Comments on: How To Connect Your Pocket PC To The Internet Article

By: bug045

bug045 — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 16:09:15 +0000

The upgrade was for the Squeezebox. Slim finally resolved the display issue and gave me credit and re-assembled my Slimp3. They could not resolve my play issues and I just had no more time to wait for techincal support. I recently sold my Slimp3 on eBay and replaced with an Apple Airport Express which worked perfectly right out of the box. The Apple connection kit also came with an Toslink optical connection which fit nicely into my receiver/amp. I’m glad it worked for you but my overall experience soured me on this company. They kept pushing the problems back on me and I only got service when I started screaming.

By: MonkeyK

MonkeyK — Wed, 17 Nov 2004 15:56:35 +0000

I have always recieved great service from SlimDevices.

We have all of our music on the server now with the CDs put away out of sight. At some point (when I have the cash again), I will get another couple of Slimp3s or the newer Squeezebox.

Sorry to hear of your troubles bug045. If the display was not for a Slimp3 what was it for? Was it an upgrade to the Squeezebox display?

By: bug045

bug045 — Wed, 18 Aug 2004 23:54:42 +0000

While the concept for the device is a good one, buyer beware. Once you have the device don’t expect service or support. Here is my saga, and, unfortunately, it is continuing. After purchasing my Slimp3, I received an announcement for the Squeezebox. I called customer service at Slim, and was informed I could receive $100 off the purchase of a Squeezebox but that I had to keep my original unit(????). I did not need 2 devices so I kept the original. After a number of technical issues which were never really resolved, I resigned myself to the poor performance. Round 2. About 2 weeks ago I receive an unsolicted email with an offer for a display upgrade, to “enjoy the full potential of SlimServer 5.” So, I thought that this might help with my problem and I opted for the upgrade. I received the unit, and being an electrical engineer, I disassemble my Slimp3. What a kluge! Then I found that display was different from that in the upgrade. Reading the instructions, I found the small print that stated the unit would not work with my Slimp3 – arrrggggghhh! Why send me the offer! Now my Slimp3 is in pieces and assembling it is near impossible since spacers that are required need the screws in place and you can’t put them in place until the unit is inside its case – who designed this? Anyway, I bring my issues up to Slim and after waiting for 3 days they make me the gratious offer of refunding my money (even though they say it is my fault!) but I will have to pay to repair the Slimp3.

Stay away from this company!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

By: Julie

Julie — Wed, 19 May 2004 01:50:43 +0000

This product is product gives you an LCD display and a remote control… Neither of which might be considered much of a benefit if your computer and stereo are in the same room though.

By: draco887

draco887 — Wed, 19 May 2004 01:39:35 +0000

Hello. I have a line running strait from the speaker port of my laptop to my sterio. I was wondering, would there be any extra benefit for me to purchase this product? From waht I have seen, it looks REALLY nice, however I am not sure if I would have any real benefit from it. What do you think? [COLOR=#990000]
~Draco[/COLOR]

By: mbowyer

mbowyer — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 05:14:11 +0000

While the AudioTron will work with other operating systems that support Windows File Sharing (such as Mac OS and Linux) Turtle Beach only provides support for the above operating systems.

Which means NO, but you can frig it!
Its really time that manufacturers followed open standards. MP3 is cross platform, so why make the Turtle Beach ‘windows file system only’ when it uses TCP/IP???

By: mgome

mgome — Sun, 31 Aug 2003 23:19:33 +0000

The following is from the Turtle Beach website:

” While the AudioTron will work with other operating systems that support Windows File Sharing (such as Mac OS and Linux) Turtle Beach only provides support for the above operating systems.”

Turtle Beach

–
Manny

By: mbowyer

mbowyer — Sat, 30 Aug 2003 11:28:13 +0000

The Turtle Beach Audiotron DOES NOT support Mac OS X, Linux, or other *nix platforms. Its also a very big box! I like the Slimp3.
BUT, the Slimp3 needs native AAC support added, the LAME encoder is far too processor intensive. S/PDIF out would be nice too.

By: mgome

mgome — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 22:39:51 +0000

Thanks for your review of the SLIMP3. I’m just curious if you’ve heard about the Turtle Beach Audiotron . I really like the stereo component form-factor. It also offers “Analog and digital optical S/PDIF audio outputs for audiophile music quality.” There also appears to be an open source community developing for this device. Turtle Beach has released an HTTP based set of API’s. Basically the Audiotron can be controlled through HTTP requests. My only gripe is the lack of support for gigabit ethernet.

Thanks and keep up the good work.

–
Manny

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 22:06:20 +0000

Wow, she must have had an older Palm device if it worked for that long!

By: Altema

Altema — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:51:03 +0000

Originally posted by Julie
Can you tell that I’m not an audiophile? Live and learn!

That’s ok, you do stuff that others only dream about! My wife is a handheld junky now, but did not even know her device HAD batteries for the first three months…

PS: Loved your vacation article, feel like I’ve been there.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 21:36:23 +0000

Can you tell that I’m not an audiophile? Live and learn!

By: Altema

Altema — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:44:07 +0000

Originally posted by Julie
The phono amp is EXACTLY the one I plugged into! I’ll try using a different one (I think the only other one I have open is the VCR amp) tonight and will report back!

The phono inputs also have RIAA equalization in addition to the different sensitivity:)

By: lpret

lpret — Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:41:19 +0000

I have over 80 gigs of mp3s all encoded at 320 kbps straight from my CDs and I currently have a box running in my living room. I’d love to find a replacement for this loud beast, but it does give me an optical out. Perhaps I’m a little too extreme of an audiophile, but couldn’t we have better outputs than RCA on the slimp3? I’d like to see an optical output — I mean, all of the audio is complete digital until then. :rolleyes:

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 30 Mar 2003 15:28:11 +0000

I’m falling in love with the SLIMP3 more and more every day! Since I already purchased and ran the 50 ft of CAT5 from my computer room to the stereo, I don’t even care that it doesn’t have WiFi built in. Although it would be cool to use my T|T (with Bluetooth) to search a list of songs to play while sitting in my recliner

What’s great about it is the fact that it’s totally transparent to me while I’m working on my PC. I do not notice a performance hit at all.

Oh, there is a cool little background story about Dean who works for Slim Devices. He actually attributes The Gadgeteer to getting his job there at the company! He saw the SLIMP3 featured as a new gadget awhile ago and contacted the company to offer them some ideas and they hired him!

By: simonhorrobin

simonhorrobin — Sun, 30 Mar 2003 10:24:50 +0000

Just to preface, I’ve been using a couple of SliMP3s for over a year know, and it’s been my favourite gadget for that entire period.

The WiFi thing has been done to death on the SliMP3 forums. The reason it doesn’t have it was purely to keep the costs down at the start. If you want it that badly, you can stick an Orinocco bridge in. My view is that if the product had it, it would absolutely trounce the opposition because it already beats them on every other level:

User interface – The Slimpy’s big win. The vfd is unbelievably clear. The navigation is simple – if I want to hear a track, I just search for it using either remote or website. Shortly there will be a PDA skin, and I will use that on my iPaq to control the SliMP3s through a bluetooth access point (no battery slaughtering WiFi for me!).

Storage – there are no local drives, so there’s no copying from my main store. I don’t have to create snapshots of my collection for the device. I can see the same collection in any room where there’s a SliMP3. If I run out of space, I just add another drive to my main machine.

Support – The SliMP3 community is amazing and they are supported by two guys (Dean and Sean) at the company who can’t get enough of helping everyone. I’ve never experienced customer service this good – truly a godsend.

Features – Streamed shoutcast, playlist support, LAN flashable: the architecture means that the sky’s the limit with this system. I already stream BBC news across the screen as a ticker from the internet. You can do the same with stock prices, the weather, and one of the community has even configured it to display his phone book in a navigable format. I could write pages and page about this stuff.

Sound Quality – this is subject to the quality of your rips, and dependent on being able to wire it up properly (sorry Julie). I use EAC to Rip, and Lame to encode; the configuration wasn’t easy (and I’m still tweaking). That said I’m getting very good results: It does not compete with my Arcam CD player, but it is indistinguishable from the (pretty good) Sony mini system CD player in the bedroom. In blind tests I felt the Slimpy was slightly better – think Denon DM30 – it’s that good.

Cool – You can see track names, artists and album titles from the comfort of your lazyboy. When mates come round, they go “WOW”. You can sync them up around the house so the same tunes are played simultaneously everywhere. This thing was developed in a garage by a guy pushing the limits, and it doesn’t get cooler than that for me.

In summary, there really is nothing out there to compete with this product. The WiFi issue is an annoyance, but not a big deal. The other advantages (and the option to bridge) mean that if you’re in the market for a product like this, there is only one choice.

By: wsm

wsm — Sat, 29 Mar 2003 18:15:12 +0000

Streaming audio works just fine.

Been using Slimp3 now for 4 months and all is well.

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 29 Mar 2003 13:06:13 +0000

No, I didn’t test the streaming internet radio with the SLIMP3. I’ll try it this weekend and report back.

By: lorcro2000

lorcro2000 — Sat, 29 Mar 2003 10:43:11 +0000

That is my biggest problem with the HP wireless media receiver mentioned above. Otherwise great, but you need to have the TV plugged in to see what it is doing as it has no display.

By the way – can the Slimp3 play back streaming data off the web? Shoutcast? Would make it extra useful if you could listen to one of the many web radio stations using Shoutcast.

(edit: whoops, never mind, found that the answer is yes by going through their FAQ.)

Did you test that, Julie? If not, would be interesting to hear how it works. Tons of stations over at http://www.shoutcast.com

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 29 Mar 2003 02:51:25 +0000

That product does look interesting, but I think that one of the best features of the SLIMP3 is its bright LCD display. With it, I can sit in my recliner and see the song title from 10 feet away. I can also use the remote to scroll thru songs and search for songs.

By: omido

omido — Fri, 28 Mar 2003 23:27:28 +0000

homepod ( http://www.gloolabs.com/Customer.php ) do the same thing but wireless with wifi. it's much mre interesting.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 28 Mar 2003 22:20:10 +0000

The problem was trying to run the unit through the Phono input connections on the back of my receiver. I just plugged it into the VCR connection and WOW! It’s a BILLION times better! Now I definitely don’t want to send it back!!! :p

By: lorcro2000

lorcro2000 — Fri, 28 Mar 2003 15:10:37 +0000

Oh, one more thought; there are wireless bridges available as well for people who want a Slimp3 but want to use it without wires. The bridge is just an external box to which you connect a short run of normal ethernet cable and then it converts that to wifi.

I’m talking about something like a Linksys WET11.

By: lorcro2000

lorcro2000 — Fri, 28 Mar 2003 15:01:03 +0000

The phono amp is very different from the other inputs. The output from a turntable is not as strong as other components so the phono input is designed to handle lower “volumes”. That is no doubt the problem. Use either tape, cd or aux inputs instead for anything that isn’t a turntable.

Ah well, perhaps someone will read my previous post and switch to some really great MP3 encoding tools and help dispel the “MP3 sounds inferior” myth.

I get so worked up when some clueless reporter (no, not you, Julie ) compares something like an MD player with an MP3 player, without even thinking about where the MP3 files came from. The MD player will have much more bandwidth available than 128 kbit MP3 file, so of course it sounds better. Then use a Xing encoder to make the MP3 file and you are really in trouble.

A comparison with a Lame-encoded VBR MP3 file would not be nearly as clear cut, however.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 28 Mar 2003 13:07:24 +0000

The phono amp is EXACTLY the one I plugged into! I’ll try using a different one (I think the only other one I have open is the VCR amp) tonight and will report back!