In addition to the a great deal of built in free online services, you may 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 may likewise run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux box (there are even installable distributions for galore 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 perfectly fantasti to be competent to take the little table top radio anyplace in the home and listen to your entire music collection.
Sound quality is very good, effortlessly sufficient to fill a little to medium sized room. It gets rather earsplitting with little to no distortion and the controls are easy to use to change tracks, modify volume, etc. Wireless strength is superb. I get a full signal anyplace within in regards to 40 feet of my router, and the radio works anyplace 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 capable 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 basi be programmed as a "favorite". It turns out that you may only add favorites for galore items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server web based menu, which is rather 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 conduct (it will show the time of the alarm when it is going off but funnily 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), galore automati dimming issues (the automati 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 betterment of device firmware, so I would suppose a lot of these issues to be worked out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery pack and little infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a $[...] add on purchase. Personally I think at $[...] the Radio ought to include these items, but taking into account the outstanding 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 may get the iPeng application $[...] from the Apple App Store which makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an sheer breeze. iPeng is genuinely a ought to have if you have these gimmicks and want a terrifi pocket control that works from anyplace 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 likewise turns out that some 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 essential use will be a night stand alarm clock I would commend keeping off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues. If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating as it ought to then be a three star product.
//Update 2 (May 13 2010)
Logitech has not only not fixed a lot of of the introductory irritations with the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less stable and reliable. It still does an admirable occupation 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 genuinely a shame too, as the "Slim Devices" that in the first place brought us these troubles was very open and communicative in regards to issues and what was being done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying utile info to it is beta testers, err, clients and rather gives us the run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.
222 of 238 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 sufficient to determine what I like and what still needs galore work. First, set-up was a snap. The radio found my wireless network without any delay and I was competent to enter the password and connect quickly. The radio them altered it is own software so I was working with the most recent release.
What do I like? The radio seems solid. It's heavy sufficient that you may 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 - altho not stereo - excellent. There's no comparison among how this radio sounds and the Sony clock radio I substituted 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 will have to 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, perhaps the favorites list will be erased, too). I'd like to see an more comfortable way to set the sleep timer. You have to use the menu and it ought to be a simple button press. Why not use the power button and cycle through sleep settings? i.e. ON ... 45 ... 30 ... 15 ... OFF? There likewise 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 ought to be competent to set a minimum luminance 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 outstanding color display and being competent 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 possiblenesses than, well, radio!
Later: I've had the radio for a month now and am no longer rather so excited. I scaled down my initial 4 stars to just 2 stars. This radio is buggy! My basi loss of the presets has now been followed by a loss of the volume control. There was perfectly no way to get it back besides a "factory reset" which removes each setting I so cautiously made. You must be capable to merely sit down and receive pleasure from a radio, not beta test a product.
I am returning it within Amazon's 30 day window. I've had enough.
99 of 110 persons found the following review helpful.
Better than expected
By G-Radio
When the Boom came out, I wanted to buy it right away, but the $300 price tag and the disability 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 with regards to a week now, and I plainly love it. Even the wife was jamming to it when I got home from work the day after I purchased it.
So far I have only had one issue with it...I may 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 freed a new software version that will rectify this issue.
Another cool feature that I didn't realize existed, was the capacity to control the Radio from the web.
As far as sound quality goes, it is far better than expected. There is nearly no distortion even at greatest or most complete or best possible 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 may put it in my livingroom and pump it up near max volume and listen it without doubt or question all around the house.
I haven't tested the Wireless strength spacious yet, but I was competent to hook it up in the garage (1 Floor under and 50 feet from the router) and the signal strength was near full.
Overall, I am very satisfied with my buy and can't wait to get the battery pack so I may just carry this thing around anywhere.
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CES 2010 Innovations Award
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Tags: amazon, jazz, music, radio, Solid State Electronics, streaming, webradio 
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