Customer Reviews

Logitech Wireless DJ Music System

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

If you are a person who is interested in high-fidelity sound reproduction, this device is NOT for you.

I was hoping it had some of the qualities of the "Squeezebox" or at least something close, I was wrong.

From what I can find on the internet this device uses the "SBC codec for Bluetooth Audio" to transmit audio from the computer to your stereo receiver. SBC is an audio coding system specially designed for Bluetooth audio at medium bit rates, and having a low computational complexity. Judging from the quality of sound, my guess is that the bitrate is approximately 128Kbps.....a far cry from my original music files that are encoded with Apples lossless at a bitrate of about 1000kbps. Don't get me wrong...this device was very hard for me to return. It was a breeze to setup and worked perfectly with my iTunes (after a firmware/software upgrade to Pre-release 3, StreamPoint v1.1.0). The remote is wonderful...east to navigate and good battery life...but has a very short range (less than 40 feet in my house). So, in summary.

The Good:
Easy to setup
Easy to use
Good battery life

The Bad:
Sound quality
Wireless range

So, if you normally listen to music encoded at 128kbs and don't have a long distance requirements for the remote...this device is for you. However, if you like high-fidelity music (or close to it) and you need a remote that will transmit over long distances...pass this one by.

Rumor has it that Logitech will merge the sqeezebox with the DJ Music system remote in the next generation of the Squeezebox...we can only hope.

I have been waiting for a reasonably priced alternative to allow me to play my music collection from my computer on my home stereo system. Up to this point I had been plugging my iPod directly into the system, but the solution was less than ideal.
The Wireless DJ is perfect. It was unbelievably easy to set up. I assumed I would go through the typical process when I add a new gadget to the PC - plug it in, get frustrated that it doesn't work, play around with things, still doesn't work, finally stumble upon the right setting or call tech support hold-o-rama.

Instead, I loaded the software, plugged in the output device, connected the input device to my stereo, and that was it. I swear I did the whole thing in 10 minutes.

The remote is excellent. I love that the remote includes a mute button and volume control, so I essentially can use the remote as my only control of the stereo now.

It is great that it works with iTunes and the sound quality is very good. Only down side is that my PC is fairly far away from my computer and as such I occassionally get a hiccup in the bluetooth signal that causes a burp in the music. But it is minor enough to not bother me, and well off set by the positives of this great new gadget.

Logitech took an Apple-like approach to solve a common problem - you have your music on iTunes in one room (usually a bedroom or home office) and you want to play music on your fancy home theater / stereo in the main room in your house. Sure, you could set up a wireless network to stream iTunes songs to your stereo, but you don't want to walk to your computer every time you want to skip a song or browse your song library. Logitech has delivered with a gorgeous remote that can be set up in less than 10 minutes. There are only 3 steps: 1- run the CD to install the software; 2 - plug in the transmitter to a USB port on your computer; and 3 - plug in the wireless receiver to your home stereo anywhere in the house. That's it. I turned on the DJ Remote and had a complete listing of my 700-song library right on the remote with navigation as good as on my on my i-Pod. Even my iTunes playlists appear on the remote. I was also impressed with the quality of the audio streaming wirelessly to my home stereo in my living room. I would have liked to have a choice during set-up to have the remote control the volume on my reciever rather than only on my computer, but that's a small criticism. I only set up one room, but I'm told you can buy additional DJ receivers to add rooms to the system. Not bad for under $250. The only alternative to get this kind of functionality in a great design is the Sonos system, which starts at $1500 or so. I can't believe where Logitech priced this thing. They could have charged $400 - $600 and I still would have been psyched to own it.

Finally, a way to unleash all the music on your PC without major hassles! I have tried several WLAN based systems, each of which I have either returned or used sparsely simply b/c they did not work or were not very user friendly. The Logitech DJ finally offers a solution that works and is easy to use. However, it is not without its faults:

Positives:
1) Uses a dedicated wireless connection - so no hassles with WLAN security, signal strength, etc. Also, connection strength strong enough where I stream music from my PC upstairs to my stereo downstairs - and its inside a cabinet!
2) You can scroll through your ENTIRE music collection on the screen of the remote - just like an iPod! This is probably the greatest feature. The previous wireless music systems that I have tried would either have a lame little set top box with a readout screen or would have to be hooked up to your TV to provide the visual interface.
3) Works with all my music file formats - including subscription music services like Napster. I am a Napster subscription user, and it works beautifully.
4) great remote - easy to use, attractive design, and recharchable battery that lasts for a reasonably long time

Negatives:
1) I did not have a plug n' play experience. There were a few kinks that I had to work out first. This included a problem where the system would get hung up if I had the same music file in both the Apple and WMA format - so I just told the Logitech system to sync with WMA files and ignore Apple files and it works fine.
2) System is difficult to use if you have A LOT of music. After synching the Logitech with my music collection, I ended up with over 1,000 artists and 12,000 songs This made it very difficult to scroll through your music to find what you want. I ended up spending a weekend pruning/cleaning up my files to get down to 350 artists and about 7,000 songs. I would suggest to Logitech that they incorporate some more intelligent search functionality in the next version.
3) Automatic vs. Manual synching. The Logitech operating system used by the DJ to synch with your music files can automatically read your music collection to check for updates. However, with the size of my collection, sometimes the system would get hung up while I was trying to play music as it was also trying to synch with my music files. I switched to manual update and just update it occasionally, which is fine.

But now that I have it working well, it is fantastic!

Bought this unit after looking at a number of alternatives (including the Squeezebox and Sonos). I liked the fact it was $250 and the remote was fully functioning (i.e. displaying music track data). However, this product has really not lived up to my expectations for two main reasons. One - sound quality. This is just not good enough and most people will notice it without having to listen too hard (when compared to direct CD play, or through digitised music played through a laptop/powered speakers). There just seems to be no depth.
Second reason is the lack of range for the remote. This product is sold stating it works up to 330 feet. I have just used it in a small apartment and it struggles through doors or 1 wall (linear distance of 20 feet). I see no way it will work in a large apartment/house (through multiple floors say). The interface is also pretty slow and it can take a long time to interpret your command via the remote to a change in the music.
On the up side - it is very easy to set up and should take no more than 15 mins.
I would investigate other alternatives before buying this product - it looks to me like it has severe limitations. My next stop will be trying the Sonos system.

I own the Logitech Pc wireless Music System and have been very happy with that... it's about $60 or so on Amazon these days. It allows your stereo to serve as an external computer speaker -- so basically you can transmit sound from your computer to the stereo.

I bought this because it provides the added functionality of being able to use a remote (included) at your stereo to select songs/albums etc almost like looking at an iPod. I set it up in about 10 minutes, downloaded software updates, etc and had music running.

It uses a Bluetooth signal to transmit (instead of your computer's wireless network) and that signal seems subject to interference. Every few minutes, there's a 1 second or less gap in the sound that begins to really grate on your nerves after listening for a while. The included documentation and online forums recommend changing placement of the transmitter etc which I tried but to no avail.

And frankly, technology has evolved to the point where we should be able to plug and listen without a lot of fiddling around to get something to work. I also found accessing internet radio stations, while possible, not easy, and half the time I get an error message saying that the receive cannot find the station.

Logitech seems to be focusing on their new Squeezebox and my sense is that this is marked down because they're moving on to better things. You should, too. I'm returning mine to Amazon.

I received and installed the Wireless DJ today. My first challenge was that my computer runs Vista, and the version of Streampoint software included in the package wouldn't install. Luckily, the Logitech website had an updated version. Once I downloaded it, the new version installed easily. I was initially thrilled with the sound, but then after about an hour of playing with the controls, the sound quality began to sound terrible with horrible distortion. It took a while to diagnose, but eventually I realized it was just that the volume control on the Wireless remote has to be kept low, with the actual amplification coming from the receiver. For my system, I have to keep it down to one to four dots on the remote. Once I resolved that, I'm really happy with it. I also recommend that you keep it up high -- otherwise when you walk in front of it, it loses wireless connection.

I was very excited to receive the Wireless DJ as a Christmas gift. However, months later, I still can't get it to work properly.

If you have an existing wireless network, as I have, or live in an apartment building where there is other wireless traffic, you may not be able to fully enjoy this device due to frequent "dropouts" (sound cutting in and out). This may be due to the Bluetooth interface it uses, or it may be due to some problems with its Streampoint software. Logitech markets this device as not needing a wireless network to connect; they should probably clarify and say that people with a wireless network are much better off purchasing a different product (for example, the Squeezebox, now also owned by Logitech).

Logitech has issued one software upgrade since I purchased; this has not solved the problem. I have spent a lot of time over the past several months researching their user forums and doing trial and error installation, to no avail. Most unfortunately, despite the theoretical appeal of the device, and its great design, I can't recommend it for everyone.

good inexpensive option for easily playing your electronicallyu stored music. I gave this to my wife for Christmas and burned all her 400 cd's. I am a hero now! The bad: You should be aware that the remote does not have any search options except scrolling....starting at "a".......with 400 titles you do not want to have to find "Yes" for example. Forget about searching by song title (3,987 titles!!!!). For the life of me, why such a good company with such an amazingly useful product does not have a search method built in to the software, I will never understand. You can though, use playlists you create to get around the problem for example: playlist artists "a" through "e" and so on.
Don't get turned away by the limitation explained. The device really works great, even with on-line radio stations and only occasional lock ups. I generally like to just leave it on random. it will compile the random list (of 4000 songs) in seconds and you can view what is coming up right on the remote. Great for parties. I would recommend it to anyone.

The system is OK... BUT with great potential. Comparable to the Sonos system but at way less cost. The whole system is quite simple with it having just 3 pieces of hardware - wireless transmitter for the PC, nice remote, and the docking station you hook up to the receiver. All pretty well done. Sound quality really depends on how you have your music encoded and your A/V system. My sound is actually quite good.

The problem is with the software that is really not ready for primetime. I got this system in Sept. and the Streampoint software was not liking the 7.0 iTunes that I had. A new BETA version called 1.1 fixed some problems, but also caused new ones. If you are not PC savy I strongly urge you to wait until most kinks are out of the Streampoint software. I have not used the system with Windows Media or Musicmatch but those are available music players as well.

All in all, I give this a 2 because it just is not ready for the masses and perhaps 3 stars for those that are somewhat savy with A/V and PC stuff. Once the software is more dependable (also when iTunes is more dependable for the PC) this will be one great piece of equipment.

Check out the Logitech user forum for the device to see what is working and what problems people are having. Logitech support for this is either very basic or clueless so be aware that the main source of support is through the user forums.

PS. for those that have large music catalogues be aware that the remote currently is very slow when scrolling through - album, artist, playlist - libraries. I have well over 120GB of music and getting from Aaliyah to Xzibit takes a little bit of time. This SHOULD be fixed with a new software release. Also, if you are using Itunes it would be optimal to NOT be using iTunes 7.0 or above.