Has anyone compared the Soundbridge to the Logitech DJ system? I've seen mixed reviews on the Logitech, mostly interference problems with things like microwave ovens and such. How's the overall performance on the Soundbridge? How would you rate it overall?

I'd like to add that for me one the high points of my purchase of the 990 has been the wealth of information available in this forum. So many forums out there are full of bad information and bickering. This site is an absolute joy. I want to extend my kudos to everyone who participates here.

Glad to have you around, Bob.

I compiled some notes about the SoundBridge last summer. The analog output is pretty decent, but I prefer the digital output (especially with the 990). The software support wasn't as smooth as I'd have liked, but Firefly has been improving as of late (I had to switch back to it after upgrading iTunes to v.7 before finding out that the SoundBridge doesn't work with iTunes 7). The Logitech DJ looks like it'd have a smoother user interface than the SoundBridge thanks to the handheld controller/display unit, but I don't know what the sound quality might be like (if the data goes through the handheld unit and gets re-broadcast at 2.4GHz I'd feel a bit dubious about it) and it appears to lack a digital audio output. Logitech also now owns Slim Devices - their SqueezeBox is one of the more popular media players online, although I think the Transporter is a poster child for over-priced.

If I want to purchase a Roku SoundBridge, but it doesn't work with iTunes 7, what would you suggest?

AARONMADLER, in fact the Soundbridge will work with iTunes 7, you just need to install Firefly server to manage your libraries. All instructions and downloads are on the www.rokulabs.com site. I've actually found Firefly to be a lot quicker than iTunes itself; my Soundbridge would often hang if I tried to browse all 15K songs but with Firefly it just zips right through them.

NRBQLou is correct. When I first set up my SoundBridge, I had problems with Firefly - it wouldn't sync up with my iTunes playlists and creating playlists in Firefly was cumbersome (in fact I couldn't get it to work). When I installed iTunes 7 and could no longer rely solely on iTunes, I installed a newer version of Firefly and it synced up with iTunes immediately.

I was just reading how they found a way to play Pandora over the Roku!
http://forums.rokulabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5283&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Also, with Comcast you recieve a free subscription to Rhapsody Radio. This streams CD quality music. Jim

Hello,
You can get Airfoil to play any sound from your computer through the Airport Express. It works well. You can use it to play the Sirius stream through your stereo at a higher bitrate (if you get the upgrade from sirius) than I think the actual sat device gets.

What is everyone using to store mp3's? (what type of disks)

I like the idea of a RAID5 NAS type of setup for storing MP3's and other media, but I don't actually have anything that sophisticated - just have them in a folder on my PC, with most of them backed up on DVD-R or on another hard drive.

Just to add my 2 cents to the discussion. I recently purchased a Slim Devices Squeezebox. I had previously ripped all my CDs to 192K for my 3g iPod but after a lot of investigation, I decided to rerip every to flac (about 300G and counting). I run it out he coax digital into my 990. All I can say is WOW. I love it. Great device.

So I decided to do a little experiment. I now had all the songs in 3 formats, MP3, flac, and CD (some I also have the LP but that another story). I played the MP3 through the squeezebox, and A/B through the 990 the CD version, also digital coax in from my Marantz CD67SE. I could easily hear a difference, especially the soundstage and depth, but also the MP3 just sounded compressed in the dynamics. Then I compared the flac through the squeezebox to the CD. No difference that I could hear on any music format.

The gist of this is, for me at any rate, mp3 are fine for my iPod and headphones (senhiesers px100), but for the main system the flacs are great and you can't beat the convenience.

BTW I am hardwired ethernet, I am not using the wireless portion of the squeezebox.
I think devices like this (they also have an audiophile version called transporter for $2Gs!) [edit: sorry gonk I just saw you already mentioned this] are only going to get better, aa will the lossless codecs. Makes things likes jitter almost a non issue.

Now to back up all that music.....

Reading through the full thread and I think it is great so far. A couple things made me want to comment.

I believe that the mp3 quality conversations, while interesting, are very soon to become outdated. The storage capacity of current and future portable audio devices will be large enough to allow one to use lossless formats. An 80GB(current iPod) would hold at least 5000 lossless songs. And this is 80GBs now. In a year this will seem like nothing. So throw off your mp3 shackles and start ripping everything in a lossless format and organizing it in iTunes. I don't own an iPod YET. I am waiting until I have all my music in iTunes and orgainized. I figure the price will drop by the time I am done and it will be a reward.

Plus you can make cumulative backups to DVD with iTunes.

As for connections from iPod to receiver I would recommend researching cables that use the line out from the apple connector straight to RCA cables. I have read that the wiring in the iPod dock is sketchy and of poor quality. Doing it this way you do lose the charging ability though.

I do have a question for the people using USB cables from PC to 990 or 2150. Does the USB cable act as a line out. Is it being processed by your sound cards? I don't really understand the function of this setup so I would appreciate any knowledge.