Customer Reviews

Macsense MP-100 HomePod

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Don't be fooled by the "Mac" and "Pod" in the name, nor the iPod white case, and iPod-like wheel. This is a product made by a distributor of Apple computers and not Apple themselves. Had Apple made it, it would undoubtedly have been a much more pollished product, and a lot less fragile in it's interface.

As it is the HomePod is a workmanlike gadget for reading your MP3s across a network and playing them remotely. Setup is easy-ish. With only a single previous experience of setting up a wireless computer, the wireless setup on the HomePod took half an hour or so and a careful reading of the instructions. Server software is required on the PC (or an Apple), and this could be better explained. For instance loading an iTunes library file and the MyMusic folder from the PC, causes the HomePod's library listing to become a little garbled, and the HomePod to crash sporadically. This could definitely be handled better. There are also Linux servers available for the HomePod available on the internet.

The HomePod itself comes with an old version of the firmware and software, and upgrading the software is well worth the effort, for those with some technical savy.

Using the HomePod is easy and satisfying: the music files are listed by artist, author, trackname, genre and playlist, and the software interfaces well with iTunes. Reportedly it also works with Real Player and the MS Media Player, although I've never tried these.

There is also an FM radio tuner built in - but the reception is so bad that this is completely worthless. There is also an internet radio facility which appears pretty neat, but I have used it only briefly.

The homepod includes its own very low quality speakers but also has 3.5mm ear plug, and phono plugs to attach external speakers.

The software does have numerous areas where it falls short of reasonable expectations, for instance the wheel scrolls either very slowly, or too fast, with no happy medium; the music cannot be played while the menus are being navigated; many of the HomePod settings can only be changed from the PC; and the software does crash occassionally. However, the software is open source, and can be downloaded from gloolabs.com for free, and those with some technical experise can customize to their hearts content.

Bottom line is the HomePod finally lets me play my mp3s from my PC harddisk anywhere around the house, something I've wanted to do for some time. It is not perfect, but it is a relatively cheap solution and after working through the kinks does a fine job.

I am extremely happy with my purchase of the Macsense Homepod. At this price I wasn't expecting much - but I was wrong.

I have a wireless lan in my home, and was attracted to the Homepod for the following reasons
1) I was looking for something could easily and occasionally switch between Kitchen and Living room. I didn't need to bring it skiing!
2) I listen to radio quite a bit, and the FM tuner was a definite plus
3) I liked the idea of an open platform with an active developer community finding ways to improve the product.

Here's whats good about it
1) It works beautifully and simply once it's set up
2) It is a solid, well thought out design.
3) I love being able to browse & shuffle-play my music in the kitchen
4) The product is being improved all the time via firmware updates
5) It's very compatible
6) The Internet Radio feature is a lot of fun, and works without a "server" PC.

Here's what's weak

1) Wireless setup was quite easy, but I did have some trouble getting the supplied server software working (I eventually downloaded MusicMatch). My problems were probably down to the fact that I'm still using Windows 98
2) The FM Tuner isn't great - OK for strong signals only
3) The built-in speakers are on a par with typical laptop speakers - i.e. useless for all but emergencies. You won't understand the quality of this equipment without connecting decent speakers (mine are modest Altec Lansing 2.1).

Summary - I love it, and I'm looking forward to more (free) enhancements in the future. It gave me a low cost entry into the world of MP3/Digital media using my existing PC, WLAN, speakers etc.

I've owned the Homepod for over 1 year now. To get the features I wanted I needed the Release 2 Beta firmware. This has been Beta for 2 years now! (written 4/2005) The system will hang after it's been on for several hours if you do anything besides just let it play. I find this particularly true if a shuffle operation is attempted. The system has to be power cycled. That wouldn't be a really big deal if it weren't for the 37 second startup time! I've found the overall experience to be a bit frustrating.

I feel sorry for the people who paid over 100.00 for this unit but for 20.00 it is a really cool gadget. I get horrible FM signal at my home and dont have a 50 gazillion mp3 collection so my primary plans were for the online streaming. It works with Live 365 flawlessly once I added the beta firmware. It looks like the people behind the "GLOO" software are MIA so I dont expect any more software updates or support for that matter. It does lock up pretty hard when trying to stream Shoutcast though but for 20.00 what can you expect?

Its a great concept and I had big expectations but to no avail. the Homepod server.exe will not work with Windows 7 x64. i tried to update the firmware but the version is back from 2004.

I have decided to return the product and my recommendation is not to buy it unless you want to try is out with Windows XP.

If you upgrade the firmware to the latest (albeit beta) version available from MacSense, things work well.

I use in on wired ethernet, which removes all the problems that come (and should be blamed to) WiFI - "lack of signal", interference, hangups (due to loss of wifi signal) etc.

I wish Macsense would have given more attention to this device. Development of firmware and server software bugfixes seems to have stopped.

The software is written in Java and can be used from Linux or other non-windows or non-Mac software. You have to call the .jar files directly, without using the .exe (or MacOS) "launcher", which is just a stub.

In the hands of Sun Microsystems, this would have been a success like the IPod. Too bad Sun doesn't seem to be interested in the home / end-user market.

What a disappointment this was! I bought the HomePod so I could stream my music collection into the bedroom. I settled on the HomePod because of the built-in speakers, and because the software was open-source with a community of developers.

Once I received the unit, it took several hours before I was up and running running and updated with the latest software. The software update was pretty involved, too. (See the MacSense site for details.) I expected the built-in speakers to be bad from reading reviews, but they turned out to be much worse than I ever imagined! Fortunately, the sound was fine using PC speakers on the headphone jack, or going to my home stereo with the RCA jacks.

I have a fairly large music collection and navigating it on this thing was quite annoying. The remote was difficult to use - you must be within a few feet of the thing and pointed right at it. The buttons also have no tactile qualities, so you have to memorize the layout if you want to use it in a dimly lit room. When browsing your music, you can only scroll through a list and only in one direction. You cann't jump to a specific letter and once you reached the Z's it didn't loop back to the top of the list again. I ended up listening to a lot of A-E artists while I had the thing and not much else, unless I remembered to create a playlist for it.

The screen was just awful, too. Very hard to see more than a few feet away or at any angle other than straight on. The unit would also frequently freeze up if left paused or on standby. Restarting it took several minutes to get back to the music list.

The HomePod requires a server program running on your PC in order to access your music. It comes with its own server software, or you can use others such as Windows Media Connect or TwonkyVision. I tried all of these and preferred the HomePod server program. The software was functional, but not outstanding. I did not use Internet Radio or RM radio so I can't comment on those features.

Despite these frustrations, it did what I bought it for and I would have put up with it if it hadn't suddenly stopped recognizing my music library after about two weeks. Well, thank goodness it did it within my return period! I got my money back from Amazon and ended up buying a Slim Devices SqueezeBox2 and it is like a dream come true! Yes, it was quite a bit more than I paid for the HomePod, but what a difference in quality and functionality!

It has always been my dream to have my entire music collection at my fingertips. If that's your dream too, pass on the HomePod and look into the Squeezebox2!

Buy this only if you are a "hacker" type and want to spend hours getting it to work. The PC software is very poor and the unit is slow and buggy. The remote has a very limited range. If the software was improved on the PC side and the bugs removed from this device, then it would be worth it.

Also, MacSense has not yet honored their rebate on this and it has been well over 10 weeks. They have not responded to my email about it either. Very disappointed.

Sounds like a lot of great features before you buy it, but here's the downside:
-It crashes...a lot. The firmware is unstable.
-It has bad speakers
-The internet radio functionality (which is why I bought it) is only available after seeking out the beta firmware and flashing it yourself....NOT something your average person can do easily.
-Even after the firmware upgrade, it crashes on 3 out of 5 radio streams, and is slow on the rest.
-It only works with WEP wireless encryption....modern routers use WPA, and WEP is not secure, Do you really want to open your whole network to strangers just to have some streaming music?

On the whole, there are much better players out there for more money. I bought this because it was cheap as dirt, but it has been nothing but a hassle. Avoid unless you're a geek with hours to dedicate to this thing (which I am, and I STILL regret it!)

Well, I upgraded the software, and the rom and everything else I could figure out how to do on Macsense's on page.

I still can't get the audio server software to start!

It's really frustrating, because I'm pretty good at this stuff usually.

Emails to Macsense have gone unanswered.

If someone wants to help me...I would be forever grateful!

Steve

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