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Pierre De Grenoble
28-02-2008, 23:07
I have something like 600+ CD albums, which I play thru the Cdp, I have also burnt most of these into my Itunes Ipod library.. and I happily play these albums, whilst I work thru my ear buds, and 80gb Ipod.
(which incidently is only just over a 1/3rd full)

It occured to me today that all of the "Hifi" Ipod docks I've seen(in the Hifi press, really miss the point..

Imagine a stylish dock that hooks into any hifi via a line in..
It talks to a remote by wireless
The remote has a standard Ipod display/click wheel, and is synched to your Ipod via Itunes. (Ie synch the Ipod, then synch the remote)
Add a software function to the remote that lets you make a playlist of stuff you want to hear now as a "one off", and on the hoof..

Result = instant digital juke box, your entire CD collection instantly play able with out getting out of the chair..

OK not the highest of high-fi, but good enougth.. so why isn't there such a thing in the real world?? I'd buy one...;)

and I suspect that considering the numbers of Ipods sold, so would a million or so others..

Filterlab
29-02-2008, 08:58
Or you could just use your computer as an audio source. :)

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 13:52
It occured to me today that all of the "Hifi" Ipod docks I've seen(in the Hifi press, really miss the point..

Imagine a stylish dock that hooks into any hifi via a line in..
It talks to a remote by wireless
The remote has a standard Ipod display/click wheel, and is synched to your Ipod via Itunes. (Ie synch the Ipod, then synch the remote)
Add a software function to the remote that lets you make a playlist of stuff you want to hear now as a "one off", and on the hoof..

Result = instant digital juke box, your entire CD collection instantly play able with out getting out of the chair..

OK not the highest of high-fi, but good enougth.. so why isn't there such a thing in the real world?? I'd buy one...;)

and I suspect that considering the numbers of Ipods sold, so would a million or so others..
It's called Sonos :) It's very popular with my customers.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii306/DrFrost/Forum%20images/Controller_Male_Hands_RGB.jpg

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii306/DrFrost/Forum%20images/sonos-zp80.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii306/DrFrost/Forum%20images/zp80_back.jpg

If an iPod could be integrated in the way you want, don't you think Apple would already be marketing it?

Apple doesn't make it easy to get any meaningful feedback from an iPod; there's a video output for the OSD, but that isn't much use if you have no TV in the room - hence your request for a wireless feedback remote. The architecture just isn't there in an iPod (yet) to support the feature. Anyway, iPod isn't the be-all-and-end-all of digital music replay. I like them, and as soon as you dump Apples stupid low quality & restrictive compression format that comes gratis when you buy music from iTunes then an iPod becomes a really useful tool.

Sonos is pretty well established as the most user-friendly of the digital media players. There's some new product from the guys at Slim Devices that looks interesting. AFAIK this is streaming from the PC rather than the iPod itself, but I think it's worth a look - Squeezebox Duet (http://www.slimdevices.com/)

Regards

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 17:36
Or you could just use your computer as an audio source. :)

to be fair, I could use the pc as a source but I don't want to.. and not every body has the PC where the hifi is.. I'm totally used to navigating and selecting my tunes by just taking the ipod out of my pocket,I'd like to do the same at home.. I also find the ipod navigation much quicker than the itunes library..

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 17:57
If an iPod could be integrated in the way you want, don't you think Apple would already be marketing it?



Dunno the idea came to me in a blinding flash of inspiration when I was thinking about what "I" needed.. doesn't mean to say that apple have seriously considered it, for a start I don't think they have brought a "hi-fi" dock to the market iether, but some very high end manufacturers have..


Apple doesn't make it easy to get any meaningful feedback from an iPod; there's a video output for the OSD, but that isn't much use if you have no TV in the room - hence your request for a wireless feedback remote. The architecture just isn't there in an iPod (yet) to support the feature.
Regards

I can't argue with the above, but that isn't really a reason why it couldn't happen. The Ipod itself is a harddrive and some software, if they can update the software to sinc with the iphone, they can write some more code to cope with a remote.. The remote doesn't even need a hard drive, a ram stick will do, as it is not holding the sound files just the track information.. I suspect the remote would need a button or something to use with the "clickwheel" to support the extra functions..


Anyway, iPod isn't the be-all-and-end-all of digital music replay. I like them, and as soon as you dump Apples stupid low quality & restrictive compression format that comes gratis when you buy music from iTunes then an iPod becomes a really useful tool.

Regards

Me personnally I have only ever bought two tunes from Itunes, and I will NEVER ever buy another.. I use itunes to burn my own CD collection into it's libery, with this in mind, I really think the Ipod is a really usefull gadget, I just somehow think they might have missed a marketing opertunity..

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 18:10
I've just given the "Sonus" a good coat of looking at, and whilst I think it looks like an interesting tool, it isn't what I need..

I simply want to come home after a days graft, take the ipod out of my pocket, stick it into the hifi dock, and use a remote to stick a load of my tunes on,in the order I want them, and play them back through my own personally selected hifi.

Every thing about this "idea" is old tech, so why can't I do It.?? .:):doh:

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 19:14
OK, let's say I could supply you something that looks like a remote control with a slot to take most iPods. This remote then streams wirelessly to a receiver plugged in to your Hi-Fi. The connection to the stereo is analogue phonos. If it were priced at £200 would you buy it?

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 19:59
OK, let's say I could supply you something that looks like a remote control with a slot to take most iPods. This remote then streams wirelessly to a receiver plugged in to your Hi-Fi. The connection to the stereo is analogue phonos. If it were priced at £200 would you buy it?

not if we're talking about logitechs squeezebox.. the price is right, but I don't want to turn on my PC /and or stream by wireless if I did I could just out my itunes library into the aux of my amp, and use itunes itself to select whatever.. I want to walk in the door, take the ipod out of my pocket, dock it into the hi fi and go.. I don't want to get up & go to the hi-fi and use the docked ipod scroll wheel to select my tunes..

THe logitech is close to this idea, but is not what I'm looking for.. I want to/feel I ought to be able to, plug the ipod straight into the stereo. and treat it as another Cdp, controlled by its own remote..

I still am surprised that this idea hasn't occured to apple.., surely if logitech can see the potential..:scratch:

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 20:19
No, were not talking about a Squeezebox or anything that streams from your pc.

What we are talking about is you "walking in from work, taking your iPod out of your shirt pocket and..." plugging it to a handled dock that looks like a remote control but it streams wirelessly to a receiver plugged in to your HiFi. To change tunes you use the iPod jog wheel. OK?

So, would you buy it at £200???

shane
29-02-2008, 20:37
Seems to me that it would be easier if the Ipod dock was the remote. A hand-held dock that streamed the data from the Ipod to a receiver plugged into the hifi shouldn't be too hard to achieve, I'd have thought.

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 21:29
Seems to me that it would be easier if the Ipod dock was the remote. Ohh FFS, that's exactly what I've been saying. Jeez :doh:

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 21:51
No, were not talking about a Squeezebox or anything that streams from your pc.

What we are talking about is you "walking in from work, taking your iPod out of your shirt pocket and..." plugging it to a handled dock that looks like a remote control but it streams wirelessly to a receiver plugged in to your HiFi. To change tunes you use the iPod jog wheel. OK?

So, would you buy it at £200???

No I wouldn't.. would I spend £200 yes I would. but call me old fashioned, I would just feel happier if the Ipod connected directly to the amp. I do not want to transfer data by wireless from the Ipod to the amp.
I suspect that the system/method you are describing streams the data from the player to reciever plugged into the amp, because this way, it works on any brand of player, using any musical file format, loaded using any software. etc etc & I can fully understand the economics of all this

It doesn't get away from my original question of why can't apple do this?? and give me and probably what a million other people need??

shane
29-02-2008, 21:54
Ohh FFS, that's exactly what I've been saying. Jeez :doh:

Sorry, long day....

Vinyl Grinder
29-02-2008, 22:00
I'm i missing something here or just stuck in my quality ways!!!???

Vinyl Grinder
29-02-2008, 22:01
I mean is what all these specialist hi-fi companies strived for over the years to come to this shite, wiping them off the map. not...

shane
29-02-2008, 22:19
No, I wouldn't have said so. When I was a kid, everyone had Dansette groove-grinders, and the tiny number of wealthy enthisiasts had expensively built valve amps and separates from very specialised outlets that the masses had never heard of. Seems to me that the situation is pretty much the same now. Whilst it hasn't caught up with the high end yet, An Ipod is a hell of a lot better than any Dansette could ever be, and is now good enough to be acceptable to the hi-fi enthusiast for every-day use, even if it isn't up to serious listening. My Squeezebox doesn't hold a candle to my turntable, but it gets a lot more use because it's so easy; it's on as background music all day. The Ipod/remote idea would be even better.

Mass-market sound has improved out of all recognition compared with twenty or thirty years ago.All those (including myself) who feel that vinyl is the ultimate tend to forget how truly awful a cheap record player could be! The downside is that the general public find the sound they get good enough now for it never to occur to them that there might be anything better.

Pierre De Grenoble
29-02-2008, 22:32
No, I wouldn't have said so. When I was a kid, everyone had Dansette groove-grinders, and the tiny number of wealthy enthisiasts had expensively built valve amps and separates from very specialised outlets that the masses had never heard of. Seems to me that the situation is pretty much the same now. Whilst it hasn't caught up with the high end yet, An Ipod is a hell of a lot better than any Dansette could ever be, and is now good enough to be acceptable to the hi-fi enthusiast for every-day use, even if it isn't up to serious listening. My Squeezebox doesn't hold a candle to my turntable, but it gets a lot more use because it's so easy; it's on as background music all day. The Ipod/remote idea would be even better.

Mass-market sound has improved out of all recognition compared with twenty or thirty years ago.All those (including myself) who feel that vinyl is the ultimate tend to forget how truly awful a cheap record player could be! The downside is that the general public find the sound they get good enough now for it never to occur to them that there might be anything better.

:exactly:

Perfectly said....................

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 22:41
No I wouldn'tWell there you have it, you see. Current technology does offer a solution very close to what I've just described except (and I'll type this bit slowly so we can all follow the pictures, ;) ) that it's a dongel that plugs in to the iPod instead of the iPod emdedding in to a "remote shaped/size" wireless transmitter. But you turned your nose up at it.

BTW, these things work by streaming the analogue output over a wireless link so it's software/file format independant.

There's always the Crestron solution. A mere snip at US $700 for the dock and $12,000 for the fancy colour touchscreen tablet & processor* which turns Apple's OSD in to nice pretty pictures for people with more money than sense. And guess what, it works on analogue too!

Have you though about sending an email to Apple HQ and see what response you get?


Regards


*$12,000 gets you more that iPod connectivity you'll be relieved to read. Control the telly, set the temp in your swimming pool, all the James Bond stuff. Still can't make the wife pick up a duster though; but if you've got $12K for a remote then she's probably got staff for those jobs. :smoking:

shane
29-02-2008, 23:26
BTW, these things work by streaming the analogue output over a wireless link so it's software/file format independant.


Does that mean it converts the analogue output of the Ipod back to digital and streams it to the base station which converts it back to analogue, or is it an analogue wireless system, as with infra-red headphones and suchlike? Either way there will be degredation of the sound. Can an Ipod output a digital stream, or are you stuck with the analogue output via the incorporated DACs and audio output circuitry? I don't have one myself, so I don't know what it can do.
The ideal would be to stream the digital output of the Ipod to the base station wirelessly, which would then allow a really good DAC to feed the hifi. If the Ipod was full of AAC or FLAC files, then presumably the result could be better than CD quality.

Chris Frost
29-02-2008, 23:59
Does that mean it converts the analogue output of the Ipod back to digital........streams..........base station......... converts back to analogue, or is it an analogue wireless system, ....... infra-red headphones and suchlike? ....... ....... degredation of the sound. Can ....... ....... Ipod output ....... digital stream, stuck ..................... incorporated DACs ............................ audio output ...................................circuitry? ...................................stream the digital........................................... ..................................output.......... .................................................. .................really good DAC .................................................. ....................full of AAC or FLAC files,............................................ .................................................. .... better than CD quality.Oh God, I'm losing the will to live.

There are cheaper, better, easier ways than trying to make this shire horse run the Grand National.

Here you are, an iPod with digital output. A snip at $2000. http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/28/ilink-dock-brings-digital-output-to-ipod-with-a-catch/

Here a link to a forum full of iPod hackers (http://forums.ipodhacks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6).

:beer:

:barrel:

:pub:

:glug:

:drinking:

:drunk:

:bog:

:drugs:

:goodnight:

pjdowns
02-03-2008, 21:08
Of course the other option to consider is the Squeezebox by Logitech (Formally Slim Devices).

Paul.