BeoSound 5 Forum

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

beojeff — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 08:49:03 GMT

StUrrock,

I will agree with you about B&O's Windows-based programming. As I Mac user, I found the initial transfer via BeoConnect to be very simple. My only complaint about BeoConnect is that it dumps all of the iTunes files into a common folder on the BeoMedia 5 rather than keeping them organized via Artist folders.

After my initial filed transfer, I booted into Windows via Boot Camp to re-rip some of my favorite music into WMA Lossless. Compared to iTunes, I found MediaPlayer atrocious. In playing around with BeoPlayer, I tried to get some insight into what the B&O programmers must have been thinking. They've really tried to integrate BM5 / BS5 tightly with BeoPlayer. However, I find BeoPlayer to be quite sluggish, non-intuitive, and lacking in control compared to iTunes. When BeoPlayer tried to scan my BM5 for the music files already loaded via BeoConnect, it gave a status message with an estimated scan time of 90 DAYS.

My dealer has advised me that nearly ALL of his Beosound 5 sales have been to Apple users. I was also advised that B&O is seriously looking into adding Apple Lossless support due to the high demand and high proportion of Mac users. Rather than seeing B&O continue to re-invent the wheel with their own Windows-based BeoPlayer efforts, it would be nice to see them focus on better integration with iTunes - which is available for both platforms.

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

StUrrock — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:32:46 GMT

Puncher:

I will go as far as saying that I think the "wired" BS5 is a lazy solution and think the fact that the MOTS feature is (artificially) only available if you own the BS5 is an indication of B&O's lack of confidence in selling the BS5 unit alone if the BM5/Beo5 combination could carry out all functions without it.

Puncher,

That single paragraph sums up the product perfectly. MOTS is just an excuse for no 2 way communication. In fact in stands for More Of The same old duff Software.

beojeff:

I, too, hoped for Beosound 5 to follow the oval monolithic design of the Beocenter 2. However, the more I look at the Beosound 5, I see the sculptural beauty that is sure to someday become iconic. The simple lines....the way the screen juts out to the left without support and utilizes open space to float....

Totally agree beojeff, BeoSound 5 looks and operates in a beautiful way.

beojeff:

I'm rather excited at the notion that B&O is striving to both keep the tactile magic and at the same time take advantage of the benefits of modern technology.

Again agree but modern technology now includes using up to date software, something the BeoSound5, along with a lot of B&O Windows based solutions is always too far behind. B&O admit that the BeoSound 5 is only a single room product. In the modern world, with easy multi room operation of digital media being standard (just look at Apple, Loewe, Sonos. In fact almost the entire world (apart from Struer!!)) it is just not good enough.

BeoSound5 so near yet so far.........................................................................................................

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Mr10Percent — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 05:06:56 GMT

Russ:

Well thee you are then...as I've said before, and will doubtless say again...every one of you here complaining about the lack of an in-built cd/dvd/blu-ray player are typing madly away on a PD you already own, which is doubtless loaded with music which you already own. Given the possibility that you are still buying actual CD's, what is the likelihood that you'll want that new CD on your iPod as well as your BeoMaster 5? Fairly high I would think. So why is it so terribly important that you be given the choice of ripping it two separate times on two different machines especially given Joey's comment about the investment in time needed? Why not accept that one rip, on the PC your sitting at right now, and transferring twice is the better/smarter/greener/more efficient choice? What is so difficult to accept in following B&O's logical, ruthless pursuit of 'essentiality' here?

And before you start; I'll be American for a moment and point out that if you're not already buying music electronically, using an iPod (or other similar device), and/or ripping CD's for some other reason, you're almost certainly not on this thread, and hence not really the target market for the BeoSound 5 anyway.

Well I think that there is a more profound reason why not to include a 'disc' drive:- Simply put the auto-tagging of any CD is not always entirely perfect. Nor is the cover art that normally accompanied the tag info.

I find that sometimes box sets have totally different tag titles across each CD versus the box set title. Do I want this? does anyone? I think in the main not. Sometimes the cover art is poor and higher res pictures (good for the BS5 btw) can be embedded to great effect. Also, if anyone is interested in having extended titles [supercalifracgilisticexpealidous.sunshine.rap in da hud.muver******* remix-mix] addining on to the title of their track. Well fine. I dont.

Thus an editing PC with your own favourite tag editor is preferable and stops the BM5 becomeing another over-burdened PC with memory absorbing software doing something it was never designed to do.

10%

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Russ — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:51:23 GMT

joeyboygolf:

I'm sorry Alex but this is a backward step. It takes an enormous amount of time to put a CD ..

Well thee you are then...as I've said before, and will doubtless say again...every one of you here complaining about the lack of an in-built cd/dvd/blu-ray player are typing madly away on a PD you already own, which is doubtless loaded with music which you already own. Given the possibility that you are still buying actual CD's, what is the likelihood that you'll want that new CD on your iPod as well as your BeoMaster 5? Fairly high I would think. So why is it so terribly important that you be given the choice of ripping it two separate times on two different machines especially given Joey's comment about the investment in time needed? Why not accept that one rip, on the PC your sitting at right now, and transferring twice is the better/smarter/greener/more efficient choice? What is so difficult to accept in following B&O's logical, ruthless pursuit of 'essentiality' here?

And before you start; I'll be American for a moment and point out that if you're not already buying music electronically, using an iPod (or other similar device), and/or ripping CD's for some other reason, you're almost certainly not on this thread, and hence not really the target market for the BeoSound 5 anyway.

BTW, congrats to Trip on his recent award elsewhere here on BeoWorld

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

MicTheCat — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:34:19 GMT

Ingvar

You are spot on!!

The ripping is a minor onetime "annoyance". As for me I ripped to a USB harddrive to maintain a backup at it took some evenings +300 CD's. But after this I will use BeoPlayer when a new CD arrives and it will take a couple of minutes to set off the ripping and then things will work in background 10 minutes.

As to the funtionality of BM5/BS5 me and my wife has newer enjoyed our music collection this much before - thanks to MOTS. Even our old Beolab Pentas has come to new life :-)

regards Michael

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

IngvarW — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:04:06 GMT

For me so far it´s a perfect product;

No need to use the half livingroom to store ugly CDs.

No handling of crappy CD-cases which fell apart as soon you open them, especially when there are 2 or more CDs in the same Album. Those plastic cases must be the worst product ever made by humans.

Easy and direct scrolling in my rather small collection of music, approx 400 CDs.

Many old music tunes has been reborned as an effect of the MOTS function. The value of the old tunes has returned again and no immidiate need for buying new music.

Better sound than my returned BS9000. No immidiate need for upgrading my BL8000.

At last a good place to store all my digital photos and a nice way to watch them at my BL7-32.

Fun with all the netradiostations, fun to listen to stations from for example Hawaii

New wow-factor within my group of friends, that´s always fun.

The ripping of all CDs take some time and offcourse, if there was a better solution I would be happy but on the other hand, I do what it takes and for me it´s a minor effort.

Brgds Ingvar

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

TripEnglish — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:16:41 GMT

Puncher:

...........and there's the thing - some find it the ideal solution to their requirements, others don't. Of course everyone is correct, given their own personal needs - let us know how you find living with it.

You're totally right, Puncher. I should add "The above reflects the opinion of the poster" or something. I am, of course, expressing my opinion, but also hopefully provoking a little thought on what we'd all "want" in a product. I've found, when dealing with clients, that what they claim to want and what they actually want are worlds apart and require some gentle socratic questioning to tease out the real aims!

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

TripEnglish — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:07:47 GMT

PhilLondon:

TripEnglish:
Built-in CD Player:

I am sorry Trip, but it would make perfect sense to have a Built-in CD, player, or better a DVD or a Blue-Ray player.

This for 2 reasons:

- Having to put a new CD in a computer, rip it and then transfer it to the BM5, etc... is NOT what I expect from a B&O experience. I want be able to pop a CD in the machine, press record twice, and done. Like it has been working for the past 20 years.

- Design wise, the BS5 does not work well near a BC2 or a BS9000 or any other hifi. B&O has been doing all-in one Hifi for a while now...

I think it would make perfect sense that B&O offers 2 models. one without a drive, for people with an existing Beosound, or for people wanting to go digital all the way, and another model, with a player, for people who do not have an existing BS.

I'm not saying I'm necessarily "against" it, only that it is not a very relevant solution. If you have not undertaken any measure of migration to digital music than you're bound to run into this problem at some point. It's like saying that you should have a CD drive in an iPod. For the nearly 10 years that the iPod has been the dominant hardware for the playback of digital music from the living room to the city street, no one has ever batted an eye at iTunes being the hub through which all content flows. It's simple and comprehensive enough to manage the experience. Cutting out iTunes (or software X) is a step backwards.

The whole idea of the BeoSound 5 is to get rid of discs, not make you more dependent on them! It is a cord cutting step and not a migratory one. If you're not ready to give up CDs for good, we have plenty of other stereos that will allow you to gracefully prolong the inevitable.

And Phil, I will specifically ask that you explain how, without the aid of the computer, we are to achieve a 100% success rate for applying album artwork and meta-data to a CD ripped from an internal drive. To be clear, no software platform on earth has succeeded in this so I'm anxious to hear.

I would also ask how stooping low to place disc after disc into a box in a cabinet is superior to doing it at the computer as a background task while accomplishing other things?

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Alex — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:26:24 GMT

The BeoCenter 2 was just that, a BeoCenter. The BeoSound 5 is a sound system/hifi product, not a BeoCenter of any sorts.

And in general, cables do not need to be seen - there's almost always a way of hiding them...

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Puncher — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:57:17 GMT

...........and there's the thing - some find it the ideal solution to their requirements, others don't. Of course everyone is correct, given their own personal needs - let us know how you find living with it.

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

beojeff — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:35:12 GMT

I, too, hoped for Beosound 5 to follow the oval monolithic design of the Beocenter 2. However, the more I look at the Beosound 5, I see the sculptural beauty that is sure to someday become iconic. The simple lines....the way the screen juts out to the left without support and utilizes open space to float....

I'm rather excited at the notion that B&O is striving to both keep the tactile magic and at the same time take advantage of the benefits of modern technology. Part of the enjoyment of listening to music at home has always been the RITUAL of listening to music: searching for the LP or CD, pulling the LP out of the sleeve, feeling the texture of the edge of the CD case.... This is something that ordinary computers and iTunes simply lack. The Beosound 5 invites you to approach the screen and go through a similar "ritual" of selecting music with ergonomic levers and wheels. What's even better is that the Beosound 5 offers to use modern technology in a way never before possible to logically connect our music. When one has acquired a large physical music library, it becomes essential to alphabetize the collection. Such organization makes it easy to find something specific, but it doesn't offer a logical connection of the MUSIC itself. This is something the Beosound 5 can do with modern technology. In my opinion, the Beosound 5 is a landmark accomplishment of B&O continuing its tradition of bringing magic to music.

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

plagente — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:30:12 GMT

Alex:

I hate to disagree with you but I can't really think of anything I'd hate more than a voice-activated sound system.

Firstly, it's doing no more than disconnect the listener/user further from their music IMO (which digital media has already gone part the way to doing). Secondly, I'd feel like a complete nutcase talking to my stereo. Thirdly, it opens the system up hugely for accidental control. Fourthly, there are already voice activated systems out there, what would make B&O's different?

RE the inclusion of a DVD or Blu-Ray player, why would you want a DVD player in a sound system? Surely the Blu-Ray player should be kept for the TV...

Because like many customers, I want a single system for audio AND video. All these cables are awfull (perhaps this is why B&O does not show them in their ads.....).

I just want one system with a good design and advanced functionalities (Not just play/stop/MOTS...). We are in 2009...

Beocenter 2 was cool, wasn't it ?

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

PhilLondon — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:35:30 GMT

Alex:
RE the inclusion of a DVD or Blu-Ray player, why would you want a DVD player in a sound system? Surely the Blu-Ray player should be kept for the TV...

What is wrong with the Beocenter 2?

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Alex — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:47:27 GMT

I hate to disagree with you but I can't really think of anything I'd hate more than a voice-activated sound system.

Firstly, it's doing no more than disconnect the listener/user further from their music IMO (which digital media has already gone part the way to doing). Secondly, I'd feel like a complete nutcase talking to my stereo. Thirdly, it opens the system up hugely for accidental control. Fourthly, there are already voice activated systems out there, what would make B&O's different?

RE the inclusion of a DVD or Blu-Ray player, why would you want a DVD player in a sound system? Surely the Blu-Ray player should be kept for the TV...

Re: Beosound 5 - Is it worth the effort (NOW)?

Jackplug — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:34:09 GMT

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm in the 'still play CDs camp' and if you've been to HMV lately then they're still in business? so I can't be the only one. I DO have all my CDs ripped (mp3) on my PC and I'm not in the other camp either that thinks mp3 is a quality loss. I'm an engineer by trade and could easily argue with anyone whether the sound differs technically to CD rate PCM BUT... mp3 (192k) sounds OK to me, even through a pair of BL5s from an average DELL sound chip :-)

So I get my Beosound 5 set up but most likely I'll continue to use my Beo4. Someone on here made the point that B&O did away with bulky MCP, I actually found my MCP 5500 to be brilliant (Beolink 7000, not so brilliant, other than looks). Beo5, not really took off either if we're honest.

B&O need to not lose sight of what the customer thinks, before they run off and get too self indulgent in such things as Beosound 5. It's a great idea, jus not great enough... but to be fair, now that everything is digital and hard media is going away then there really is little room to innovate significantly and a large margin for error in 'how the customer will react.' There is now less opportunity for GREAT ideas (Beogram 4000 - Beocord 9000 etc) to be slaved over and introduced to the world. On a more real angle, I'm partially sighted (but have good ears thankfully). However, I found the text on the Beosound 5 display a bit hard to read and the jog wheel a bit too sensitive and it took me ages to navigate.

There is never going to be anything to beat the experience that I'm sure most of us on here have, which is the ease of control from a Beo remote in your hand, that you know where all the buttons are without looking. The power of the thumb will reign over the power of the cursor :-)

I own about 6 Pink Floyd CDs... on Windows Media Player, I type in Pi... and if I'm lucky I get my entire collection. Then I press play on my keyboard. P is about two thrids the way into the alphabet, which is a LOT of scrolling with the jog wheel on Beosound 5. NOW, a voice activated title select on Beocound device really would take off!!!! Come on, practically every 0845 number you dial has one on the back end of it :-) My BL5s are clever enough to be self aware and have a built in microphone so I'll expect to see a B&O produce that listen's to you and what you want, even if the designers are forgetting to now days.