After Squeezebox, Logitech Simplifies With UE Smart Radio, Boombox

Logitech’s UE Boombox.

Here’s this week’s tech column:

Only die-hard loyalists noticed when Logitech quietly killed its Squeezebox media players in August, which probably explains the snuff job.

Techies and critics loved the Squeezebox — I ended a review three years ago of the just-issued Squeezebox Radio by saying there has never been a clock radio like it. But the Squeezebox’s complex setup and quirky operation might have flummoxed the everyday electronics consumer.

Logitech’s new UE series, a byproduct of its 2008 acquisition of the Ultimate Ears earphone company, includes a retooled and simplified Smart Radio, wireless speakers, noise-isolating earphones and headphones in search of a bigger, broader audience.

Here’s a quick look at two UE products:

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