When historians mark time, there are always pivotal technologies that clearly define watershed changes in how society functions: the printing press, the automobile, the airplane. And quite possibly, for future historians to consider, the iPod.
More specifically, if you own a modern audio-distribution system — SpeakerCraft's MODE, Niles Audio's ICS, Control4, Crestron's Adagio, or Colorado vNet's Vibe, to name just a few — docks are available to extend the iPod experience from your pocket to every room of your house. But for standalone music systems, there haven't really been many fully realized options for moving iPod content from your hip to your home. I'm talking about a device that not only lets you play tunes stored on your iPod but also control it with a smart, intuitive, fully detailed visual interface.
Fortunately, those dark days are coming to an end, as evidenced by the new Escient FP-1 iPod Music Manager. This seemingly simple iPod docking station transforms your iPod, with all its stored music, into a sophisticated digital music server featuring Escient's well-regarded graphic interface. (See the photo gallery for images of the FP-1interface in action.) Not only that, it also works with Escient's existing servers to create a single, unified library with all your music whenever your Pod is mounted in the dock. All that for $599, making the FP-1 the cheapest way ever to get into an Escient system. So when review samples recently became available, I just had to say "Yes, please!"
SETUP Out of the box, the FP-1 is rather unimpressive, feeling a little less solid and lighter in weight than some other docks I've tested. You aren't buying the FP-1 for a fancy case or inspired packaging, though; you're buying it for Escient's chip set and the other technology inside.
A Quick Setup guide akin to what you'd get with a new computer is included, which guides you adequately through an eight-step installation procedure. In essence, you're connecting the dock to your home audio system for music playback and to a TV that functions as the monitor for the graphic interface used to select your music. A high-speed web connection enables the system to collect album art from Gracenote's compreshensive CD database.
The FP-1 offers both analog and optical digital audio outputs. Since audio is pulled from the iPod in analog format only, sound quality is the same either way, but the dual outputs are nice if you are sharing the piece — as I did — between a house-wide music system and a local, receiver-powered surround system. Video output for the Escient graphic interface and for photos and video is via composite- or S-video.
Getting the most out of the FP-1 requires broadband Internet access and a home network. Without it, the FP-1 still functions, but it won't look up album art, stream music or Internet radio, or offer any control via Web-based computers or handheld devices. If you don't have a high-speed network in your home, you'd probably be better served with a different, less expensive dock.
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The Short Form
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| Price: $599 / escient.com / 800-372-4368 |
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Snapshot
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| A slick interface and cool control options make this one of the most advanced ways to add an iPod to your home music system. |
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Plus
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•Uses Escient's terrific graphic interface to access music files •Lets you control your iPod via the Web •Jukebox mode great for parties |
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Minus
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•Serves only one stream at a time when used in Escient multizone systems •No remote control when viewing iPod video/photo files •Slight "stuttering" between iPod songs in Random mode |
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Key Features
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•Interfaces with bottom-docking iPods •Streams music from networked computer or Internet radio •Acts as a client and server in existing Escient systems •Outputs: Composite- and S-video; analog and optical digital audio •Charges iPod while docked •Control via included remote control or any Web-enabled device |
If you're "green" and like the idea of saving trees, you'll appreciate that Escient has skipped the traditional owner's manual in favor of an electronic one on an included CD-ROM. Although the manual is generally well-written, I found a few discrepancies in my early version that I hope Escient will correct. First, the manual never explains how to watch photos or videos from your iPod. Doing so isn't intuitive, so I initially thought the FP-1 couldn't do it at all — unforgivable for a $599 dock — but rest assured that it can. Just press the Photo or Video button on the remote, which puts the FP-1 into bypass mode, enabling you to control the iPod from its scroll wheel for video or photo playback. Make sure that TV output in your iPod settings is turned on. Unfortunately, the FP-1 doesn't offer any remote-control capabilities when you're viewing photos or videos; all selections and changes must be made directly at the Pod.
Second, the manual says that you can stream music stored on your iPod over a computer on the network, but you can't; that part was inadvertently carried over from the manual for Escient's full-fledged servers, which do have the capability of streaming content from their hard drives.
Third, the FP-1 has a USB jack on the back that isn't described anywhere in the manual or setup guide. An Escient product specialist told me it enables you to have your iPod connected to your computer for syncing with iTunes while it is docked.
Finally, also included on the CD-ROM with the manual is Escient's FireBall PC software that enables streaming music from a networked computer (Mac or PC) to the FP-1 for playback on your music system. The version of FireBall PC included on the disc (4.1.7.1) is outdated, however, and not designed to work with the FP-1. Fortunately, the correct version (4.2.3.6) is available for free download on Escient's Web site.
PERFORMANCE One of the reasons the iPod has been so successful is a user interface that is not only effective but so simple to operate that your grandmother could figure it out. For a third-party device to integrate effectively with an iPod, it can't be more complicated to use than the 'Pod itself, and the FP-1 definitely passes that test.
As I said, Escient is known for its media-management interface, and once your iPod's music library has been processed, it appears in an easy-to-use graphic display. You can browse your music with the supplied remote control in a variety of ways, sorted by artist, album, song, genre, album art, and so forth. For songs to be processed correctly — and to appear on the FP-1 display — they must be "tagged" with artist, album, and genre info. If any of this metadata is missing, which is possible with music downloaded from file-sharing sites, the FP-1 will disregard the track.
On top of creating playlists, the FP-1 features a jukebox mode that is great for parties. Pressing the Add button on the remote will slot songs into the Now Playing queue. Simply leave the interface running on your TV and let guests select songs they want to hear.
The FP-1 offers several sexy features that really set it apart from ordinary iPod docks. First, it can act as both a client and a server in existing Escient systems. Just use the setup menus to "point" the FP-1 at another Escient server over your network, and you'll have access to music stored on that server, all aggregated into a single guide view. Additionally, other Escient servers and clients can access all of the tunes stored on your iPod as long as it remains mounted. This is particularly useful in house-wide audio systems or if components are located in multiple rooms. You can also stream music from any computer running the FireBall PC software or stream Internet radio stations. The FP-1 can perform only one function at a time, however; if it is streaming music from another server (or Internet radio station or PC), it can't send any iPod tunes to other servers, and it can serve up only one 'Pod tune at a time.
The FP-1 provides control options that other docks can only dream of. Beyond simple IR control, it offers RS-232 and Web control options. Simply type the FP-1's name or IP address into a Web browser, and you have full control of it as if you were looking at the onscreen interface! (Another ultra-cool option is the Philips Pronto TSU-9600 wireless remote control, reviewed in the June 2007 Sound & Vision, which allows you to walk freely around the house while selecting music from the Pronto's LCD screen.)
Aside from the lack of iPod photo and video access from the remote, my only other real complaint about the FP-1 was a slight "stuttering" it exhibited when playing music from the iPod when the FP-1 was in its Random mode. For example, after finishing a song from an album or playlist, it will frequently play perhaps a half-second or second of the next track from that album or playlist before it properly relocates to another random track. This was happening all the time, at first, even when the FP-1 was playing sequential tracks from a playlist or album — it would start the next song, then suddenly back up and start the song all over again. This turned out to be a result of firmware glitches in the early samples of the FP-1; users experiencing these kinds of problems should go into the Setup menu and "force" a software update from Escient's server to make sure that they've got the latest firmware upgrade, which should fix it. Fortunately, the effect is more subtle when experienced in Random mode and wasn't terribly bothersome unless the brief snippet of the next song started off with a loud, dynamic blast of music. But Escient says the lingering bit of this misbehavior is a function of how the iPod is engineered and interacts with the FP-1 and may ultimately require a firmware update on Apple's end to fully resolve.
BOTTOM LINE There's no shortage of options for adding an iPod to your audio system, ranging from a $5 minijack-to-RCA cable to myriad other solutions costing $150 or less. If you're simply looking to funnel sound from an iPod to your system by any means, the FP-1 is probably overkill.
But iPod owners who crave advanced control options — especially the ability to browse their music library via the Web — or who want the ability to stream music from Internet radio or networked computers will find the FP-1 the way to go. And if you already own an Escient system, the FP-1 is a slam dunk, offering seamless integration of your iPod while retaining the look and feel of the company's now-classic, easy-to-use interface. In the end, the Escient FP-1 iPod Music Manager makes a very little player go a long, long way.
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