Discussion
Anyone got one. Looks like a nice bit of kit. Accept it doesn't do any more than an Ipod and docking station (which I already have), but will be for use in another room and will give addiotnal back up should computer and Ipod both fail (unlikely I know - sort of looking for excuses to get one).
Are there any alternatives?
Are there any alternatives?
Just got mine up and running and thought "I'll just check PH and see if anyone has commented yet".
It's belting out some loud music as I type - so I'd say the sound quality is A1 - that's using the Brennan supplied speakers as well. Looks pretty tidy when it's running and is fairly compact... roughly 9" square and 2" high.
Once you work out how to transfer any existing music held on PC/hard drives etc it's a piece of cake to get it onto the JB7... portable drive and a USB connector. You just need to put some thought into the structure of album names you want to be loaded as this is what you see on the display and search on. I've left it loading about 200 CD's per night when I went to bed and they were done in the morning. Now got about 600 CD's on there and it's about 20-25% used... 160GB model.
Loading CD's direct is easy... push into slot, confirm load, pick the album (from the database it holds) and "go". Database is a couple of months old so newer CD's are not there and one downside is that database updates appear to be £15 a throw (for a CD !!)... wont be getting them often unless I can find an alternative compatible source.
Usability seems pretty good. Think of a song, search any part of the track name and it finds the matches. Then the usual offerings of playing a full album, random play or you can set up a limited number of playlists.
So far... pretty impressed... but bear in mind it is a £450+ gadget (with the speakers thrown in). I wanted it for something compact in the lounge that had all my music on it and it will definitely fit the bill in that respect... much better than the coffin sized aging hi-fi that it has replaced.
If it had a digital radio thrown in then it really would really be the dogs bollies. I think it's a bit of lifestyle thing. You could hook it up to your existing stereo and use it as a jukebox input to a better quality hi-fi system or use it as I intend, as a compact store for easy access to all your tunes.
It's a big 9/10 from me
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It's belting out some loud music as I type - so I'd say the sound quality is A1 - that's using the Brennan supplied speakers as well. Looks pretty tidy when it's running and is fairly compact... roughly 9" square and 2" high.
Once you work out how to transfer any existing music held on PC/hard drives etc it's a piece of cake to get it onto the JB7... portable drive and a USB connector. You just need to put some thought into the structure of album names you want to be loaded as this is what you see on the display and search on. I've left it loading about 200 CD's per night when I went to bed and they were done in the morning. Now got about 600 CD's on there and it's about 20-25% used... 160GB model.
Loading CD's direct is easy... push into slot, confirm load, pick the album (from the database it holds) and "go". Database is a couple of months old so newer CD's are not there and one downside is that database updates appear to be £15 a throw (for a CD !!)... wont be getting them often unless I can find an alternative compatible source.
Usability seems pretty good. Think of a song, search any part of the track name and it finds the matches. Then the usual offerings of playing a full album, random play or you can set up a limited number of playlists.
So far... pretty impressed... but bear in mind it is a £450+ gadget (with the speakers thrown in). I wanted it for something compact in the lounge that had all my music on it and it will definitely fit the bill in that respect... much better than the coffin sized aging hi-fi that it has replaced.
If it had a digital radio thrown in then it really would really be the dogs bollies. I think it's a bit of lifestyle thing. You could hook it up to your existing stereo and use it as a jukebox input to a better quality hi-fi system or use it as I intend, as a compact store for easy access to all your tunes.
It's a big 9/10 from me
.It looks very old fashioned in comparison to Squeezebox or SONOS but also very simple to operate so that may suit some people.
I use dbpoweramp to do hi quality rips to FLAC and look up CD info and artwork (takes a couple of minutes per CD) internet radio (BBC etc) plus on-line radio (spotify, last.fm, napster etc) controlled via my touch. Music stored on a media server in a RAID array (for data security). All plays over wi-fi to any room with a SB unit.
I use dbpoweramp to do hi quality rips to FLAC and look up CD info and artwork (takes a couple of minutes per CD) internet radio (BBC etc) plus on-line radio (spotify, last.fm, napster etc) controlled via my touch. Music stored on a media server in a RAID array (for data security). All plays over wi-fi to any room with a SB unit.
I was wondering about this thing this very morning - reading the ad in Private Eye on the loo.
I couldn't work out what it offered over and above my media server, as far as I can see it's a hard drive based music player that doesn't have any network connectivity to it? Is that right? So it can't stream music from it's hard drive to other devices, nor can it stream from my server to it?
Is the storage format proprietary or does it use an open standard like MP3 or preferably some lossless compression like OGG Vorbis or FLAC?
I couldn't work out what it offered over and above my media server, as far as I can see it's a hard drive based music player that doesn't have any network connectivity to it? Is that right? So it can't stream music from it's hard drive to other devices, nor can it stream from my server to it?
Is the storage format proprietary or does it use an open standard like MP3 or preferably some lossless compression like OGG Vorbis or FLAC?
I think you need to remember that it is only what it claims to be and therefore you would buy it/use it on that basis. So..., no it doesn't have wi-fi and it doesn't support certain media formats but it does do what it says on the tin very well (IMHO).
For the "compact stand alone" purpose I bought it for - I like it - and I actually think that's one of it's biggest pluses/selling points. For technical wizardry maybe it's "not there" and there's room for improvement e.g. wi-fi, DAB, but functionally it plays my music well and I am sure if you wanted a "simple" jukebox to attach to your hi-fi it would work... but would it be worth the price ?
P.S. You can add/amend track & album names that are not on the database; fiddly twiddly process on the JB7, like phone text via the remote, connect a USB keyboard or export to PC.
For the "compact stand alone" purpose I bought it for - I like it - and I actually think that's one of it's biggest pluses/selling points. For technical wizardry maybe it's "not there" and there's room for improvement e.g. wi-fi, DAB, but functionally it plays my music well and I am sure if you wanted a "simple" jukebox to attach to your hi-fi it would work... but would it be worth the price ?
P.S. You can add/amend track & album names that are not on the database; fiddly twiddly process on the JB7, like phone text via the remote, connect a USB keyboard or export to PC.
I'm sure it does do what it says.
If you have already ripped your CD's though and have an ipod and or a dock it's a bit pointless and other products offer more and better (with the caveat of being a bit more technical).
It seems to be aimed at the same place as Bose kit. It does a job for people who don't know any better and want a simple all in one solution.
If you have already ripped your CD's though and have an ipod and or a dock it's a bit pointless and other products offer more and better (with the caveat of being a bit more technical).
It seems to be aimed at the same place as Bose kit. It does a job for people who don't know any better and want a simple all in one solution.
Well, as one of those people you obviously classify as "dont know any better", I ought to much regret buying something that's pointless.
Memo to self... next time I need something that only has to play CD's and look reasonably OK, must remember to only buy things that run on TossPot v5.3.2.a with the latest version of firmware, FlickyFlacky download SP2 and the ability to teleport itself around my virtual universe. I dont need any of that stuff but then again I don't know any better and none of it is pointless... until v5.3.2.b comes out.
Memo to self... next time I need something that only has to play CD's and look reasonably OK, must remember to only buy things that run on TossPot v5.3.2.a with the latest version of firmware, FlickyFlacky download SP2 and the ability to teleport itself around my virtual universe. I dont need any of that stuff but then again I don't know any better and none of it is pointless... until v5.3.2.b comes out.
anwbarwick said:
Well, as one of those people you obviously classify as "dont know any better", I ought to much regret buying something that's pointless.
Memo to self... next time I need something that only has to play CD's and look reasonably OK, must remember to only buy things that run on TossPot v5.3.2.a with the latest version of firmware, FlickyFlacky download SP2 and the ability to teleport itself around my virtual universe. I dont need any of that stuff but then again I don't know any better and none of it is pointless... until v5.3.2.b comes out.
Personally I think it looks like a great bit of kit. A lot of folk aren't bothered by not having the 'twiddly' bluetooth, DAC, DSP blah blah blah bits. All they want is a simple to operate, reliable piece of equipment. Quite sad that he doesnt let retailers , like us, sell them however!Memo to self... next time I need something that only has to play CD's and look reasonably OK, must remember to only buy things that run on TossPot v5.3.2.a with the latest version of firmware, FlickyFlacky download SP2 and the ability to teleport itself around my virtual universe. I dont need any of that stuff but then again I don't know any better and none of it is pointless... until v5.3.2.b comes out.
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