Slim Devices Squeezebox December 9th, 2003 | by Jeff Fila

Introduction

Just like it's predecessor, the Squeezebox is a networked audio player capable of playing streamed digital music stored on a computer through a stereo system. It is a small black box (8.5”W x 1.9”H x 4.5”D) that connects to a wired or wireless network.

It plays digital music in the form of MP3s at any bitrate (constant or variable), uncompressed audio (WAV or AIFF), and streaming Internet radio. It has a built-in MP3 decoder and can play other compressed media such as Ogg Vorbis, AAC or FLAC with server-side on-the-fly decoding. It also boasts some very useful features such as an alarm clock that lets you wake up to your favorite music, and a sleep timer that gradually decreases volume as it shuts the device off automatically.

The Squeezebox improves upon the SLIMP3 in a number of areas. First, it adds several new outputs, including the digital outputs that audiophiles have asked for. There is an S/PDIF optical port as well as a gold-plated digital coax port. The unit also features the same gold-plated RCA jacks as the SLIMP3, and adds a mini-plug headphone jack. The second major improvement over the SLIMP3 is the addition of wireless networking. The unit features an internal 802.11b wireless adapter and a 10baseT Ethernet adapter.

The Squeezebox as shown from the front (left) the rear (middle) and the right side (right)

Serving up tunes to the Squeezebox is the SlimServer software. It is a new version of the same software that has been powering the SLIMP3 since 2001. The software is open source and supports all major operating systems (Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, BSD, Solaris) and is frequently updated. We mentioned it in the SLIMP3 review and will say it again here — Slim Devices' business model makes a lot of sense. By making their server software open source, it has benefited from a group of talented programmers and users all over the world. The software updates are implemented based on feedback from users and developers alike and at a rate of almost one update per month. In fact, in the time between using the Squeezebox and posting this review, the software was updated from version 5.0 to version 5.0.1.

What's Inside

As was the case with the SLIMP3, the Squeezebox includes the unit itself, a gold plated RCA patch cable, an infrared remote control, power brick, and a CAT5 Ethernet cable. Our review unit arrived safely packed in a Slim Devices box made specifically to fit all of the pieces.

The Squeezebox package contents 

Being the curious type, we had to take the unit apart to see what it's made of. As you can see from the pictures below, wireless access is obtained by use of a laptop-type PCMCIA network card. One undocumented feature that we were told about by the Slim Devices people is what they are calling the “geek connector”. This is the set of 18 pins at the bottom left of the image. The “geek connector” has connections to each output which may allow future developers or hackers to add specialized uses. This is again another product of Slim Devices' open-source view — which allows for owners of the Squeezebox to tinker with it and potentially create a useful add-on that the company could incorporate into the product.

Inside the Squeezebox - the 18 pins bottom right are the "geek connector"