Squeezebox Duet by LogiTech

[bucksfan]

I have been waiting for a long time for a lower cost yet extremely workable solution for easily listening to our digitally stored music from our PC on our current home stereo. I had heard of Sonos before but the price tag scared me away. I knew the technology was "out there" or at least on the way, but I stopped investigating after my initial forray a couple years ago.

Then last winter we did a radical re-design of our living room, one result of which was moving our collection of CDs from it's once prominent spot to the very back of our office a room away. A 2nd result was the forced elimination of my trusty Onkyo CD changer due to the narrowness of the new stand we bought for he new LCD flat screen. So now we have only a single disc player and all the CDS are a room away - hardly a conducive environment for a couple who wants to revive and rekindle our interest in music, both current and past.

Then I saw the Squeezebox Duet in the store the other day.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/sp.../3817&cl=US,EN
After getting the sales pitch and asking the first few questions off the top of my head, including the simplistic ones like "does it really work? "does it work well?", I started researching online and have come up in general with a positive opinion on the thing. There were some negative reviews, but not many, and most of them seem to come from situations that are different from mine (i.e. Mac user, long distances between router and stereo, etc). And the cost ($399 at Best Buy, cheaper online) is much less than the Sonos.

Our situation ; PC in office room about 30 feet from stereo located in living room. Our only real intention at this time is to be able to access music in our next room, possibly at one point branching out to the room adjecent to that one. We are wireless, running XP, and I routinely utilize our wireless when sitting farther away than what our stereo is from the router. Also we have XM account in our car that we access online too. Most of our digital music is ripped from CDs at this time (we probably have 700-800 CDs).

Does anyone have any practical experience with this product? I am extremely intrigued with the idea of being able to access any of our music (as well as internet radio, XM) from our living room via his snazzy little remote.

[durl]

I don't have one so I can't give detailed advice. I have a friend who has one, though. It's a nifty device, that's for sure. He even programmed his display to show baseball scores.

Sorry I can't provide specifics but I can say that I've been impressed with it when I've been to his house.

[bucksfan]

Thanks for the feedback, durl. I have nearly convinced myself to try it out as it certainly seems to be what I have been looking for...

[Unassisted]

For what you're looking to invest, you might consider Apple TV + Boxee. I just read this post in another forum from a guy who was completely satisfied by it. Given that the laundry list of features he ticked off overlaps and is longer than your own, it might be something to consider.

1) download favorite TV shows automatically with BitTorrent
2) watch ripped DVDs
3) listen to iTunes songs
4) access YouTube and other web video content online
5) do all this with remote control
6) look "professional" (rename clunky download names, download cover art)

[OldRightHander]

This isn't about two guys playing accordions?

[bucksfan]

For what you're looking to invest, you might consider Apple TV + Boxee. I just read this post in another forum from a guy who was completely satisfied by it. Given that the laundry list of features he ticked off overlaps and is longer than your own, it might be something to consider.

Thanks UA. I am not anticipating my needs to include any video capability. I want this as simple as possible.