Re: Why not more enthused about Roku? (other devices)

Recently, dcaulton wrote:
> I may have missed the reasons, but why aren't more folks enthused
> about the
> roku devices?

As an avid AudioTron fan and purchaser of a unit before they even
started shipping, I have to say that my original assumption about the
Roku device (which may have been true at the time?) was that it was
merely a clone of the Squeezebox.  The reason these devices weren't
that interesting to me was that they required dedicated server software
to be running on a PC somewhere.

My long-time AudioTron server goal has recently been realized by
setting up a very small, inexpensive, low power, and quiet Buffalo
Linkstation network file server.  It serves up files to Macs and PCs,
and thus also serves music to the AudioTron.

I also recently added the mt-daapd server software to the Linkstation
(it's a hackable embedded Linux server after all), which now means that
my Linkstation can also serve tunes to any iTunes client in the house.

The benefit is that I can now listen to music anywhere in the house
without having to first go down to my office and fire up the PC (or
leave it on 24x7 which is unacceptable to me).

Anyway, I had a chance to see the latest Roku Soundbridge products at
Fry's recently, and noticed that they now have enough horsepower (and
software) built-in that they can actually act as an iTunes (or Windows
Media too, IIRC) client on your network, for any iTunes server that is
sharing music.  Thus, the Soundbridge can now act very similarly to the
AudioTron as a music client (without requiring a PC to be on), and it
also happens to solve my other big AudioTron complaint -- it has a big
beautiful display that you can actually read from across the room.
There are two models - one with a huge display (and a premium price)
and one with a smaller (but still readable) display priced more like
the AudioTron.  Too bad VTB left this money on the table since the
AudioTron display was one of the big complaints from the earliest days.

Incidentally, there is also a SliMP3 server available for the
Linkstation, but I like the iTunes (daap) server concept a little
better since it's much lighter-weight on the server -- the daap server
first sends a list of all of the music available (think AudioTron TOC)
and then serves up whole files via HTTP when the client asks for
something.  The SliMP3 server controls much more of the music playing
process for what (in the case of the SliMP3 client anyway) is
essentially a much dumber client device.

One interesting feature the SliMP3 (and Roku) devices have is
synchronized playback but that's only available when using the SliMP3
server and not with iTunes playback mode (yet anyway).  I was also
interested to discover that although Roku supports the open-source
SliMP3 server, their Soundbridge client device does not appear to be
open source.  Oh well.

Anyone interested in hacking the Buffalo Linkstation should check out
the Yahoo Group (and especially the "HowTo" files in the file sharing
area):
            <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LinkStation_General/>

Happy New Year,
--Steve