jonnyb:

One thing's for sure: Bang and Olufsen could do a much better job of communicating how their new products work

So no guess as to whether he is or is not holding an iPhone ?

@Paul ... LOL !

That's not an iPhone, I'm sure. Could be a HTC, as it's one of the few brands that put the camera on the center...

Oh it's definitely not an iPhone. The large camera arrangement on the back suggests an HTC or a Samsung - perhaps a Nexus S

I'm still not sold on the AirPlay as a deal-breaking feature, but I also assume it will be present on models in the near-term future. 

The BeoSound 5 head unit has been a bit of a conundrum since the beginning because it would seem a no-brainer that a product that's meant to be interacted with should be in your lap on the couch. The only problem is that nothing is quite as easy as the BeoSound 5's wheel interface. As odd as it may be at first look (I have to wipe fingerprints off of the showroom models all day because people assume it's a touch screen), the wheel has proven itself to be better. At least for me.

Whether it's an iPad or an AppleTV, my music collection is just too large to be competently managed in any other interface and it's not like I have the biggest collection in the world, but when you're looking at an app on a 10" screen there just isn't an inherent mechanism for moving through the lists as efficiently as a wheel. I'd get carpal tunnel swiping through over 1,000 albums and there's also no queue based listening quite like MOTS. 

So depsite its glaring problem as a stationary product, I've never found anything as easy or enjoyable to use. And we still sell them very well. Better, in fact, than any other system since the 9000 almost 10 years ago. So it's resonating with our clients. 

To be sure there are a lot of things I'd like to see it do, but AirPlay doesn't really factor into it. I want a consolodated app for browsing music and operating the products. That's at the top of my list.

And, off topic, yes my ThinkPad is from the last few IBM years, but I've given out current Lenovo models to my staff and there's no observable difference in the quality. I'm excited about my X1 and finally putting my MB Air in a drawer.

Also, my love of Spotify has lasted all of 3 days. It's still a good service, but when I went to listen to Laurie Anderson and found the cupboard was bare... well that's just unacceptable.

Then I tried to listen to Peter Gabriel. Nope. Just some soundtrack stuff. 

Then I went to listen to David Byrne (for the first time on my main setup at home) and it sounded like earphones playing in the bottom of a trash can. 

So it turns out that there are still some big holes in the catalog and the sound quality is really mixed (I did play a few albums that sounded like 320kbps and they sounded ok).

Trip, can you look at the discussion http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/t/40023.aspx and comment?

AirPlay inclusion is the least of our worries. It appears the shipping Encore doesn't enable you to connect to an iTunes library or NAS drive. Crazy if true. Almost suicidal, after the discussions we have had on here.

Do you have a unit?

TripEnglish:

And, off topic, yes my ThinkPad is from the last few IBM years, but I've given out current Lenovo models to my staff and there's no observable difference in the quality. I'm excited about my X1 and finally putting my MB Air in a drawer.

Continuing off topic... there were major quality problems in the early Lenovo branded think pads (3 yrs ago?)... bad enough that my company switched to Dell (Dell had recently inked a big deal with us so that was a big factor in where we ended up - Apple was evaluated, too, but we were switching away from Lenovo because of the quality issues).  After a few years with Dells, we're back to Thinkpads.  IT tells me Lenovo's quality problems have been resolved, and I'm looking forward to dumping my Dell (its cooling system has been replaced twice in 3 yrs).  I've also had serious issues with 2 of my 3 Apple laptops which has very much tarnished Apple's image in my eyes (especially when the same problem occurs over and over - my MacBook Pro is on it's 3rd system board, 3rd monitor and 2nd keyboard)

moxxey:

Trip, can you look at the discussion http://forum.beoworld.org/forums/t/40023.aspx and comment?

AirPlay inclusion is the least of our worries. It appears the shipping Encore doesn't enable you to connect to an iTunes library or NAS drive. Crazy if true. Almost suicidal, after the discussions we have had on here.

Do you have a unit?

I can confirm this as baloney. It's specifically being pitched for NAS drives and B&O has specified QNAP & Iomega already as preferred, though that list will grow. And it will certainly scan the files of an iTunes library (which often is on the NAS when one is present).

Stan:

Continuing off topic... there were major quality problems in the early Lenovo branded think pads (3 yrs ago?)... bad enough that my company switched to Dell (Dell had recently inked a big deal with us so that was a big factor in where we ended up - Apple was evaluated, too, but we were switching away from Lenovo because of the quality issues).  After a few years with Dells, we're back to Thinkpads.  IT tells me Lenovo's quality problems have been resolved, and I'm looking forward to dumping my Dell (its cooling system has been replaced twice in 3 yrs).  I've also had serious issues with 2 of my 3 Apple laptops which has very much tarnished Apple's image in my eyes (especially when the same problem occurs over and over - my MacBook Pro is on it's 3rd system board, 3rd monitor and 2nd keyboard)

Apple cares very much about aesthetic design and has pushed engineering boundaries in pursuit of some of the most elegant designs in computing, but they just don't stand up to normal use. I started off with plastic iBook and the shell wore terribly and began to crack around the keybed. Then a PowerBook which had heat issues and wound up with some catastrophic failure out of warranty. Back to a MacBook. That one was actually stolen before it could crap out. Another MacBook and the screen & hinge broke from being dropped while inside a briefcase (though not in a sleeve). Then onto the MB Airs. Two of the original units both had issues with the monitor hinge that were never resolved. The second one's battery bulged out and puffed up the aluminum shell and it couldn't close. Now I'm on an 11" MB Air which, while some of the issues with the previous issues have been solved, just doesn't have enough horsepower to run my Lutron programming SW in parallels. I want one computer that can do everything and I can give up anything Mac specific, but I can't live without Windows programs so the choice is made for me. 

All my techs have ThinkPad X40s and they're available for less than netbooks on eBay and can't be destroyed. Any one of them is older than my history of Macs combined and there's no sign of quitting. 

Perhaps somewhat off topic, perhaps not.....much of this is too technical for me. However, this evening I was able to get my Beosound 5 (not Encore) to wirelessly recognize my Macbook as music storage device. I also was able to get it to recognize my iPhone wirelessly as the music storage device. Cover art from the iPhone was reproduced in the 5 in high resolution, to my eyes. Looked just as good as anything I have seen in a store or on my 5. 

However, I have not been able to get the music to play. I am sure it is a format issue. 

Razlaw:

\

...this evening I was able to get my Beosound 5 (not Encore) to wirelessly recognize my Macbook as music storage device. 

Again contributing to the off topic posts... how did you do this?  I tried to do this today... I could swear this capability came in the January release because I remember turning it off because my BS5 was "hearing double" - I had already loaded the songs from my Mac to my BS5 so when it recognized my Mac and pulled these in automatically the BS5 saw two copies...  However, I couldn't find any setting to turn this back on.  I thought it was "Music Storage", but when I select this it says "internal harddrive", and I cannot change this value... or are you doing this all with your iPad and the new release stuff?

TripEnglish:

Now I'm on an 11" MB Air which, while some of the issues with the previous issues have been solved, just doesn't have enough horsepower to run my Lutron programming SW in parallels.

Trip, the 11" Air won't have enough power to run Parallels effectively. My 2.7Ghz i7 MBP can only just about run Parallels fast enough for my liking. Sadly you really need a quad core to throw a couple of cores at it, I've found.

You'd be better simply using your Air as a Windows 7 only machine, through Bootcamp! That would be very effective and would make a brilliant Windows 7 computer - very portable, reasonably fast.

TripEnglish:

The second one's battery bulged out and puffed up the aluminum shell and it couldn't close.

That has happened with my MacBook unibody from 2009 ... asked the local Mac store about it yesterday and they said it was a sign of the bettery nearing end of life ... not sure I believe this ... and also I hope it does not burst it flames !

But despite being an ex-IBMer I am wedded to my Mac 

I kinda agree with Trip (??): who really cares about Airplay.  The Zepplin Air was laughed at because of it's terrible integration of Airplay.  And besides, all iphones have bluetooth and from what I can see on the B&O BS5 Encore webpage you can play by bluetooth?

How many people were really happy with AirTunes? (the tech pre Airplay)?

I think the BS5 encore is a great product and I think it may be time to ditch my Time Capsule and get a real NAS.  Too many times I want to play stuff i have on the Time Capsule on my Sony TV or the PlayStation and I just can't.  

I can't wait to get my hands on a BS5 Encore, even if it is superflous ;-)

Michael:

I kinda agree with Trip (??): who really cares about Airplay. 

We have to remember that this is a B&O forum. People are going to be more biased towards being fully B&O than, say, on an Apple forum. Ask them what they think of B&O products and we'll see a different opinion.

I'm also keen to buy an Encore, but as long as it's easy-to-use, enables me to plug it in to my existing system (I don't care about having to buy a third-party NAS drive, but you then lose things like the "Back to my Mac" features of the Time Capsule, so there are pros and cons for both) and, for £2500+, it gives me more than I'd get connecting my speakers directly to the AirPort Express.

Maybe I'm more demanding than most B&O customers!

Going back to the topic:

the Encore is now officially on B&O's website..

I don't even know what a NAS drive is!  Im really not interested in IT etc, i just want to stream my MacBook's iTunes library to say the Encore over WiFi  I guess it does this?

I think for me BS8 is perfect!

Chrisreunion:

the Encore is now officially on B&O's website..

go here => Encore! Encore!! Encore!!!

NEW YouTube BeoSound 5 Encore Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9oyRP_uvxU

Tak PP. But it`s the same video you find on the official Beo site.

Stefan

Razlaw:

Yes it was in music storage where the iPhone and MacBook showed up.

I also set music server to off.

I tried to change the music server source to my iMac but it was not listed.  Did you have to change some share settings on the Mac and iPhone?  Can the iPad be a source also?

Razlaw:

Another thing, on the Macbook I purchased and downloaded some music server software from Twonky.

Yep, Twonky sets up your Mac as a UPnP media server, so the Beosound 5 has picked this up as a NAS device. Problem is, Twonky won't have been configured with any music, which is why the Beosound 5 hasn't picked up anything to play.

According to the Twonky FAQ "iTunes Plus songs that are purchased from the Apple iTunes Music Store are DRM-free and should play fine.".

To get them to play, you need to create a folder and drag audio files to it. However, you could simply create an alias to your existing iTunes music folder and that should work!