Still Livin' La Vida Linux - ZDNet (blog)

my conversion to a Linux based digital media environment, and since it’s the holiday season (or just after) I thought it was time to update the story, and describe some new Linux-based devices I’m using that others might find useful.

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In the original essay I spoke about converting all my physical CD’s to digital files into the patent-free FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format. At the time I was looking at the Sonos multi-room music system to play the files. I took the plunge and ended up buying a four room system last year. They aren’t cheap, but they’re the most robust devices I own. They never crash (and for a device as sophisticated as this, that’s a real pleasure). I’ve owned televisions that fail more often than the Sonos boxes. The Sonos platform is based on an embedded Linux kernel, but the user interface is completely custom, using separate Linux-based controller devices to select play lists (although you can also use an iPhone). This is embedded Linux done right. It is incredibly easy to use. My wife, who is an avowed technophobe, finds it simple to program the music she wants. I’m trying to find excuses to buy more of these devices as it’s such fun to have all your music available anywhere you want, or even listen to Chinese traffic radio broadcasts (available on the Sonos over the Internet) – although I’m running out of rooms to put them in :-). I was so impressed with the ease of use of the Sonos that I ended up buying one of their all-inone (including amplifier and speakers) S5 systems and giving it to my brother in the UK for Christmas. Bear in mind this is someone who would call me if his desktop background on Windows got accidentally changed and scream down the phone “my computer is broken!”, so I really didn’t want to give him a system requiring any kind of technical support. I had converted him from his old Windows XP system to a desktop Linux system running Ubuntu earlier this year, and had only one support call since then (involving OpenOffice) and I really wanted to keep that score. So far it’s been a complete success, although I did have one tech support call caused by him resting his chessboard  on top of the “volume minus (-)” button on the unit, and wondering why he couldn’t hear any sound or turn up the volume using the controller. As I explained to his wife later, just when you think something is foolproof, the universe gives birth to a better fool.

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