For a while I've been wanting a stand alone, self contained device that can play music over an 802.11b/g wireless link - something in the style of a radio, with built in speaker(s), display and control. Recently I discovered such devices exist - Currys in the centre of Norwich have the Logik IR100 radio and there are also variants by BT and Bush. Does anyone on the list have any experience of any of these? I'm slightly wary of the Logik only having a single speaker, but given my main intended usage location is the kitchen I suspect I'm not going to miss the lack of stereo.
J.
A year or so ago I had a need for such a device and no standalone examples existed (i.e units that had a built in speaker/amp)
In the end I rolled my own using a Netgear MP101 and a lovely old British Radio with an apt name.
http://digimatic.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&...
Haven't played with the devices you mention but most of the units I have seen don't stream from the Internet Radio station direct and are UPnP served so you will need to check compatibility with either twonkyvision (non free in either way) or gmediaserver (Free) if you want to serve it from something other than Windows. However UPnP served units have the advantage that they can stream your local mp3 collection too.
Actually the BT one at least seems to stream direct from the Radio station, but the stations are indexed via a BT provided service so you can only play submitted stations and if the service vanishes then presumably the radio is a doorstop.
Coincidentally if you are convinced to embark on a roll your own project then I have an OmniFi DMS1 that is now redundant thanks to xbmc which you can have for a suitably low price. It would make a better donor than the MP101 as it is more stable (and Linux based) and has front panel controls (which I have designed but not fitted to my MP101 yet so I have to resort to the remote for anything other than volume) With that you are only an Amp and Speaker away from a standalone unit.
On Thu, Mar 29, 2007 at 07:07:10PM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
A year or so ago I had a need for such a device and no standalone examples existed (i.e units that had a built in speaker/amp)
In the end I rolled my own using a Netgear MP101 and a lovely old British Radio with an apt name.
http://digimatic.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&...
I'd been considering going that route myself; I have a Linksys WMA11B as a starter and would just have to hook a display/amp/speakers up to it. I'd much rather get a ready provided solution I think.
Haven't played with the devices you mention but most of the units I have seen don't stream from the Internet Radio station direct and are UPnP served so you will need to check compatibility with either twonkyvision (non free in either way) or gmediaserver (Free) if you want to serve it from something other than Windows. However UPnP served units have the advantage that they can stream your local mp3 collection too.
The units I mention are all based on the Reciva Barracuda, which is Linux based and will stream things direct from the radio station as well as playing from locally available machines from what I can find about them. It doesn't look like anyone's produced alternative firmware yet, but Reciva have complied with the GPL and have the kernel source etc up for download.
Coincidentally if you are convinced to embark on a roll your own project then I have an OmniFi DMS1 that is now redundant thanks to xbmc which you can have for a suitably low price. It would make a better donor than the MP101 as it is more stable (and Linux based) and has front panel controls (which I have designed but not fitted to my MP101 yet so I have to resort to the remote for anything other than volume) With that you are only an Amp and Speaker away from a standalone unit.
I may still go down this route, but I think if I can get a piece of hardware that does basically what I want then I'd be happier doing that and then hacking the software to add the features that are missing (Ogg support is the main one that springs to mind).
J.
On Thu, 2007-03-29 at 19:39 +0100, Jonathan McDowell wrote:
I'd been considering going that route myself; I have a Linksys WMA11B as a starter and would just have to hook a display/amp/speakers up to it. I'd much rather get a ready provided solution I think.
A...Ready...Provided...Solution ?
What something where you just go to the shop and buy it, not assembled from random bits of hardware you have kicking around ?
Doesn't sound like much fun to me :-)
On Thu, Mar 29, 2007 at 08:15:51PM +0100, Wayne Stallwood wrote:
On Thu, 2007-03-29 at 19:39 +0100, Jonathan McDowell wrote:
I'd been considering going that route myself; I have a Linksys WMA11B as a starter and would just have to hook a display/amp/speakers up to it. I'd much rather get a ready provided solution I think.
A...Ready...Provided...Solution ?
What something where you just go to the shop and buy it, not assembled from random bits of hardware you have kicking around ?
Doesn't sound like much fun to me :-)
I'd still plan to fiddle with the software, but something that looks nice without requiring me to spend hours working on it appeals.
I'm more a low level software hardware hacker than a soldering iron hardware hacker. *gives the sigmonster a cookie*
J.
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Jonathan McDowell -
Wayne Stallwood