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Logitech drops two new Squeezebox Wi-Fi players: Touch and Radio

Logitech drops two new Squeezebox Wi-Fi players: Touch and Radio

Today Logitech unveils two additions to its Squeezebox line of digital music players that can stream music from your home network: the Touch (left) and Radio (right). The Touch is a small tabletop unit that connects to your stereo, letting you play all your digital tunes — plus stream audio directly from services like Pandora and Sirius — via Wi-Fi (b/g/n). There's also a USB port and SD card slot should you ever need to fall back on the ol' sneakernet (it also does other tricks; see the comments below). As you'd expect, the Touch's 4.3-inch display is a touchscreen, sporting full-color menus. It'll cost $300.

The Squeezebox Radio, a standalone player with an integrated speaker, costs $200. It does pretty much the same thing as the Touch, just without the touchscreen or USB and SD ports. It also supports social networking, letting you browse music recommendations from friends on Facebook or Twitter, a feature oddly absent on the Touch.

I'm getting a little underwhelmed by the Squeezebox line. The Touch looks like a pricey refresh of the core model, while the Radio's essentially the Boom with a better display. Without video support, the pricing makes me feel a little short-changed by these media receivers. Anybody with me?






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(3) COMMENTS

PeterPachal:
@andynormancx: Thanks for pointing that out! I amended the text a bit....More »


Comments

By andynormancx at 8:42 AM ON 09/03/09

The exciting new feature of the Touch for many people is that you don't need a server or a NAS anymore.

The Touch has a version of the Squeezebox Server built into it. That means when you plug in a USB drive the Touch will scan it for music and index it.

The Touch can then act as a server to share your music with all your other Squeezebox players. All without a server or NAS needing to be turned on.

So the USB port is far from a return to sneakernet ;-)

By Offbeatmammal at 11:37 AM ON 09/03/09

I love my SB3 (I have a pair) and the Boom looks like a great next step. But it, like the Radio are pretty expensive.
I also find the remotes to not be the greatest experience, and the lack of support for newer features like Win7's "Play on" that would let me select music from my PC are frustrating.

By PeterPachal at 12:00 PM ON 09/03/09

@andynormancx: Thanks for pointing that out! I amended the text a bit.


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