Is the Logitech Touch easy to use

[pwood]

I dont have a library of ripped lossless files yet but now the Touch is out I am tempted to get one. I wanted a simple interface with my Hifi that did not require PC turned on all the time and only Sonos kit fitted the bill but price is rather more than the Touch. I like the idea of internet radio as it opens a whole lot of music choice and this is one area where i am unsure on ease of use as the other half would like something that is quick to use and not complicated. Can anyone who has one describe how it works in simple terms.

Thanks in advance.

[Stratmangler]

Well I don't have a Touch (yet) but I did have a chance to see/play with/listen to Ali's Squeezebox Touch over the weekend, and all I can say is it looks to be quite straightforward to set up, and use is as simple as a menu system can be.

The sound of the analogue outputs is very, very good, and if you want to use an external DAC that sounds great too.

Buy with confidence:)

[Ali Tait]

It's so easy it's untrue.I've never owned a streamer of any kind,and I ain't a computer boffin,but 10 minutes after connecting it to my system I was playing music.I use mine with a Drobo connected directly,so I only need to use a pc if I want to add more music to the Drobo.I used EAC to rip FLAC files,and you can set EAC to store the music on your drive however you want.

You can use the screen to control it,but if you your system in at the other end of the room,you can use an application on a smartphone-ipeng for the iphone for instance,though I'm using squeezecommander on my Android G1,which is great,you can browse your music,and make up playlists,or just pick out individual tracks or albums to play.

It sounds pretty good feeding your amp from the analogue outs,but will improve with a good dac,plus it supports up to 24/96 files,so you can play hi rez stuff,which I find significantly better than 16/44.1 cd files.It's a great sounding piece of kit,and a no brainer at the price.I won't be going back to cd.

[pwood]

Thanks for the replies folks especially from the lad up the road from me:)

Anyone used internet radio on it yet. I read somewhere there are high res stations out there but cant find the link again:doh: The reason I ask is I was messing about with 365.com last night and was impressed with the content.

[Ali Tait]

I've had a quick go,but nothing serious as I've been mucking about with hi rez files.Drop me a PM if you'd like to try the Touch out,you're welcome to visit.

[Ali Tait]

BTW,if anyone has links to hi rez internet stations,could they post them up please?

[pwood]

I've had a quick go,but nothing serious as I've been mucking about with hi rez files.Drop me a PM if you'd like to try the Touch out,you're welcome to visit.

Thanks for the offer to see it in operation Ali. I am gonna get one of these methinks as the more I explore the the capabilities the more it seems a great buy for the money. Birthday looms and I need a gadget fix so the Touch should keep me busy.

By Hi Rez I meant more than the standard low rate from the like of BBC. This (http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/255379/high-bitrate-classical-radio) thread on headfi is the best i have found so far albeit rather old thread now.

[Ali Tait]

Cheers,I'll have a look.

[Canetoad]

Try this site:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/broadband_internet_radio.htm

[Marco]

Hey, you've got a Dunfermline buddy to play with now, Ali! :eyebrows:

Welcome to AOS 'Canetoad' - what's your proper first name? :)

When you get a chance, could you please pop into the Welcome area and introduce yourself. Use one of the threads there as a template for what is required (system details, music tastes, etc).

Cheers! :cool:

Marco.

[Ali Tait]

The more the merrier!

[Marco]

Thanks for doing that, Bernie! I hope you enjoy participating in our community :)

Marco.

[Labarum]

Here is my list of Classical HiBit stations

It may be dated.

You can cut and paste the URLs into "Tune" in the Web Interface and the add to favourites.

Bartók Rádió (Hungary)
http://212.92.28.75:2008/
MP3 at 320kbps

AVRO Klassiek Beste NL MP3 256
http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s55517&Formats=mp3,wma,real&username=sampletime&PartnerId=16

BBC R3 WMA 128
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/wm_asx/aod/radio3.asx

BBC R4 WMA 96
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/wm_asx/aod/radio4.asx

BBC R4 LW 64
mms://wmlive-acl.bbc.co.uk/wms/bbc_ami/radio4/radio4lw_bb_live_eq1_sl1#slim:noscan=1

Venice Classic MP3 128
http://www.shoutcast.com/sbin/tunein-station.pls?id=4975&filename=playlist.pls

D-dur (Czech Republic)
http://www.rozhlas.cz/audio/download/ddur_maxogg.m3u
OGG at 224kbps

Vltava (Czech Republic)
http://radio.cesnet.cz/cgi-bin/cro3-256-ogg.pls
OGG at 224kbps

Devín (Slovakia)
http://live.slovakradio.sk:8000/Devin_256.ogg
OGG at 256kbps

NRK Alltid Klassisk (Norway)
http://media.hiof.no/streams/m3u/nrk...sk-172.ogg.m3u
OGG at 172kbps

Radio 4 (Netherlands)
http://shoutcast.omroep.nl:8106/listen.pls
MP3 at 192kbps

Baroque Ottawa MP3 128
http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s65422&Formats=mp3,wma,real&username=sampletime&PartnerId=16

Classical Quebec MP3 128
URL: http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s96897&Formats=mp3,wma,real&username=sampletime&PartnerId=16

Radio Swiss Classic MP3 128
http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s25582&Formats=mp3,wma,real&username=sampletime&PartnerId=16


---

Radio Swiss Classic (Switzerland)
http://stream-1.ssatr.ch/rsc/aacp
AAC+ at 64kbps (sounds like MP3 at 160-192kbps)

Play Classical (UK)
http://audio3.playradiouk.com:8060/
AAC+ at 64kbps (sounds like MP3 at 160-192kbps)

---

BBC WMA Streams at 128

R1

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r1.asx

R2

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r2.asx

R3

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r3.asx

R4

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4.asx

R4 Longwave

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4lw.asx

R5 Live

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r5l.asx

R5 Live Sports Extra

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r5lsp.asx

R6 Music

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r6.asx

R7

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r7.asx

R Asian Network

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/ran.asx

R4 Longwave

http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4lw.asx

For best quality for BBC Radio install the BBC iPlayer plugin to get AAC streams

There are one or two stations that stream FLAC

See

http://radio.cesnet.cz:8000/cro-d-dur.flac

But this will not currently play on a Squeezebox.

Try Foobar on the PC or VLC on any platform

[Ali Tait]

Thanks Gentlemen.

[Canetoad]

I am. Just flitting about from one post to another at the moment getting up to speed.

I still have to check a lot of the online radio feeds out. I'm currently spending a lot of time with EAC creating flac files for all my favourite CDs. I'm also trying to sort out a problem with the SB receiver dropping out all the time. My PC connection to the router is dying regularly now too. I think it's partly because of McAfee firewall I have installed.

The receiver problem could be distance from the router. I'm going to plug it into another phone socket closer to my stereo and see if this helps.

[Stratmangler]

Hi Bernie

If your wireless connection is dropping out I'd suggest the best way to connect is with ethernet cable.
That way you'd have the dependability a wired connection affords. It would potentially have higher bandwidth than a wireless connection too.

If it is difficult to run cable then you could use Homeplugs and run the data over your electrical mains. There are certain caveats to this approach - if your server and receiving device are on different rings then you may have connection issues. You should also plug a Homeplug device directly into a wall socket - extension boards also cause connection issues.

There is another issue to hand too.
The folks at Slim Devices always recommended that the server side link to your router was wired, as two wireless hops from server to receiving unit could be pretty flaky

[Canetoad]

Thanks for the heads up Chris. There's plenty of information available on the net regarding this but not much that is of any help. I have ordered a cat5 ethernet cord to connect the PC to the router. I'll get to the bottom of it sooner or later.:steam::doh: