The ImpRadio and ImpAdapt Reviews are now both online

Have been playing with both Magicbox radios over the weekend, first impressions are good.

Both excellent for internet radio, plug in and go.
UPnP support is useful, it seems to be more reliable than using Windows shares (I have a fairly complex wireless though, will try it on another one this week)

Scroll wheel on the impradio is fantastic, all players should have one of these.
The small remote on the adapt looks great, but scrolling through stations takes a lot longer than with the wheel on the Imp.

More to come soon…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Olive unveils IP-based control for its music server line. NAS support added.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 23rd, 2006 - Olive Media Products, Inc., a developer of innovative digital audio systems, today announced Olive RONDO, a new IP-based control interface for its complete music server line. Olive’s music centers are now controllable via any PDA, PC, or touch-panel that supports the IP protocol.

Olive’s new control interface, which can be launched from any standard web browser, allows users to manage the playback (play, pause, skip, stop) of their music, as well as view important music information such as artist, album, and title. In addition, users can create playlists, edit the metadata of their music, and configure the settings of their music center. Developed mainly as a remote control application, the new interface is available with an optimized display output for portable devices such as PDAs, internet tablets, and IP-capable remote controls.

Additional features of the new software:

* The integration of a UPnP/AV client module allows Olive’s music servers to stream music from a UPnP/AV server, e.g. networked attached storage.
* In addition to WEP encryption, Olive’s music centers now support the WPA standard, for the latest in wireless network security.

Olive’s new software update is available for free to all existing customers, and is shipped with the current line of Olive music servers.

ABOUT OLIVE MEDIA PRODUCTS
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Olive is a privately held company
driven by a team of music aficionados with a vision to create the perfect music experience. With a deep understanding of audio and convergence technology Olive solutions deliver the best of both worlds, combining high fidelity sound and innovative features with intuitive navigation and attractive design. For more information about Olive(r) and its many fine products visit www.olive.us or call 1.877.BY.OLIVE.

FOR MEDIA INFORMATION
Olive Corporate Communications
Telephone: (415) 908 3870
E-mail: communication@olive.us

TRADEMARKS
Olive is a registered trademark of Olive Media Products, Inc. in the US and in the countries where Olive products are sold or distributed. Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

Source: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=413262

Just posted on the Slimdevices forums, Logitech are to acquire Slimdevices

Opinions are mixed at the moment, but I believe by combining the marketing power of Logitech and the new Harmony 1000, the Squeezebox with Harmony could be the competitor for the Sonos we have all been waiting for

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28821

More good news, I am getting the MagicBox Imp Radio and Imp Adapt (http://www.theimpradio.com/theimpinfo.html) in for an in-depth review.

Will update this blog once the review is posted

Announced today, Slimdevices are bundling the Squeezebox with a Ruckus MediaFlex multimedia Wi-Fi router

Still nothing on the Slimdevices website, but it is mentioned here:
http://www.ruckuswireless.com/press/releases/20061012.php

This could be a good move for Slimdevices, especially if also bundled with the Infrant to make it a full solution

More as I hear it

Here are the new features from the Cambridge Audio software update:

Improved networking capabilities:
The 640H can now be easily seen and accessed on a home PC network. This offers increased stability and network accessibility when changes are made to the 640H’s hard drive content. It is now much easier for networks and PC’s to recognise and scan the 640H and register it as an external storage device.

Audio content can be easily assigned onto the 640H from a PC or network by simply ‘dragging and dropping’. This also allows Album Art to be easily transferred, and content which was recorded to the drive without album art can now have artwork added to it at a later date.

Greatly improved user interface:
It is now possible to scan backwards and forwards up to 32x normal speed through individual tracks to locate a particular point in a song or performance.

The timer now counts up, as a normal Cd player would, indicating progress through a track, as opposed to the previous counter, which counted down to the end of the track.

The improved shuffle facility allows the user to enjoy random playback of all content, or if they prefer, random playback of tracks of a specific Genre or Artist. For example, selecting ‘Beatles’ in artists and then ‘Shuffle’, allows you to listen to random tracks from any Beatles album stored on the hard drive. Similarly, selecting a genre such as ‘Classical’ and then ‘Shuffle’ would allow you to listen to all tracks stored as classical genre in a random order.

AAC handling:
Enhanced stability with the storage and playback capability of AAC files. Previously, some unrelated data contained within AAC files may have caused stability issues. Now, the 640H can store and handle AAC files without issue.

Improved stability of Hard Drive:
The latest software version offers greatly improved stability, reliability and consistency when large amounts of content are placed on the drive. This resolves any previous issues that users may have had with hard drive integrity when they were approaching full capacity.

Pocket PC control:
The upgraded software allows a 640H to be remotely viewed and controlled by a Pocket PC, allowing users more comprehensive remote access than that provided by the standard remote control. This greatly enhances the functionality of the unit in the context of full home automation.

Source: Here

New software upgrade for the 640H here: Link

Thanks to KCWolfPck at AVForums for pointing this out

Will post the specifics as soon as I know more

Andrew

Good news, I have my name down to get a review model of the Roku Radio for a couple of weeks.

It should be here sometime this month and I’ll get a review posted asap

Watch this space…

Andrew

A new review has now been added for the excellent SB+ from At-Tunes

Many thanks to Patrick Dixon and Andrew Weekes for supplying the review and pictures