Slim Devices SLIMP3 Player Review

The SLIMP3 is a networked music player that allows you to play digital music stored on a computer through your stereo. The unit features a bright 2x40 display, a remote control and plugs into your wired network.

Summary

The SLIMP3 is a networked music player that hooks up to a server computer and allows you to play digital music stored on a remote computer through your stereo. The unit features a 2×40 vacuum florescent display (VFD), a remote control and hooks up to your network with a regular 10-baseT connection.

The device is simple yet powerful. The server software is open-source, runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, BSD and Solaris and requires very little resources. It can play mp3 music at fixed or variable bit rates up to 320Kbps and also can convert various other music formats to .mp3 "on the fly" with the LAME encoder. The SLIMP3 can also play streaming Internet radio such as Shoutcast or RealAudio.

 

Introduction

 

What’s most striking about the SLIMP3 when you open up the box is its simplicity. It is a small 8.5” W x 2.5” H x 2” D black box with a smoked plexi-glass front. There are only three connections to be made on the back of the unit; the power supply, RCA jacks for your stereo and the included Cat5 network cable. The package also includes an infrared remote control that can handle all of the player functions from the comfort of your couch or favorite chair.

 

Configuration and Setup

 

Setting up the player and server is extremely easy. The supplied gold-plated RCA patch cable connects from the right and left outputs on the back of the SLIMP3 to inputs on a tuner or amplifier. The supplied CAT5 cable connects from the Ethernet port on the back of the device to an Ethernet port on your network.

 

An existing network with Ethernet ports is not required. If you don’t have a home network, the SLIMP3 can be directly connected to the host computer using a crossover cable.

 

Once the server software is installed on the host computer, the SLIMP3 server needs to be configured. The software is installed on the server computer, but it features a web interface so you can access the server from any computer on your network. Configuration is quick – once you tell the server software where your music and playlists (if any) are located and have it scan your music folder, you’re in business.

The SLIMP3 player features a 2×40 Vacuum Florescent Display

 

From the web interface, you can manipulate many settings on the server and player. You can edit the way the display shows song, artist and album information, change the skin for the server Web interface, add or delete remote control menu options, set security options and much more. The display can also be presented in 11 different languages.

 

There is no on/off switch – once you plug in the power supply, the unit is powered on. When you first power the unit on, it will ask if you want to search for a server or use the existing settings. Searching for a server is quick and easy and once it finds the server on your network, the configuration is complete. The entire setup process literally takes only minutes, as long as you already have your mp3 collection on the server machine.

  

Using The SLIMP3

 

We were very impressed by the ease of use and setup of the player and software. The manual is short and to the point, and the installation was a breeze. Navigating with the remote control and bright display was simple.

 

Playing music is as simple as browsing through your music folders, finding an album or song and hitting play. You can shuffle or repeat just like a regular CD player. You can search for music by artist, title, album or genre and the player displays ID3 tags in the format you choose. You can play whole albums, music by only a specific artist, queue up songs on-the-fly and create, edit and save playlists with the remote control. The device supports .pls, CUE, and .m3u playlist files.

 

Because the SLIMP3 player is connected to a server, there is no limit to the amount of music that you can have access to. More hard drive space can be added to the server computer if and when you run out of room.

 

The response time on the server was almost instantaneous. We tried to slow it down by picking random songs spread out on the hard disk but each song played instantly when we selected it. We tried the server on both Linux and Windows XP and tested the server software on two different PCs. There was no noticeable difference in performance between a 500mhz Pentium III with 384mb of RAM and an Athlon XP1600+ with 512mb of RAM. The server requires very little resources. The company lists the minimum requirements for the server as a 300mhz Pentium II with 128mb of memory. Remember though, the server does not need to be dedicated