Bose SoundTouch Portable Wi-Fi Music System

After reading some of the reviews I was a little iffy about getting the product but I gave it a try. I have only had it for a day so things may change.****Initial Setup****When I unpacked it I followed the instructions and downloaded the app to my computer and followed the instructions, connected to it via USB. Through the initial setup process it upgraded the software of the device and let me setup the Bose account. The whole process took about 15 minutes with the bulk of it dedicated to the software upgrade. The wizard also took me through the process of setting my Pandora password as well as asking if I wanted to share my music files from Windows Media Player. That was all straight forward.****Setting up presets****Once the initial setup completed I was at the main application screen which allowed me to setup my presets. I was able to easily add my Pandora channel to a preset. Adding a playlist from Windows Media Player was also easy. I then added a couple of local radio stations. That took me a little bit of time to scroll through them to find the once I wanted since it did not sort them by station name. I guess I could have searched for them to make it easier. The whole preset setup was easy and a non issue.****Playing music****Once my presets were all setup I was able to pres my preset and within about 2 to 3 seconds the music was playing. Watching the app on the computer also showed what was currently playing. The display on the ST was displaying the source and info about the song. I had no issues playing stuff from Pandora, WMP or the internet radio stations. All started pretty quickly once the preset was pressed.****Android App****I don't use Apple products so I do not know how that would work. I was able to install and use the Android app on my Galaxy S5 without any issue. Controlling the ST worked just fine. The app really looks just like the Windows version.****Sound Quality****As others have mentioned, the sound on this little box is really good.I am not sure what caused some of the issues others have been reporting but since this device is completely dependent on your wireless network, I would make sure that your network is working well.I have not had a chance to test the battery life yet.For my purposes this is great and if Bose add some more software perks in the future, great.If anything changes once I start using this for a longer period of time, I will update this post.

Ok Christmas is very close and I purchased this month ago... So I really need to write a review now or more people will be disappointed I guess.I wanted a Wifi portable solution for my place that I could carry from room to room. get access to music stored in my NAS and as I listen to a lot of Podcast, also play them from my phone to the device.I checked other solution but I went for Bose as .. well this is Bose! It is suppose to be good..... There was comment about the software that might be kind of bad, but software can be updated, right?So long story short this is the worst audio equipment that I ever purchased, period! The sound when you succeed to get out of it is ok. The issue is that you can't get sound out of it!You will get a software for your computer, in my case it fails to detect the unit. Bose device and my computer are on the same wiki network...My NAS, that uses UPnP and works perfectly with my TV and some App on my android and iPad: not compatible with Bose software either. (Nas is not detected)So maybe I could use airplay to play my podcast at least or the audio files I have on my iphone: Neither, the tracks are cut every 1/2 second making it inaudible! (like you are going through a tunnel....)The only way I can use it it with a jack cable... for a 350 USD device....<sigh>I checked with Bose support and battle with them for a while, I followed all the update procedures they gave me, described by network configuration ect... They are not able to solve this! I gave up with the Bose support when they asked me to plug a USB key to the device to get logs.The thing you see is that the soundTouch portable does not have a USB plug... so they asked me to actually purchase an other cable.... I already wasted considerable amount of time and money on this and I have to buy some extra stuff to get it to work. Unbelievable. (they did not even offer to send one!)one last thing, I actually worked during my career on UPnP and DLNA stuff so I tried some software I have to use the Bose device as a "media rendered" using standard DLNA protocol. And I can actually kinda make it work this way. So when I got from Bose support comments that "because your wifi network is using 2,4 GHz and 5Ghz is probably why it is not working" that confirms they don`t really know what they are talking about.Bose could have just comply with a standard, they did not and came up with their own software which is not working and makes this unit useless.Bose is probably an expert in "sound" but clearly should hire some skills when it comes to networks....Also I just updated all the software today (18-12-2014), and still this is not working! Which made me crazy again, so I decided to finally review it!You don`t believe me? Go check the soundTouch forum and check all the people complaining. (Oh about that, they relocated the forum -few months ago so all the bad comment magically disappear.. Quite a nice marketing move if you ask me. But just go check yourselves before you purchase this: https://www.soundtouch.com/Community )

Great radio when it works. I've had consistent trouble when trying to connect to our home wifi network. The Bose tech support staff, who are helpful and patient, sent a booster router that was somewhat helpful. However, it still can take forever to connect to the wifi. For a radio supposedly designed to work with wifi systems and one costing as much as this model does it is unacceptable. I think it is a defective product and that Bose should withdraw it from the market until they've figured out how to make it work, connect to the internet. I've tried to get a refund but am past my return grace period. My previous internet radio, by Livio, worked great for years and cost only $100, until it died. If you buy this radio make sure you thoroughly test it within the return period.

wifi card burned out after less than a year of use and of course the warranty was out

Update to my previous 1 star rating. Husband took morning off work to call technical support and apparently Bose has issues connecting with some ATT routers. Reset our router and everything seems to be working well. Hoping others with similiar startup issues find an easier resource for handling if Bose can't answer the phone during non-business hours.I have no issues with the sound quality and it is wonderful having access to Pandora. We're now pleased with purchase.