Would I pay the price for the BeoSound 5?

YES!

IF my Ouverture would break down I'd definitly go for the BS5! I've played with it in the shop and it gives me the same WHOW as when I first saw the Ouverture or the BS9000... 

No IF's.. No BUT's.. For my current situation... I wouldn't hesitate if I had the €'s!

Karel.

For me, while the BS5/BM5 is a step along the way and something new and different from B&O, I don't see it as the final answer to the domestic integrated media server. I'm sure later versions/attempts will be much better.

I'm gonna buy it. I like the system, the operation, the interface.

There are small thing that I'm missing (track time display, current track number etc.) but I'll hope that B&O will introduce this with a softwareupdate or some member find's a way to do so - as it is only a software based system; so everything should be possible in customizing it.

And I LOVE to customize electronic things ;-)

Sure, the price is a little bit to high in my opinion but it's better to invest my money during the recession in hardware :-)

And surely, someday there will be a better Besound X or s.th. but that's always in live - you simply have to deal with it or you'll never buy anything.

No.

TWG:

I'm gonna buy it. I like the system, the operation, the interface.

There are small thing that I'm missing (track time display, current track number etc.) but I'll hope that B&O will introduce this with a softwareupdate or some member find's a way to do so - as it is only a software based system; so everything should be possible in customizing it.

And I LOVE to customize electronic things ;-)

Sure, the price is a little bit to high in my opinion but it's better to invest my money during the recession in hardware :-)

And surely, someday there will be a better Besound X or s.th. but that's always in live - you simply have to deal with it or you'll never buy anything.

True enough, I certainly won't be doing without digital music in the meantime, however I won't be spending thousands (I'll stop short of calling it an investment) on something that just doesn't do it for me.

Daniel:

PhilLondon:

avus17:

But do U really think physical medium (CD) will die out so quickly? What about older customers

They'll die as well... :-(

 

An amusing answer for an amusing question.  However Bang & Olufsen's target market does include persons age 50 and older.

Leaving aside the perpetual discussion of which sounds better, digital downloaded music, CDs, or vinyl records, the economic model for the record companies does favor digital downloads.  There are no manufacturing or distribution costs.  Other than marketing costs, the rest is profit.  The recession will probably hasten the demise of CDs.

My new Beosound 5 arrives on Thursday.  I can hardly wait.

In response to the Original Post, let me just say that my exposure to BeoSound 5 thus far has me seriously considering selling off my MK1 BeoSound 9000.  If anyone's interested....  

The question Avus17 has posted is very good, and sparked a lot of debate.

I have yet to try the BS 5 out, which will come on 19.02.2009. But, I think I also see the point of this product now, and I've had a little headstart. 

Over the last two years, I spoke to a few involved in it's initial design and testing, and agreed to keep it quiet.  But I learned more recently reading comments posted in BEOWORLD by those with hands-on experience, than I did in the past two years.

I agree that everything is going digital, and like the cassette tape,  the CD (and possibly the DVD)  are now heading East. Yet I rip CD's to store music here and there, and play in our Porsche. Would it be any different in a 2009 B&O equipped Audi ?

Downloaded any movies of late ?  I have, and at the present, the technology, quality, and selection is improving, but isn't quite there just yet.  So my Italian DVD collection set of Il Commissario Montalbano which we enjoy, isn't ready for the dust bin in the immediate future.

Flappo's observation as usual goes straight to the issue: The technology and related devices already exist, especially in realm of Apple and MAC. And my PC ( given the Internet on the same screen ), is, and will be part of my system.  So why bother ?  But what if we want to continue to see B & O ( and not just Apple ) innovate and improve with the times, too ?  Apple didn't exist when I bought my first Beomaster in 1965, and it continues to work perfectly.

Would I be able to see the display of the BS 5 any better than my BS 3200 ?  I doubt it, so the big LCD Beoplayer display works just fine, and I have the option of switching to PC, DVD, or SAT display with the simple press of the button.

And that is what brings me to the concept of this device that I like and appreciate: Digital simplification. If as Peter states this device can be adaptive and grow with the future, then fantastic. The minimalist trend in B&O continues: Less is more.

I'll have a better idea next week. And keep your comments coming: I may be out of the " target age group ",  but I'm still learning.

No.

I don´t how the market will develop for old BS9000 but mine was sold by my dealer after one week after I "gave" it to him as an exchange for the BS5.

Brgds ingvar

Yesterday the Beosound 5 and the table stand was delivered.  I am waiting for the Beomaster 5.

I am planning on selling my US version Beomaster 7000 and Beogram CD7000 in about a month.

I understand the doubts about BS5.  It is indeed expensive but I believe this is the way forward for B&O.  Ripped and downloaded music are more than a reality today.  I am not worried about the video limitations because I see it as advertised which is a music player that is fully integrated with my system.  Even though I will be selling a BM7000, I will still have a Beocenter 2 which I really like and probably will never sell.

Apple's decision to remove DRM from iTunes and the upgrade to iTunes + for all my music files made the decision easier.

Regards,

William

Yesterday, I would have said NO.

Today, I'm not so sure... I played with it in the store, and my wife *loved* it.  It is really cool in person.

I have my music on Apple + BeoPort, but my wife has never figured out how to use it.  Also, I only have "my" music on it because I like to use "party shuffle" as a budge MOTS (and hit "next song" on the remote when I don't like what it's playing) ... wouldn't want any of her "crap" to bother my listening... come to think of it, there are certain CDs that I haven't added because I don't want my "crap" to bother my listening.  If MOTS works anywhere close to advertised, then this is exactly what we want.

I am interested.  Only time will tell if I'm ~6K USD interested...

Stan

Am I wrong in thinking you can "party shuffle" within playlists in iTunes?

Does this help you do what you want?

(Just select your required playlist from the "source" tab).

Puncher:

Am I wrong in thinking you can "party shuffle" within playlists in iTunes?

Does this help you do what you want?

(Just select your required playlist from the "source" tab).

You are correct that "party shuffle" works within playlists.  The problem is that it is up to me to create the playlist.  Somehow, I always seem to pick many of the same songs whenever I create a playlist (usually under a time constraint because the party guests will be arriving soon).  I have ~400-500 CDs (and digitized albums), but mostly listen to ~200 songs.  It's become so bad that even my wife is critical (you've got so many CDs, why do you always play those same songs?). 

I believe part of my challenge (aside from being lazy and unorganized) is that I've never paid much attention to the names of songs.  Pop in the CD and listen, why clutter one's head with the actual track lineup?  Now, when I go back to a CD I haven't listened to in a few years, I must listen through it to remember which songs I really liked and which songs fit the genre of music I'm putting into the playlist.  There are a couple problems with this:  1) once I listen to the CD to find the songs I like... well, then I've just listened to it and maybe I don't want to listen to it again right away (my mind does work this way - it likes to be surprized with songs that it has forgotten about), and 2) it takes a lot of time.  Nothing wrong with that, but I just haven't found the time to search my music library for the many hidden gems that I'm sure are in there.  I'm hoping MOTS might help here.  This does seem to be the problem it was designed to solve.

Can I live without it?  Sure.  Is ~6K a lot of money to pay to solve this problem?  Sure.  Would I prefer it be less expensive?  Yes, again.  Might I buy it anway?  Perhaps.  Still trying to get my head around what it can and cannot do.  I must say that I was quite negative about the product until I played around with it.  It has grabbed me (at least until my senses come back and remind me what other far more pratical things I could spend that much money on).

Stan

Ah well............. of course there's alway iTunes Genius, not infallable but can generated playlists which will be ~90% of the way, a quick edit and save and you can have party, chill, work etc playlists that you can tweak as you go forward.

Not the same I know but 6K cheaper

Puncher:

Ah well............. of course there's alway iTunes Genius, not infallable but can generated playlists which will be ~90% of the way, a quick edit and save and you can have party, chill, work etc playlists that you can tweak as you go forward.

Not the same I know but 6K cheaper

I'm not certain that it's as close as is implied or inferred in these forums.  Allow me to use myself as an example:

About a year ago, I was getting ready to host a quiet dinner-for-two at the house and it being prior to iTunes 8(Genius), I spent well over an hour carefully combing through my iTunes library searching for 'appropriate' music.  To be clear, my inspiration was Jefferson Starship's 'Miracles' from the Red Octopus album.  So I was looking for swoopy, jazzy, kinds of things...you know.  

I feel confident, due to experience in the meantime, that the iTms Genius would have pulled a lot of my Allman Brothers, ELO, and Huey Lewis...and would have noted that I should purchase 'We Built This City on Rock & Roll' or 'White Rabbit'.  All well and good based on the data tags associated with 'Miracles', but clearly not what I was looking for.  In short, I'm pretty certain that 'editing' the Genius playlist would have involved pressing the 'delete' key at some point.

MOTS, in the time I've had to play with it, seems far more likely to have found tracks that went in the direction I intended to go, and especially tracks that I would not have thought of, considered, or perhaps even remembered.

I think we need to begin recalibrating our thoughts on the BS 5 along the following line:  One can order a dish at a restaurant, and think simply that 'red wine goes with beef' and just ask for a glass of the house selection, or the same old red one always gets...or one can consult with a sommolier...more expensive of course...assuming the restaurant even has one...but that's where the price/value question really leads.

It would be a very interesting experiment to see real playlists generated by MOTS and iTunes Genius based on the same music catalogue - I'm sure they will be different.

Any volunteers?

 edit: another question, does the MOTS system return a different playlist ever time it is seeded with the same song selection?

Genius works diffren't. Apparently it only plays from your favorites, kinda like it learns what you like to listen.

While MOTS compares all songs available and makes a list of the most matchhing ones. This technique adds songs you diden't even remember you have on the Harddisk.

And based on how they explain'd it. It whould do the same list each time you take the same song, until you add more songs wich might be near the same fingerprint. I haven't tested it yet though.

I'm not sure Genius only picks from favourites - I suggested Genius as a possible solution to Stan's earlier posts, I've never used it in anger myself. I did try it when first released and, when I tried to confuse it i managed quite successfully. However I've just run it again from a library of 3300 songs and seeded it with "Ziggy Stardust", the resulting 25 track playlist is shown below. It's not actually a bad attempt and I would certainly listen to all, there are some there that will hardly have been played in the time they've been on my iPod and so won't be in the "favourites" list.

I'm not saying it's better (I haven't played with MOTS) but will the MOTS playlists be that much more listenable? - it obviously is going to depend on the music catalogue and the seed track. MOTS may indeed be more consistent in it's selections around the periphery of your catalogue, I can't really say, hence it would be nice to see some real comparisons. In this particular case though I would have to say I would be quite happy with Genius' effort (other than the Queen track, obviously)

As another example if you "seed" a DJ with a track, and the same catalogue, how will his playlist develop? I'm sure Fatboy Slim's will be different to Carl Cox's - which is better - it will boil down to your own personal preference I suspect, although both will be valid.

>>I'm not sure Genius only picks from favourites <<

I think it picks from other peoples favourites. I am guessing they analyze albums and playlists that are saved in itunes.

I don't mark up favorites in my library and I used a "rare" but catchy song from the hotel costes cd collection (which is not so rare) and it found reasonable matches for my genius playlist. I am sure there are not many CDs out there featuring this song , so I am guessing it got matches out of playlists that people have stored. 

It's a nice throw in feature for me but not a "buy" driving decision.

Mr10Percent:

 

 

As a quick comparison, this is what I got when seeding Ziggy Stardust.

 

I did not listen to it for musical similarity and of course, I will have a number of completely different albums to Puncher (and visa versa).

 

 

1	Ziggy Stardust	David Bowie
2	Gap	The Kooks
3	Rock & Roll Suicide	David Bowie
4	Nikita	Elton John
5	She's Only 18	Red Hot Chili Peppers
6	I Wish	Brinkman
7	D'yer Mak'er	Led Zeppelin
8	Conversation	Eagle Eye Cherry
9	Trust Me	Janis Joplin
10	Stinkin Thinkin	Happy Mondays
11	Leaving Las Vegas	Sheryl Crow
12	The Keys To Her Ferarri	Thomas Dolby
13	She Looks Like Me	Red Hot Chili Peppers
14	To Be Free	Simply Red
15	The Garden Of Allah	Don Henley
16	Revolution	Robbie Williams
17	Danci Clown	Joni Mitchell
18	Now She Knows Shes Wrong	Jellyfish
19	Modern Mafia	Athelete
20	Diamonds On The Inside	Ben Harper
21	Big Apple	Kajagoogoo
22	Seven Days	Sting
23	Anxiety	Black Eyed Peas
24	You Gave Me Something	James Morrison
25	Crazy Thing Called Love	Queen

 

The Doors, Pink Floyd and the The Police – which I have many albums, did not for feature in my queue list.

 

 

Was this from your BS5 or from your iTunes?

No, this was direct from MOT's on my BS5 with a Ziggy Stardust "Seed"

No itunes...Windows Man!

10%

Interesting - of the two I think I would prefer to list through my list - but then I would, I bought them because I like them

I think the thing is that they both pick stuff that is vaguely related, rather than a completely random shuffle-type playback, both are capable of picking stuff you not have heard for a while and therefore are probably both useful in the right circumstances.

Is one really better than the other - it depends if you like the music they pick!

No Bob the Builder then

Can't wait to get my Beomaster 5 unit. willbe using it with a Bv7-40mk3 tv.