MaximumPC 2004 03

Reviews

The remote’s screen makes couch browsing easy,

even with large music collections.

192 KBPS

48 KBPS

The hiccups on startup is unacceptable, and the

server program should be a background service.

$250, http://www.creativelabs.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 7

Creative Wireless Music

W

hat good is 150GB of MP3s

if you can only listen to

them through your PC

speakers and not the kickin’ sound

system in your living room? If your

PC and stereo are in the same room,

connecting the two is as easy as run-

ning a cable between the two. But

what if your PC is on the other side

of the house? Not only is it inconve-

nient to string a cable through mul-

tiple rooms, but sound quality is

degraded by the use of longer audio

cable. We’ve tested several different

MP3 streaming solutions in the

Maximum PC Lab and these are two

of the best we’ve seen to date.

—WILL SMITH

Creative Labs Wireless Music

The Creative Labs package includes a

Wi-Fi base station and an impressive

remote control. Instead of putting a

small, difficult-to-read LCD on the

base station, Creative innovatively

incorporates the LCD, used for

browsing and selecting songs, into

the remote control.

Configuration is simple. You

install the Creative Labs software

on the PC that houses your digital

music, plug the streaming box into

that PC’s USB port,

and input your

wireless network’s

settings. After

that, you disconnect

the wireless box from

your PC and connect it

to your stereo, using either

an analog or Toslink optical

digital connection.

The Wireless Music device uses

Creative’s MediaSource jukebox soft-

ware to itemize all your digital

music, and a system tray applet to

share music with up to four receiver

boxes. Unfortunately, this server

applet has some problems. First, the

applet consumes at least 20MB of

your PC’s RAM, which is much

more than any streaming applet

we’ve seen (most use between 1MB

and 5MB of RAM). The applet also

runs only in the system tray, and

not in the background as a

Windows service. So if

you want a dedicated media serv-

er that can stream music at any

time, you’ll have to perpetually

leave an account logged into

Windows.

The audio quality sounds fantas-

tic with both the analog and digital

outputs. Unfor- tunately, playback

wasn’t flawless, even with high-

quality MP3s. Sometimes when you

change tracks, the next song starts,

then hiccups, then continues. We

expect better from a $200 product.

The screen on the remote control

makes navigating even huge music

collections a snap. You can sort

tracks by artist, album, or genre.

Sadly, Creative’s software occasion-

ally fails to detect ID3 tags for

songs ripped using other programs.

Without the information in the ID3

tags, it’s impossible to determine

whether a tune is by the White

Stripes or Mariah Carey without lis-

tening to it. That’s just not cool.

Slim Devices Squeezebox

At first glance, you might be unim-

pressed by the plain vanilla remote

control and small black box sporting

a two-line LCD display. But despite

its humble appearance, the

Squeezebox is the perfect digital

streaming box for music enthusiasts.

You install the open source serv-

er software—called Slimserver —on

the PC housing your MP3 collec-

tion. We used the Windows version,

but OS X and Linux versions are

also available. Via an easily read-

able display, you can effortlessly

configure the Squeezebox for either

a wired Ethernet network or a Wi-Fi

wireless connection. You also have

the option of installing the server

software as a Windows service,

which means it’ll run anytime the

machine is on, whether

or not an account is logged in.

The Squeezebox has analog

RCA, coaxial SPDIF, and a Toslink

optical SPDIF output. Sound qual-

ity is exemplary. Every aspect of

the Squeezebox’s interface is con-

figurable in the Slimserver software,

from the size of the display to the

way tracks and titles are listed. It’s

fast and easy to browse even enor-

mous music collections using the

search functions.

To search by artist, album, or

track, key in the first few letters of

the name and press enter. The

Squeezebox will list all the choices

that match up with your search. In

addition to the search function, you

can also browse by genre, artist,

album, or track title. The Slimserver

software even parses the MP3 tags

that the Creative software ignores.

Because Slimserver is an open

source application, there are doz-

ens of useful user-created plugins.

With the right plugins, your

Squeezebox can even display the

local weather forecast, news

updates, and serve as a smart alarm

clock. Using the LAME encoder,

you can stream anything to your

Squeezebox that you can listen to

on your PC, from Internet radio to

songs from Rhapsody.

Wireless Music Players

Stream MP3s from your PC to your living room stereo

The Squeezebox’s easy-to-read

interface lets us tune surf from the

couch, which makes us giddy.

The Wireless

Music’s remote

sports an LCD

screen, saving you

from squinting at

a tiny screen on

a far away base

station when

you want to find

music.

The excellent interface and server software make

this a must-have for any audiophile.

MILHOUSE VAN HOUTEN

RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON

Three hundred bucks is a tad expensive, but the

Squeezebox is worth every extra penny.

$300, http://www.slimdevices.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 10

Slim Devices Squeezebox

 MAXIMUMPC MARCH 2004