Friday, August 21, 2009

Logitech Squeezebox Radio

- Baby Boom?
Squeezebox Radio aka BabyBoom

Engadget report lead me towards another FCC test report posted today - this time it reveals a small Squeezebox with integrated speakers - a cut down Squeezebox Boom.
Squeezebox Radio - under test
It is described as:
Squeezebox Radio model X-R0001 is a compact tabletop network music player and internet radio that lets you listen to virtually any internet radio station, music service or entire personal digital music collection.
Providing remarkable sound in a compact footprint, the X-R0001 extends the power and ease-of-use of the Squeezebox to any room. The Squeezebox Radio model X-R0001 features:
• Compact Design
• Bi-amplified design with ¾-inch high-definition, soft-dome tweeter
• 3-inch high-power, long-throw woofer
• 10W digital power amplifier
2.4” Color TFT LCD
• Front panel controls including scroll wheel
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• One-touch WPS wireless setup
• Built-in 10/100 Ethernet
• Headphone Jack
• Works with all Squeezebox family products

Something to note - looks like this is a mono device (one dome and one tweeter).
Dimensions listed as 4” x 6” x 3.25”
Although not mentioned in the summary above - the test document does refer to a battery pack - so this looks like it is a truely portable device (perhaps they will charge extra for the battery module).
Price: around 180USD

Teaming up with Queen ...
A page leaked out (and was pulled) from Logitech site stating:
"Queen

Listen to an exclusive premiere of Queen's forthcoming album, Absolute Greatest, streamed to your Squeezebox Touch or Squeezebox Radio for free until the album release in November. With Queen and Squeezebox you can: Preview Queen’s upcoming album, ..."

Here is one of the more unusual views - from underneath (showing where the product label is)

Squezebox Radio from underneath

26/Aug/2009
Updated with another picture and price
03/Sep/2009
Updated with latest inmage from Logitech (officially blogged about on their site)

2 comments:

Richard said...

Still wish the Squeezebox line could access Real Media. I believe that means people in North America can't get the BBC's excellent domestic audio services, unless the Squeezebox can handle Flash. That's a big hole in any Internet radio IMO.

Richard

Paul Webster said...

@Richard
The bigger reason for not being able to get BBC content from outside UK is the block that UK puts on it.
If you installer a couple of excellent plug-ins for SqueezeCenter (AlienBBC and BBCiPlayer) then you will be able to see all of the On Demand that BBC allows to direct stream.
The installation drags in mplayer which adds RealAudio support.
In theory ... on Wednesday next week the BBC local radio On Demand content should be available as WMA (RealAudio turned off)