Customer Reviews

Philips NP2900/37 WiFi Internet Radio Network Music Player with Rhapsody (Black)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I recently got the chance to test and compare both the Philips NP2900 and the Logitech SqueezeBox Boom Streaming Internet Streaming Radio units together side-by-side. If you were just to test each unit individually, you would be impressed by either unit but head-to-head, I noticed distinct pros and cons with each unit.

The first thing you'll notice different between the two units is the styling. The Philips NP2900 is a very stylish looking unit with its metal construction, brilliant color LCD color screen and nice round corners which just looks sexy. Compared to the Logitech SqueezeBox Boom, with its plastic construction, more utilitarian green LED screen, bulkier square design and bigger size, the Philips unit just plain looks and feels better. The remote control on the Philips also looks and feels more like a hi-fi remote whereas the Logitech's remote is a small, simple remote that you'll probably lose pretty quickly since it's so small. The only real complaint I had with the Philips remote was that there was no page up/page down function makes scrolling thru long playlists a pain. Considering the backgrounds of the two companies, it was obvious the Logitech was designed with a PC in mind while the Philips unit was designed with more of a standalone, CE mindset.

As for the setup, both units were easy to setup with each unit finding my Wi-Fi connection quickly and entering the WEP security key a breeze. I was up and running on both units within 5 minutes of unboxing them and was scanning for and listening to Internet radio stations with ease. Since I had them side-by-side, I tested the same Internet radio stations playing simultaneously on both. I had a few friends and family over so we all listened to each unit playing the same radio stations and compared the two. I then took a vote from the group of five to get their opinion for which sounded better. Everybody agreed including myself that the Logitech unit did sound better and on inspecting both units' speakers, you could see why. The Logitech unit had two bigger main woofer speaker cones and two tweeters while the Philips unit had two smaller woofer speaker cones and no tweeter. The Logitech unit was also quite a bit heavier and most audiophiles will tell you that the heavier the amplifiers/speakers, the better the sound. This is not to say that the Philips unit sounded bad as it still sounded great and if we did not have the Logitech unit side-by-side, I am sure everyone would have been more than satisfied with the Philips' sound. Anyway, if you don't like the speakers, you can always plug your own in the back thru stereo RCA jacks or headphone jacks. Overall, the sound on the Logitech just sounded fuller with more bass and dynamic range.

As for software, Philips comes with software from Twonky Media which turns your PC into a uPnP server so that the NP2900 can see and play music from your PC. The Logitech came with its own proprietary software that pretty much did the same thing. The one thing that the Logitech had that the Philips unit didn't was the ability to control the unit over the Web thru a standard browser. This was a pretty cool feature as you can adjust the volume and controls from the Internet on the Logitech unit whereas the Philips unit required using the remote only. For online services, the Philips let's you access Rhapsody but after the first month, you'll have to buy a subscription which is $12.99. Logitech can access Rhapsody for a fee, but can also access services such as Sirius and Pandora so it gives you more options in that regard. Since I really love the Pandora service, the Logitech gives me more options here.

The bottom line is that both units are great units that most people would be more than happy with. Depending on what you want though, each unit is designed for different tastes. If you want a stylish, sexy hi-fi unit that is going to make your interior designer happy, the Philips unit is definitely the one. If you are more utilitarian and want the unit that sounds better and has more ways to control it, the Logitech unit is the one for you. As far as price, the Logitech unit is also about $75 cheaper so if price is a factor, the Logitech unit does everything the Philips unit does. If price is not an issue, then the Philips unit just looks hotter, almost like a piece of art.

Length:: 5:35 Mins

I will warn you that my review compares the Philips Network Music Player to the Logitech 930-000054 Squeezebox Boom All-In-One Network Music Player with Integrated Speakers (Black) and while the Squeezebox Boom offers a few more features my personal preference is for the Philips.

Things that I like about the Philips Network Media Player

- Very easy to use - my wife prefers the ease-of-use compared to the Squeezebox Boom
- Nice functionality in the remote control
- Excellent Sound
- Relatively small footprint - not much bigger than your typical alarm clock
- External Antenna to help extend the range of your wifi network

Cons-
- Only one music network - Rhapsody

Final Verdict -

I am very happy with the Philips Network Music Player - in fact, it has taken the coveted spot in our kitchen (replacing the Squeezebox Boom) . While it would be preferable to have more music services than just Rhapsody, but in all honesty I mainly just listen to the internet radio stations anyway. Finally, the Squeezebox has more features and for the techno savvy it may be the better choice, but for us we enjoy the Philips.

4 1/2 Stars

Philips Streamium NP2900
"First things first. Since getting this Internet radio I have spent about 6 weeks trying to trouble shoot what is essentially a failed device. Initially I was very happy to deal with the tech support people as they were in the USA and I was happy about that. I once did tech support for a software company and all our jobs went off shore. That said, I became very frustrated with the lack of support I was actually getting. "

Above, was the first paragraph of my initial review of the NP2900 which I held back posting. I could not believe Philips actually wanted me to review such a faulty device. It was very frustrating making call after call all to no avail. Eventually a replacement was sent to me which exhibited the same problem as the first. It refused to play any radio station labeled "USA Only". Being in Los Angeles, I knew that had to be a mistake. Well FINALLY after all the calls and a letter I wrote to corporate in Georgia , about a week or so ago a firmware update was sent to the radio. Now it plays USA Only stations with all the rest that it should. It doesn't play UK Only stations, and it shouldn't, for me. I don't know why it took so long and no one in support ever actually helped me directly but maybe in some small way my nagging got an engineer assigned to fix it.

All that said what we have here is now, a pretty nice Internet Radio/Music streaming device. I personally also have the Logitech SqueezeBox Boom. It is one of the most direct competitors for the 2900. Both are fine examples of what such a player should be. They both capture Internet radio broadcasts via a WiFi signal and can also stream music from your computer via a home network connected to the WiFi router. Each comes with accompanying software to facilitate this. The Philips includes Twonky Media Server which installs and finds and sends your music (and cover art!) to the 2900. I found the software works fairly well, but having a Squeezebox it can interfere with that software. You can also (on a PC) use "Orb", a free media streamer if you have issues with Twonky.

An issue that I continued to have with the 2900 was slow scrolling through menus. Well, TODAY there was another firmware update. Boy, those engineers are getting their "busy" on! This one fixes that issue and adds some WiFi security features and graphics.

Graphics, that's where the 2900 shines. Its screen is quite nice and in full color. The Boom uses blue/green characters only. Color is nice and it can use graphics to identify radio stations or as wallpaper or album art for your music collection. This is very cool and well executed.

The remote control is a "typical" lots of little buttons, remote. I wound up adding the radio to my Harmony 880 remote and prefer to use it to control the functions, especially at night as the original remote is not backlit. There are only four basic controls on the player itself. On the unit's top are Power, Mute, Volume Up & Down. That's it. I wish it had more but that's a design choice. The result is a very sleek minimalist radio face. It is a very "pretty" radio and will add a touch of style to your room. It also sounds VERY GOOD. The speakers are more than decent and can fill a good size room with nice rich sound.

A couple of minor annoyances are that it only has Rhapsody as a supported music service. They do include a free trial month but you have to subscribe thereafter. The Boom has a very large assortment of music services that it supports both free and pay. The other main annoyance is how to "surf" the radio section. The 2900 is radio "station" centric. Meaning you can find stations by searching for their location or by call letters. The Boom let's you find out who's on now. As in I want to listen to Talk/Progressive and it will list who is on now and you can then tune to whatever station that person is on right now, wherever they are. I find that system far more useful. You can still search for an actual station from your home town, but overall, to me, the Boom wins on usefulness. I think this is a software issue and hope Philips sees fit to address it in a future update.

When you play music stored on your computer, first it needs to be DRM free. That said it does a fine job doing that and brings any stored album art along for display. This is a way cool feature.

In summation, this is a very nice streaming player. When you get it all set up check for those updates, it's in the settings menu. I was going to give it a low rating because of the earlier issues but, that's all fixed and is deserving of 4 stars. If Philips fixes/adds the browse by topic feature I would wholeheartedly give it 5 stars. It's a very good choice.

UPDATE:
This radio is tied to Philips servers. About four days ago (end of Aug. 2009) their server died. My radio died. Epic Fail. One Star, revised.
At first I was the only post on the Philips 2900 Forum, then others posted. No response from Philips. My 2900 is now in the closet in its box. Too bad.
Keep away!!!

I was listening to internet radio on this music player 5 minutes after I opened the box and the sound was crystal clear. This was super simple to set up. I just plugged it in, used the remote control to find my WiFi network, which it saw right away. I entered the password (My network is WPA2 protected) and voila! Music! There are literally thousands of radio stations that are sorted by country, type of music, or news radio. I listened to rock from Finland, talk radio from France (in French), country from Australia and classical music from Italy. Of course there are tons of stations in the U.S. to listen to as well if you want to keep it closer to home. You don't have to have the computer on to listen to the internet radio.

The other cool feature is that you can stream your DRM-free iTunes music to this player from your computer, using an application called TwonkyMedia Server which is included on a CD that comes with the music player. (Or you can just go to their website like I did and download it). There is a version for Windows, Mac and Linux. I have a PC running Windows XP and a Mac running Mac OS X so I downloaded Twonky for both. It took several minutes for the playlists and different songs to load from each computer to the server, but once loaded I was able to search by artist, album, playlists, folders, etc. with the remote and play them on this music player. I was able to see the album covers in beautiful color on about half of the music. That probably is due to something in the Twonky application. Oh, and another thing I was able to do is to go back and forth in the menus between the Mac and the PC (which have different playlists) as long as both were turned on. How cool is that?

The sound is completely amazing for this small player. The LivingSound and FullSound technologies make it sound like a much bigger player than you would expect. The internet radio stations are also crystal clear since it's broadcast over the internet, not with radio signals like an old fashioned radio. Listening to reggae music from the Caribbean on the N2900 is clearer than a station a city away on a traditional radio.

One thing I did notice is that all of the album artwork showed up on music that I purchased from Amazon, whereas some of it from iTunes didn't show up. And because I have a lot of DRM protected music from iTunes purchases I'll have to find a way to convert them so I can listen to them on this player. I'm able to play everything I purchased through Amazon.

I love the fact that this music player is a stand alone unit with it's own speakers. It's simple to move it from room to room. I've taken it outside on the patio which is very convenient when relaxing out there or having a meal. It makes my iTunes music portable like an iPod, (although you do need a power source to plug it in) but with speakers so I can listen with a group of people. It's also very nice looking with sleek lines and would fit in anywhere.

There are RCA jacks on the back of the unit so you could connect it to another sound system as well. You would just connect the AUX IN jacks of the sound system with the red and white LINE OUT jacks of the NP2900. Everything is simple and well marked. So if you wanted to listen to it on your surround sound system you could just connect it to your receiver.

If you like listening to the Rhapsody Music Service, you can do that with the NP2900, in fact you get a free 30 day trial to see if you like it. They have a huge music library that you can choose to listen to. It's $12.99 per month after the free trial.

The router I use to connect my network is the Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router WRT54G2 - Wireless router + 4-port switch - EN, Fast EN, 802.11b, 802.11g with a cable broadband network. I you're using a "N" router, be sure to set your connection speed to both N and G since this music player uses the Wi-Fi 802.11b/g technology.

My only problem with this player is trying to find it. Other family members keep carrying it off into other parts of the house. It's a big hit around here!

After moving back to the United States from Italy, I never imagined it would be possible to listen to my favorite Italian radio stations from the comfort of my living room here in America! The NP2900 is amazing. Amazing.

I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was to set up. The internet radio (essentially you are playing the 'radio' from anywhere, ANYWHERE, in the world right from this awesome sleek stylish player). The speakers are top-notch...I was blown away by the quality of the sound. Besides internet radio, I can play the music library stored on my pc, and I have become a huge fan of Rhapsody. I once attached speakers to my pc (never sounded THIS good), or I would listen to my pc music files with headphones...the NP2900 plays my files and I can practically hear it throughout the whole house (seriously, those speakers are incredible)!

The unit also has an alarm clock, which is great because I no longer use my cell phone as an alarm clock! I literally move the NP2900 from the bedroom to the living room to the kitchen to the bathroom...with the power of wireless internet, this little player is mobile, but with the power of those speakers, not totally necessary to move it around.

I really love it. Oh, I almost forgot, when you play your music files from your pc, the NP2900 shows album covers...and the displayed picture is crisp and colorful. The unit itself complements my home entertainment system...it has a modern look, in black, and is mountable to the wall.

I highly recommend this item...for yourself or a gift. I plan on getting one for my parents who would love the Italian radio as much, if not more, than I do.

Philips NP2900/37

I reviewed the Philips NP2900 using only the Internet Radio function using both an Ethernet connection and a WiFi connection.

First off, the A/C adapter cord is rather short for a tabletop radio. Although the A/C cord leading to the adapter from the wall is lengthy, the cable between the adapter and radio is too short. Second, the UP arrow control on the remote is in an awkward position. I found myself pressing OK accidentally. The center OK button should be smaller.

The WiFi setup is complicated if you have MAC filtering enabled and especially if your WEP key is secure (as in not being a simple string of characters). In order to get the MAC address, you must go into INFORMATION and MAC ADDRESS. Quickly jot it down as it scrolls the address at 200 MPH. Philips should print the MAC address on the outside of the unit like every other piece of network equipment you would find (routers, NICs, etc...)

The interface is acceptable but the buffering times are excruciatingly long. Not all of the countries have extensive and valid radio listings. I've run into server errors and frequent freezing. The default standby brightness is actually set to DIM, when it should really be OFF. It makes no sense to keep the LCD dimly lit when you turned off the unit. Even when the unit is off, it appears there is a great deal of power going to the radio because I can feel heat at the screen.

The radio also loses settings when the power is lost, as in pulling the A/C cord or moving the radio to a different room. The alarm setting gets erased and my speakers are muted by default. Also, the alarm only works once. I was hoping to use this radio as an alarm clock radio for my bedroom, but the standby mode doesn't display a clock of any sort. The one time I tried the alarm, it couldn't get a WiFi lock so it just sat at the menu screen.

The radio has some decent International radio selections. I was happy to get stations from the UK and Australia, but many of these streaming radio sessions can also be found via the Internet for free. With the advent of Netbooks, I don't see any reason to pay this amount of money for an Internet radio when you can get a full featured netbook PC for the same price. The netbook can do a lot more and listen to international radio stations via the Internet. Although the radio is nifty for listening to international stations or domestic stations, I just can't justify the price when I can use my laptop or netbook to do the same thing and listen to my MP3s without installing specialized software.

The audio quality is fairly good, there are 4 speakers that try to give an omnidirectional sound and there's decent bass punch for low frequency notes.

Overall, the idea is great but the execution needs work. I can't use it as an alarm clock radio, the WiFi connection is flaky, I can access most of the stations using my laptop, and the radio is too delicate and expensive to keep in my garage when I'm working on the car or projects. The weather would claim the life of the radio within 1 winter season. I would recommend that you save your money and buy a laptop or netbook computer since it can do the same job and then some.

First of all I am very impressed with this device. The overall look is amazing, the sound quality is perfect. I bought this device to use with my wrt610n linksys router since it has a built-in media server and a usb connection for an external hard drive. In my opinion it doesn't make sense to buy such a device if you'll have to keep a computer turned on all the time. With my current set up I keep all my songs in the hard disk attached to the router.

Well now, this is better! Okay... more expensive, but better. Last year I tried the Philips NP1100/37 Streamium Network Music Player with 3.0" B&W Display and was intrigued with the concept, but not so intrigued by its performance. That tailed off even further when the player had to be reset and reconfigured a few extra times for no reason (it kept losing the network). This new Philips NP2900/37 Network Music Player far exceeds the promise of the earlier version in almost every way (after a full month of trouble-free listening).

Setup was simple, even as I did it while watching TV. In less than 10 minutes (hey, I was watching Law and Order and you gotta pay attention to that show), I had the NP2900/37 on connected and playing Internet radio. Later that night, I popped the TwonkyMedia CD into my laptop and my playlist selections were quickly booming out of the tiny speakers. That degree of sound quality may have been my biggest surprise as the NP1100 was reliant on a connection with my stereo system. But the sound quality is excellent, especially when this unit can be unplugged and moved to another room or outdoor receptacle; and if you want to connect it to your premium sound system go right ahead, there are RCA jacks that you can use for that.

I confess that I haven't tried the Rhapsody Music Service, my quirk being "why spend $12 a month, when there are so many other choices", but then I'm not sold on the need for satellite radio either. But if your tastes would be better sated with Rhapsody, then this unit will make you happy, I'm sure. You'll get a free month's trial to decide for yourself in that regard.

As far as I'm concerned, the real delight comes from being able to listen to Internet radio; AM stations with FM/HD quality sound and FM stations from afar. I've always been a fan of the BBC World Service, but now I don't have to set an alarm clock to be able to listen to it!

If product naming practices were taken into account, I'd toss a couple stars from this review solely because TwonkyMedia has to be the dumbest name I've ever seen. But it enables me to listen to both my MP3s and DRM-free iTunes music as well (the earlier unit sent me through a two day journey of solution-finding and conversions for the basic reason that it didn't speak Apple.

But all would be for naught if the music didn't sound good, and this Streamium sounds excellent! It's also a quantum leap forward from the visual aesthetics of the NP1100, delivering color images of album covers and far better display resolution (I've seen traffic warning trailers with better graphics than that old unit).

Perhaps you've been waiting on the purchase of a product like this, if so the only question in my mind is with regard to how it fits your budget. If you've got the resources, go for it!

The Philips NP2900 is the latest offering from the Streamium line of products. It connects to your computer (either PC or mac - finally!) and its Internet connection, letting you easily access your digital content where you want it. Unlike prior generations of Streamium units, it includes its own self-contained speakers so you don't need to hook it into a stereo to enjoy your music anywhere. I also own a previous-generation Streamium (the NP1100) and this one addresses all of the issues that I had had with that one, making it a highly-recommendable solution for distributing your digital music.


SETUP

My threshold requirement for any wireless device is ease of connectivity - if it's a mess to connect to my home network, then what use is it? As with the previous Streamium units, the NP2900 passed with flying colors, connecting to my 802.11g network automatically. All I had to do was enter my security password (it is capable of handling WEP or WPA/WPA2 encryption) and it immediately picked up my home audio library. It also has an ethernet port on the back in case you are able to utilize a wired connection.


PERFORMANCE

The included TwonkyServer software installed easily and ran smoothly, opening up my entire music library to the NP2900 including my AAC files ripped via iTunes. My biggest gripe with the prior Streamium units is that they required WMP11 as their media server, basically locking you into lower-fidelity audio formats like MP3 as well as the Windows OS platform. The NP2900's additional flexibility lets you choose which server you want to use (I have successfully used Twonky, TVersity, WMP and Zune) and for the first time, Macs can also be used to run the server.

The Streamium also picks up Internet radio sources, which I found great in order to access local stations for news/weather/traffic when I need it. There is a pre-loaded catalog of Internet radio stations categorized by content (talk vs. music), musical genre, country, language, etc. Five minutes out of the box, I was catching up with the latest ambient music from France, local artists from Argentina, news headlines from Japan (just because I could - it's not like I speak Japanese!), and even the online home of the greatest radio station ever (The Future of Rock n Roll WOXY - 97X, Oxford, OH). The amazing variety of offerings makes for a pretty big 'wow' factor. Bookmarking stations is straightforward so that you don't need to sift through the large menu of available stations.

If you subscribe to the Rhapsody online music service, the NP2900 can pick that up as well. This package includes a one-month free trial as well.

Where the NP2900 really excels is its sound quality. Barely a foot long with four small speakers (two front-facing and two side-facing), it delivers an amazingly full sound. It pumps out a lot of decibels (I've never taken it past 25% of full volume) so that you'll never need to turn it up to the point of sounding harsh or scratchy. There are preset options for equalization, dynamic bass boost and expanders that Philips calls LivingSound and FullSound. Each can be tweaked independent of the others, so you can really customize how you want the NP2900 to sound based on content and location. From smooth jazz and classical (which sound best on any unit this size) to the most complicated metal and electronica, the NP2900 handles the sound remarkably well.

Even with the SuperScroll feature, I still found the navigation of large libraries to be cumbersome. Searching your library via the numeric keypad feels like texting from a 90s phone and more often than not, I find myself just hammering on the up/down keys to get what I'm looking for. So once again, the easiest way to run the NP2900 over a long span of time is to set up a playlist on your computer and let the Streamium run it as-is.


ERGONOMICS

The color display is attractive but it can get cluttered once album art is overlaid with artist/track info and player status graphics. Also, it is subject to glare in sunny environments - this can impact your placement of the unit. When the unit is powered down, it displays the date and time in an easy-to-read manner (nice since it can also be used as an alarm clock).

The NP2900 is wall-mountable but with a few minor gripes. First, the package includes an attachable wall bracket but no screws or wall anchors (which you may want to consider for this solid unit) that you can use to finish the job. So doing so will require a stop at the hardware store. Also, you need to remove the pedestal stand to mount the unit but it's attached with specialized screws that require a Torx wrench. Many people don't have this unusual tool with its asterisk-shaped tip, so there you go back to the hardware store (note: it's even an unusually small size - I already owned a set of Torx drivers and still didn't have the right one; you'll need a T9 size). Finally, when the mounting bracket is installed, you have no choice but to raise the stub antenna. It's a minor aesthetic quibble, but I preferred the look of it hidden and my network connected fine with it in that position, but the wall mount won't fit with it there.

Ideally, the Streamium would run on battery power for maximum portability. Instead, it has a bulky power box and cord that diminishes its simple, elegant appearance.

The remote is simple and feels sturdy. It utilizes infrared, thus requiring line-of-sight to the unit - so no muting it from the other room when the phone rings. Given the unit's cost, RF capability would have been a nice convenience.


PROS
* Ease of wireless network connectivity
* Amazingly full sound quality from such a compact unit
* Compatible with a variety of media servers (including ones for Mac!) and therefore audio file formats


CONS
* While improved over prior units, searching through large libraries can be cumbersome
* Mounting the unit requires specilized tools and hardware that you need to buy separately

After having a NP1100, I am truly believe in Streamium concepts and wait for the NP2900 for a while. Finally could get it and it didn't disappoint me at all.

I put it in my bedroom as I don't have my Hi-Fi system in there. And this one piece overall design fits in to my room very much. I now could stream all the music from my PC in the Study room and play it in the bedroom now. The surprise is, after experience the LivingSound feature, it really make the small compact system sound like a Hi-Fi system in my room. Amazing.

Setup is quite easy after learning from the NP1100, but this time, it has a very impressive user interface and thanks to the upgraded 3.5" Color LCD display. I don't think other brands are having such a nice display so far.

To optimizing the usage of the Color LCD, Full album art has been added when playing music streaming. It makes the music playing experience much happier. The TwonkyMedia server that comes with it is much easier to be used comparing to Windows Media Player. And you know what, I can play my iTunes music to my NP1100 and NP2900 both by using TwonkyMedia. I can see Philips is really improving the user experience in its Streamium products.

One more benefit is that, without turning on my PC, I can still listen to Internet radio and Rhapsody and I will set up my favorite stations in Clubs Philips previously when using NP1100. And now, in NP2900, I just join back the Clubs Philps with the same account, my favorite stations are all there.

In summary, in additional to its alarm feature, I found it great to be used in my bedroom and making my dream to listen to soft music before sleep in a good sound quality becoming true.