Gotta say... Logitech has done it again. I'm loving their products more and more each day... and the Squeezebox Boom is just another notch in their belt for a product that reigns supreme!
First off, I did not buy this product at Walmart, but I do own one. You'll probably hate hearing this, but when Circuit City went out of business, I was shopping the closeout sale. Found one of these on a shelf by itself in a pile of random stuff, but it was in mint condition. No price was marked, so I took it to a register and said "I'll give you $20", and they said ok... Basically, I got this thing for like 93% off. And the real truth, is I didn't even know what I was buying... I just saw it had a knob and an ethernet jack, and I was guessing "internet radio?"... So now that you hate me, on to my review...
Remember, I had no box, no manual, no remote... just a power cord and the unit. When they say "simple setup"... They mean it. I went to logitech's website, found out what it was (joyfully saw it's price), and located the manual. To my delight, I found it had built in wireless! I plugged it in, and within a few minutes, I was listening to a radio station back home.... 1500 miles away!
I was able to download the squeezecenter software off the website, and even had THAT up and running in just a couple minutes. Everything during the setup was flawless, and the sound quality, as is typical of Logitech, was sensational! Rich bass, clear treble, and smooth midrange. So now I started to really play with the features... Holy Spaceballs! I love the different screensavers and display options, the alarm clock feature is fantastic, and even with the plethora of free music and radio from around the world that it put at my fingertips, I still found myself falling asleep each night to the free nature sounds (I love the "Hard Rain and Thunder"!)...
But without a remote, I was starting to find it a bit of a task to do many functions. Sure, the squeezecenter software allows you to do everything you can imagine (even setting up the alarms), but I wanted more... More... MORE! Alas, I had no remote. Now... Logitech does sell a full feature remote for these units which is quite fancy (the remote displays the album art and everything!), but it's like another hundred bucks or so, and I was on a mission to keep my cost of this thing as low as I paid for the unit itself, just as a challenge. And here's where it totally blew my mind! If you have an iPhone or iTouch... you, my friend, have the most powerful squeezebox remote you can imagine. There is an app on the iTunes app store called "iPeng", made specifically for this device... (there's a couple others, but don't be fooled, I could never get them to work, and they looked horrible!)
iPeng set me back $10, but again, that's 90% off the logitech remote cost.... (See the trend?) iPeng puts all the features of the unit, including the alarms, display options, etc... in the palm of your hand. It uses your wireless network (which your iphone or itouch need to be connected to) to control the device. That means you can control the unit from virtually any room in your house, or even outside, as long as you've got a wireless signal. You don't need to point ANYTHING at the box itself! And iPeng shows the album art, too!
Long review, I know, but hopefully my excitement for this device, and the lengthy review it's made me write, will serve as a prime example as to how impressed I am with the unit! GET IT NOW!!!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!
It has made me give serious consideration to dropping some heavy money, paying the full retail, and getting one for each room in the house. I couldn't imagine life without my squeezebox boom. It does for music what TiVO did for television (different concept, sure, but revolutionary, none-the-less)!
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