Hi Guys, Nothing lasts forever, but I am have to say I am impressed by the amount of activity that's springing up around the globe these days basically by hobbyists and the technically able users, but it all seems very positive to me. Some key enablers have been Logitech's enlightened GPL licensing of LMS, Adrian's wonderful Squeezelite, continued improvements to the server platform by Michael Herger and others and the explosion in popularity of boards like the Raspberry Pi, Odroid platforms.
This seems to show two things: 1) People who know about Squeezebox really love the system and will go to great lengths to keep it running even without commercial hardware support 2) There seems to a resurgence of interest in high quality audio that is far removed from the stratospheric so-called "high end" and is more about kilo-buck headphone rigs than it is about man-cave statement audiophoolery, and this is not by any means restricted to the boring old fart demographic anymore. However, before I get too optimistic and dewey-eyed, there are some causes for concern: 1) At some point, Logitech will presumably want to shut down MySqueezebox.com and stop funding the CDN that supports it. Will Ickstream be a stable and good substitute by then? 2) The lack of commercial hardware still bothers me. The knock against Squeezebox even in its heyday was that it was too demanding technically for the average consumer; now that you have to be able assemble a Raspberry Pi and write a downloaded image to a micro-SD card, the barrier to general adoption is higher than ever. There still seems to be a big gap in the market between a $35 streaming stick from Google and a Sonus Connect box from $350. Is it just uneconomic to make a box that retails for $250 provides a really high quality audio streaming client? We're getting pretty close to that with some pre-assembled kits such as this one: http://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/appareils-hifi-dac/audiophonics-raspdac-lecteur-reseau-raspberry-pi-20-dac-sabre-p-10369.html. (I realize there is a big difference between selling a barebones audio computer and a fully finished streamer with all appropriate codec patent licenses paid up and CE-certified for electrical safety etc.) Nevertheless, I can't help wishing for someone to take this on commercially. Just some random thoughts on a Saturday afternoon. No big agenda here, but I would be interested in others' thoughts on the topic. Does the Raspberry Pi phenomenon help or hinder the chances of Squeezebox systems staying with us for the next 5+ years? Charles ---------------------- "Dreamer, easy in the chair that really fits you..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ dsdreamer's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12588 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=104714 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/discuss
