Cheap Macsense MP-100 HomePod (Electronics) Price

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Customer Reviews of Macsense MP-100 HomePod

Very Disappointing
What a disappointment this was! I bought the HomePod so I could stream my music collection into the bedroom. I settled on the HomePod because of the built-in speakers, and because the software was open-source with a community of developers. <
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>Once I received the unit, it took several hours before I was up and running running and updated with the latest software. The software update was pretty involved, too. (See the MacSense site for details.) I expected the built-in speakers to be bad from reading reviews, but they turned out to be much worse than I ever imagined! Fortunately, the sound was fine using PC speakers on the headphone jack, or going to my home stereo with the RCA jacks. <
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>I have a fairly large music collection and navigating it on this thing was quite annoying. The remote was difficult to use - you must be within a few feet of the thing and pointed right at it. The buttons also have no tactile qualities, so you have to memorize the layout if you want to use it in a dimly lit room. When browsing your music, you can only scroll through a list and only in one direction. You cann't jump to a specific letter and once you reached the Z's it didn't loop back to the top of the list again. I ended up listening to a lot of A-E artists while I had the thing and not much else, unless I remembered to create a playlist for it. <
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>The screen was just awful, too. Very hard to see more than a few feet away or at any angle other than straight on. The unit would also frequently freeze up if left paused or on standby. Restarting it took several minutes to get back to the music list. <
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>The HomePod requires a server program running on your PC in order to access your music. It comes with its own server software, or you can use others such as Windows Media Connect or TwonkyVision. I tried all of these and preferred the HomePod server program. The software was functional, but not outstanding. I did not use Internet Radio or RM radio so I can't comment on those features. <
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>Despite these frustrations, it did what I bought it for and I would have put up with it if it hadn't suddenly stopped recognizing my music library after about two weeks. Well, thank goodness it did it within my return period! I got my money back from Amazon and ended up buying a Slim Devices SqueezeBox2 and it is like a dream come true! Yes, it was quite a bit more than I paid for the HomePod, but what a difference in quality and functionality! <
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>It has always been my dream to have my entire music collection at my fingertips. If that's your dream too, pass on the HomePod and look into the Squeezebox2!

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Too much trouble, no support
Buy this only if you are a "hacker" type and want to spend hours getting it to work. The PC software is very poor and the unit is slow and buggy. The remote has a very limited range. If the software was improved on the PC side and the bugs removed from this device, then it would be worth it. <
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>Also, MacSense has not yet honored their rebate on this and it has been well over 10 weeks. They have not responded to my email about it either. Very disappointed.

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Rough round the edges but still a "Cool Geek Toy".
Don't be fooled by the "Mac" and "Pod" in the name, nor the iPod white case, and iPod-like wheel. This is a product made by a distributor of Apple computers and not Apple themselves. Had Apple made it, it would undoubtedly have been a much more pollished product, and a lot less fragile in it's interface. <
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>As it is the HomePod is a workmanlike gadget for reading your MP3s across a network and playing them remotely. Setup is easy-ish. With only a single previous experience of setting up a wireless computer, the wireless setup on the HomePod took half an hour or so and a careful reading of the instructions. Server software is required on the PC (or an Apple), and this could be better explained. For instance loading an iTunes library file and the MyMusic folder from the PC, causes the HomePod's library listing to become a little garbled, and the HomePod to crash sporadically. This could definitely be handled better. There are also Linux servers available for the HomePod available on the internet. <
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>The HomePod itself comes with an old version of the firmware and software, and upgrading the software is well worth the effort, for those with some technical savy. <
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>Using the HomePod is easy and satisfying: the music files are listed by artist, author, trackname, genre and playlist, and the software interfaces well with iTunes. Reportedly it also works with Real Player and the MS Media Player, although I've never tried these. <
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>There is also an FM radio tuner built in - but the reception is so bad that this is completely worthless. There is also an internet radio facility which appears pretty neat, but I have used it only briefly. <
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>The homepod includes its own very low quality speakers but also has 3.5mm ear plug, and phono plugs to attach external speakers. <
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>The software does have numerous areas where it falls short of reasonable expectations, for instance the wheel scrolls either very slowly, or too fast, with no happy medium; the music cannot be played while the menus are being navigated; many of the HomePod settings can only be changed from the PC; and the software does crash occassionally. However, the software is open source, and can be downloaded from gloolabs.com for free, and those with some technical experise can customize to their hearts content. <
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>Bottom line is the HomePod finally lets me play my mp3s from my PC harddisk anywhere around the house, something I've wanted to do for some time. It is not perfect, but it is a relatively cheap solution and after working through the kinks does a fine job.