Logitech Squeezebox Boom All-in-One Wi-Fi Internet Radio

I've been looking a long time for something that allows me to listen
to my computer music etc. and also Internet radios anywhere in the
house (wifi). This product proves to be perfect for me. I set it up and it
works nicely and clever - anywhere in the house!!!.

I can control it with the remote control and also directly from the computer when I want to switch to another radio station and from the Squeezebox itself I can also
select any music source I set up (source being my Apple Computer or the Internet itself). It sees my music on the Computer (e.g. iTunes) and they have a website - with support infrastructure that is admirable.

The sound is far better than what I expected. Very(!) good quality and I can hear it
clearly and with substance (room-filling I mean) in the bigger living room.

The remote control is just the right size for me and it sticks magnetically on top
of the S-box. I also like that the S-box is handy and not over-sized.

Great product. I feel it is totally worth its price!

I am an avid radio listener but not an over-the-top audiophile. I don't want advanced glorified features, I just wanna turn on the darn radio and hear solid sound. This device delivers that experience. It has fairly easy setup (though I had to restart a couple times to get it done, the whole thing was just five minutes). And it has remarkable sound.

A couple things I think you should know. First, if, like lots of people, you have a sometimes spotty WiFi in your house, know that this unit does *not* like for the WiFi connection to cut out for a few seconds. When that happens it often turns itself off, or stops playing, and will not restart until you manually press play again. I seem to have solved this problem by locating the unit a little closer to the Wifi base station in my home. I plan to add a second access point to get stronger coverage over the premises -- something you'll want to do if you plan on bringing the unit out to your patio maybe, or someplace far from your base station.

Another thing: it does not like the microwave oven. Within ten feet, it has abberations. For me, this ruled out the kitchen counter as a location.

Again it is a *great* unit but you really must have your WiFi clean and strong. I figure this limitation would probably apply to *any* internet radio and is not specific to the Logitech, though one would have to test multiple units in order to know that, I imagine.

I'm very happy with the sound quality, and I'm also generally happy with the ease of use. However, its lacking in supporting the still popular MMS/WMA streaming is a major flaw. There are many radio stations that still use MMS/WMA streaming but Logitech apparently is not interested in providing MMS/WMA streaming support. As the result, many of the radiotime.com radiostations could not be played (Logitech claims is supports [...] portal). BTW, it doesn't support Real Media format either. See [...] for the history - it's been more than 3 years and now they are saying because Microsoft deprecated MMS in favor of RTSP in 2003, they are not planning to provide the MMS streaming support, which is just very unfortunate.

Caveat: I purchased this (and a couple of Grace radios before) primarily to listen to a handful of Sirius talk channels without turning on a stereo system. DirecTV provides all the XM music channels, and I have a minimum of use for the 15,000 internet stations the radios successfully receive.

After suffering through a couple of months trying to get Grace Internet Radios to work reliably with Sirius Internet Radio streams (they're otherwise decent products), I happened on the Logitech Squeezebox Boom (in a CNET Grace Radio review).

Sirius works. Effortlessly. Just like you'd expect it to. But it starts playing faster than a Sirius Satellite Radio (and much faster than a Grace radio, when it works).

Everything else works, too, and is highly customizable to do things the way YOU want to.

Notable, and helping to justify the relatively high price, is remarkable sound quality for such a small unit, good build quality, usable IR remote, remote control from a PC, both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections, and ability to be used in conjunction with other Squeezebox products.

This is simply an outstanding product.

I have one of these in my bedroom. It's pretty much my all in one alarm clock, streaming music player, streaming internet radio, and clock. I believe you can set up to four alarms. I generally have three alarms set and you can also choose to set some alarms for daily and other alarms for Monday through Friday or even even select days.

The sound quality is reasonably good considering this is an all in one unit, but don't expect the sound to be anything like your home stereo.

I also have this set up to play music stored on my computer. You can also select for this to play from [...]. It will store the same stations that you have stored on your Internet account. It will also play your local stations, but only through wi-fi (using your router) if they are broadcasting over the Internet.

I also like this a lot because the digital display is not hard to focus on. It's just bright enough to read, but not so bright that is interferes with sleep. With my last alarm clock radio I had to put a shirt over the display because it was very distracting.

The remote also has a magnetic surface on the top of the radio that it attaches to so it doesn't get lost. I've had to replace the remote battery a couple of times. It takes a CR 2032.

Overall, if you have some money to spend on a bedroom music player, this is my top recommendation.