gdgt

dancameron

Reviewed on Jan 20, 2010

Detailed review

I've had my Logitech Squeezebox Radio for a few weeks now and I completely love the thing, it makes listening so much easier.

The functionality of the system is great. Right now I have a few Pandora channels preset so I can just walk up to it and with one touch start listening to some tunes. I also have presets for some albums that are streamed from my music library on my MacPro.

The integration with iTunes and the mac is so-so, it looks at your iTunes xml file and picks up all the playlists and info but it’s only one-way, I’d love to see play count and skip count get updated in iTunes for my smart playlists. Another very minor thing, the preference pane and runs in 32 bit mode so when you want to force a library refresh ( instead of waiting ) you need to restart system preferences in order for it to work; it’s not a real issue, it’s just an annoyance.

There’s a ton a cool functionality. The facebook integration is sort of lame, it posts an update with a song your listening to, the con is the update looks like an ad for the Radio. The flickr integration is really cool, since I could use the screen as a picture viewer while using it for music. There’s a few other apps that are available, like slacker or last.fm but I don’t use them. I really like having Sirious Radio available but their subscription is way too expensive to keep after the trial. I can’t wait for MOG integration, I really like that service and it could replace Pandora as my default music discovery app.

From the reviews I read before I purchased it the sound quality is good but I would review it as okay. The reason being, I rather use the line out into my speaker system in order to get more bass and dual speaker stereo. Maybe I’ll change my mind when the battery accessory comes out and I’ll use it more around the house.

There are some cons but they’re few and far between to even go over, except for one. The big round button on the front, you would think that could be used for volume, well it’s not, there’s a little nob for the volume instead. Maybe a future update will allow for it to be programmed as a volume knob.

The Radio is highly recommended if you listen to a lot of music during work or around the house and you want a toy to help your enjoyment. Even if you could just use iTunes or the Pandora widget on your desktop, having the hardware dedicated and ready for use is a relief to have.