I have only seen the "link" on my Moment when other devices were already playing streams.  I haven't ever seen a way to use my Moment to add other Multiroom devices to its stream.

It's really a shame - such a wonderful device, with amazing potential.  But with it now out of production, I don't expect the software to get any more development from B&O.  (And whoever allowed the Jukebox to be designed around any irreplaceable part with a short lifetime should certainly lose their job!)

The Link tab appears when there is content playing on another product that can be ‘joined’ by the Moment. We never released or promised an Expand screen to send what was playing on the Moment to other products although it is such an obvious use case there has been a lot of speculation.

The issue with Moment is not about new components. It goes too much against the status quo in the industry in 2018, where the content services are in control of the entire brand & visual experience and the ecosystem giants provide the multiroom and voice tech. If you don’t play by the industry ‘rules’ then you can end in a situation where you need to convince people to switch away from their favorite content services to get the benefits of your product. This is the flaw that great software developed in Denmark doesn’t fix.

Geez, Lyle.

B&O and its owners are all about going against the industry norm.

To survive, B&O needs to have both.

B

Lyle Clarke wrote:

  We never released or promised an Expand screen to send what was playing on the Moment to other products although it is such an obvious use case there has been a lot of speculation.

If this feature appeared I'm not sure if I would be thrilled to have the new functionality or crushed that I can't go buy a new Moment for every room in my house.  (I admit that I'm leaning strongly towards thrilled.)

 

Lyle Clarke wrote:

the content services are in control of the entire brand & visual experience and the ecosystem giants provide the multiroom and voice tech.

I appreciate your willingness to reveal some of the reasoning behind B&O's decision-making.  What you say here really makes sense to me, even if it makes me sad.

When music came on vinyl or CD, the content was completely decoupled from the user interface, and followed a published standard that anyone could implement, free of charge.  This decoupling of the interface from the content allowed B&O to create the amazing sound systems I fell in love with: B&O has always been about design and interface, not only sound quality.

Now practically all content comes from streaming services who get to decide who does or does not connect to the service, and how the users interact with it. When I purchased my first Essence I discovered that Spotify had essentially locked B&O out of the user interface: it required that I use the Spotify app and Spotify Connect to control the sound coming from my B&O speakers.  The only thing separating a Beosound Essence from the cheapest Spotify streamer was the existence of the Essence Remote to provide a physical interface.  It is no wonder that the Moment uses Deezer: in both the B&O app and the Moment Deezer has allowed B&O to build their own (fantastic) interface for the Deezer streaming service; presumably Spotify wouldn't allow this because they demand use of the Spotify app to control Spotify content.

It seems that B&O is in a tough position.  Spotify dominates the streaming audio market and obviously hasn't allowed B&O to create their own interface to Spotify's streaming system.  I ditched my Spotify account and signed up for Deezer because the interface of B&O's iPhone app was vastly superior to the Spotify interface.  But I know lots of people who wouldn't buy a device that didn't work well with Spotify.  I understand now why the Moment is discontinued.

I hope B&O finds a practical way to continue to create beautiful hardware interfaces for music.  I still remember the moment when, at around 8 years of age, I saw my first B&O system. I was in awe of the interface, not the music.  When I was a teenager I drooled over the amazing Beosound 3000 and Beosound 900, not for their sound but for their interface.  Finally, I purchased my first Beolab Essence specifically because of the Essence Remote; had the remote not existed I would have ended up with a $35 Chromecast Audio dongle instead.  (Yes, the physical remote actually convinced me to spend $1,500 USD on an essence and pair of remotes instead of $35 on the CCA device.  The user interface is that important to me.)  I now find my house to have 4 Essences, a Moment, and even an M5 in the bathroom.  All controllable by the app, but operated primarily by the 8 Essence Remotes I have strung around the house.

 

And in less than an hour I'm now forced to eat my words.  Or at least some of them.

My Moment is, this very instant, playing music from Spotify.  I had to start it from the Spotify app on my phone, but the display is accurately showing the tracks, and I can control volume and skip forward with the Essence Remote I use to control the Moment.  It's not the same level of integration that Deezer offers, but I'm utterly shocked that it exists at all. I need to consider resubscribing to one of their paid plans.

Someone at B&O has authorized spending money on software development to add features to a product that is no longer available for purchase.  I cannot express enough my appreciation for that.

It's such a shame that the Moment is no longer for sale.  I know software has caused may problems since release, but with this latest version it is truly an outstanding product.  I guess it's off to eBay to find some more. :-/

 

 

laseralex wrote:

My Moment is, this very instant, playing music from Spotify. 

Is this a new feature - or one, that you just newly discovered?

Does the Moment appear in the list of ‘Spotify devices’, when using the Spotify app?

When you can control the playback (skip tracks, stop/start) via the Essence Remote, can you also do it directly on the display of Moment/the wooden part?

(if you know) can you do the same with the beo remote, if the Moment is set to be integrated with a NL-tv?

How about multiroom? I can hardly believe that you can join in from elsewhere, like you can using Deezer.

 

Sorry for the many questions, but this could be interesting to other Moment users(future users, I am sure.

(Could you provide a couple of pics - these often show more than words?)

 

MM

 

laseralex wrote:

My Moment is, this very instant, playing music from Spotify. 

Is this a new feature - or one, that you just newly discovered?

Does the Moment appear in the list of ‘Spotify devices’, when using the Spotify app?

When you can control the playback (skip tracks, stop/start) via the Essence Remote, can you also do it directly on the display of Moment/the wooden part?

(if you know) can you do the same with the beo remote, if the Moment is set to be integrated with a NL-tv?

How about multiroom? I can hardly believe that you can join in from elsewhere, like you can using Deezer.

 

Sorry for the many questions, but this could be interesting to other Moment users/future users, I am sure.

(Could you provide a couple of pics - these often show more than words?)

 

Maybe Lyle could comment on this, also!

 

MM

 

laseralex wrote:

All controllable by the app, but operated primarily by the 8 Essence Remotes I have strung around the house.

OMG

A world record ?

And thank you for coming forward with the news about Spotify ! Some how I think that capability is the same Easter Egg surprise that Lyle talked (wrote) about in another thread.

Thank you to Lyle and the others that have responded to clarify this issue for me.  What prompted my original post was the attached image from the article: https://www.engadget.com/2015/08/05/bang-and-olufsen-beolink-multiroom/

At first glance, the screen on the moment in the image appeared to be an expand screen.  However, upon closer inspection, it is just as Lyle and others have described.  That is, the screen is a "link" (or "join"...B&O seams to use the terms interchangeably) screen where there are multiple devices in the beolink network playing different content that the moment can link too.  As described by others, my "link" option is only visible when there is something to link too.