Slim Devices Squeezebox

Music is one of the great passions in my life. It’s what we all listen to on our way to and from work and it’s where we turn when we are at our best and want to feel good. It’s also there when our lives aren’t exactly going as we had planned. There is just something about Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata that puts a troubled mind to ease. In that same thought, music has played a major role in all of our lives. Personally, for me, the first day each spring that is warm enough to cruise with the windows down in the car means one thing. Sublime. 40 oz. to Freedom is just one of those albums that completely takes me to another place and time and the same can be said for the Moonlight Sonata.

One of my digital pride and joys can be found on my hard drive in the form of a folder full of MP3’s. My tastes span many genres and it’s a given that when people come over, there will be a song that they want to hear and more than likely, I have it. In the past few years, MP3 players have taken front and center stage in the audio world. This is best exemplified by the perennial powerhouse, Apple’s iPod. However, the choices do not stop there. You can get an MP3 compatible stereo for your home, office or car. You can ever buy sunglasses with small ear buds built into them so you can listen to the tunes and still look cool. As a friend to all things tech, I appreciate hardware that fills a need in my life.

In my house, I have a computer room, my office and the family room that houses the entertainment center. It’s in the family room where the good old surround sound can be found. This is the room with the nice speakers that make the house go boom. With the only limit to my devices being my bank account, I don’t have great speakers in the other rooms of my house but that’s not to say that there isn’t great potential for the full media experience.

When we have parties, it’s the entertainment center that gets the work out and not being to keen on running wires from my PC to the stereo receiver, there really isn’t a convenient way to listen to all of my MP3’s on speakers that can actually do them justice. In my search for the perfect bridge between audio source and speaker, I have come across a company by the name of Slim Devices. They are the manufacturers of the popular Squeezebox.

Founded in 2000, Slim Devices has been a manufacturer of high quality, well designed products catering to the home audio enthusiast. In 2001, they came to market with the SlimP3, a hardware device that could stream MP3s via an Ethernet line from a host PC running their free Slim Server software to any electrical component with audio in jacks. As time went on, they added more and more functionality to their product.

The first Squeezebox came out in 2003 and added wireless 802.11b WiFi for those that opted to go with the extra accessory. Now on their third generation of the Squeezebox, the newest box comes with optional 802.11b/g WiFi as well as a redesigned look. Can the Squeezebox deliver an exceptional home audio experience? While having very little experience with the previous versions, I have worked enough with the earlier Squeezebox (rev. 2) that I certainly know what I want.

Coming to us in the retail packaging, the Slim Devices Squeezebox is a reasonably small device which is evident by the size of the box. Colorful and informative, the Squeezebox’s marketing team did well to create a box that will stand out on the shelves of any store that carries the product.

On the side, we see lots of useful information. One thing to notice, and this is sure to make a lot of Anti-Windows users happy is the compatibility with Mac OS and Linux.