[BC] Barix streaming formats, wallwarts, stability

[Johannes G. Rietschel]

Dana & al, 

well, I think i need to jump in again:

a) Our products do NOT yet support AAC+, and will not in the near future. 
I know that AAC+ is a better codec than MP3, but
we are cought with our design (a fixed programmed DSP). The Exstreamer-100 
supports WMA and MP3, the Instreamer can
only do MP3 (and some lower sample rate PCM/ulaw/alaw variants).

b) It is correct that the "red box" had not a lot of reserve, it started 
to hum with undervoltage (about 8%, which we have seen in
some cases). But i do not know about instabilities in regards to 9V 
supplies. We have thousands of the new models out - we had
already about 3500 installed before the product even got officially 
available. They all use 9V power supplies, and no instability
issues are known. And they are in use 24/7. They never get reset (the 
customer, a retail chain, is that picky he would instantly
call if he would need to reset a single unit). I understand that with 
110/120V AC voltage in the US, you have a voltage drop/undervoltage
much easier than with 220/230V used elsewhere. But that should not be an 
issue. I nevertheless have asked my head of hardware
engineering to look into that (again).

c) Those who have "need to be reset" problems, will you please contact our 
tech support with your system configuration, /status pages
of the devices (Dana already did). There are good numbers (thousands) of 
devices out in many inependent and different systems, 
depending on the configuration there are situations where this may happen 
(under certain condition, an Exstreamer could run out
of data and would not reconnect), but this can either be avoided by 
configuring in another way or there is updated firmware.
In general - IF anybody experiences any strage effects with our products - 
PLEASE contact us and do not just shrug and accept
the effect ! I know in "PC" times we get all used to malfunctioning stuff 
- but we do not see us in this court. Our products MUST work
24/7/years - if not we will fix them (of course, they will not work if 
your network dies ..).

d) one last point - use a PC or an Instreamer/Exstreamer: one of our 
customers has calculated that he saves about 250$/year
cost for power (and air conditioning) because he uses the Instreamer ... I 
know we are more energy savings thinking in Europe, but
electrical power is to my knowledge about the same price .. so, besides 
preventing global warm-up by using Instreamers instead
of PC's, you also save a lot over the years. Not even talking about 
longer-term reliabilty - 3W (Instreamer) vs the PC with moving
parts, fans which eventually will break down etc. One PC failure - for 
whatever reason, fan breakdown, capacitor aging, software bug,
virus, HD crash will cost you more than the Instreamer.

So, please can those with stability issues report to Barix' tech support. 
I take it personal if you accept instable Barix products and not
say anything.

Johannes Rietschel
CEO, Barix AG