Slim Devices slims Squeezbox prices

Plus Reg reader feedback

Review Update Since we ran our review, posted yesterday, of the Squeezebox wireless audio player, we've heard from the company behind it, Slim Devices, and Register readers who have their own thoughts on the gadget.

Slim Devices today lowered the price of the Squeezebox from $299 to $279 (the wireless-free version drops from $249 to $199). A modest reduction, but one that still leaves the Squeezebox at a significant premium over similar products like the Netgear MP101 ($120) or Linksys' Wireless-B Media Adaptor ($150/£120) - though that lacks support for platforms other than Windows XP and Squeezebox's rather fine display.

Reader James Watson wanted to point out the Squeezebox's alarm clock facility, a feature we noted but left untested for... well... time reasons. James also mentioned SoftSqueeze, a virtual Squeezebox written in Java, allowing another computer to interact with the machine running SlimServer in the same way the Squeezebox does.

Reader Mark Wayt notes that you can do the same thing with iTunes or any other MP3 player that can handle streams. "Point it to the SlimServer's IP at port 9000/stream.mp3 (eg. http://127.0.0.1:9000/stream.mp3) and it will connect that laptop to the server. Then just open the web page at http://servername:9000/ and you can have your laptop connected in one room and your Squeezebox in another, playing different songs," he says.

Mark adds: "You can do more than just listen to your music on it. There's a thriving plug-in community. I have the BBC Ticker Plugin, so you can get it to display the BBC Ticker like on a PC on it's screen (assuming your source server's connected to the internet at that time)."

Other plug-ins worth a mention include one that ties the Squeezebox into a Listen.com Rhapsody account, a feature thus far limited to the Netgear MP101. You can download the plug-in here.

Reader Aron Hubbard wrote to us to highlight Videobox, a Windows-based system that's "just add a way to get your PC's video and audio signals to your living room TV set to transform your Squeezebox into a Video Player", according to the developer web site.

A number of readers praised the Squeezebox's ability to work with iTunes, as highlighted by Dan Speirs' website MySqueezebox, which has a clever walkthrough on using iTunes playlists to connect Internet radio stations to the Squeezebox.

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