Gadget of the week

Logitech Squeezebox Boom Great Sound, but Little Else

I'm a "take it out of the box, switch it on and away you go" kinda guy. I like devices that are useful and simple to use.

But I now know there is another type of gadget fan out there, one who likes products of questionable value that are extremely difficult to set up and operate. There must be, because Logitech's Squeezebox Boom has clearly been designed for just such a person.

Everything about the Boom is fussy and complicated. Basically, it's a device for playing radio from the internet. You connect it to the net either wirelessly or by cable and it lets you choose from, in Logitech's words, "thousands of internet radio stations".

But, being the Squeezebox Boom, it does not do this in a straightforward manner like, for example, iTunes or the BBC iPlayer. You can't just switch on and tune in. Oh no.

You have to open an online SqueezeNetwork account and then link your account to your Boom. There was a problem with my Boom that took Logitech's support service several days to sort out.

And when it was finally fixed and I tuned in to a station I heard… nothing. I eventually found a reset procedure on the support site that, at the second time of trying, restored the sound.

The Boom differs from other Squeezebox products as it has an amplifier and speakers built in, and I have to admit that the sound quality is excellent. You can enhance it further by connecting a powered bass speaker.

Oh, the other good thing is that the Boom lets you listen to Little Steven's Underground Garage show with the great Steven Van Zandt.

In addition to the Boom's role as a wildly expensive and complicated radio, you can also stream music to it from a computer. To do this you have to load software called SqueezeCenter, which takes ages to scan the contents of your music library.

Everything, but everything, is fussy and over-elaborate. You can, for example, stream songs bought from the iTunes store – but not all of them, only some. In fact, the Squeezebox line is so complex it has its own wiki – it's at https://wiki.slimdevices.com.

My main problem with the Boom is, does anyone really need it? You require a computer and an internet connection to use it, and if you have those you can listen to as many internet radio stations as you want.

Sure the sound is excellent, but if that's your main concern you can just hook your laptop up to your stereo.

A year ago, when everyone was still happily spending freely, the Boom would probably have seemed like a really cool device. But I wonder about the future of it and many other products in today's changed world where bust, rather than boom, is the order of the day.

Price: Dh1,399

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