ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Olive One is nearing its revised crowd funding target of $500k (42 hours to go, $487k received!)
If you opt to buy a $399 Olive One you will get a free 1TB cloud upgrade if they pass $500k. Looking at the rate that the funding has gone up in the past 48 hours they should reach that target (but make your own judgement!)
Note that with this crowd funding approach you make a contribution with no absolute guarantee that you will get the promised product.... but it might be a reasonable risk having regard for how much you might get one for compared to previous/ existing Olive streaming devices (which, like B&O, are very expensive and not without their critics!)
Also note that if you accept the special offer of $25 off currently coming up when you first visit their website, (and which in the small print you cannot combine with any other offer) it would seem that this offer will prevent you getting the 1TB upgrade without having to pay another $50 (because you didn't pay the $399....)
Free 1TB upgrade Quote: *Customers that have backed Olive ONE at the regular price of $399 only. All other backers can upgrade to 1TB for only $50.
Graham
Disclosure: I am about to order one!
$500k funding has been reached.
Presumably the offer of the free 1TB upgrade continues whilst it is still on their website.
Maab:Two questions:1) Although, I read that there is a coax-digital out available, I don't see it in the photo and I wonder if this device would be a good match to a pair of beolab 5 if connected digitally. It is a 3.5 minijack (mono, digital). You still need a 3.5mm (male) to S/PDIF convertor for connecting to the BL5 speakers. 2) what does this device offer that a macmini doesn't- beside form the elegant factor? I really don't know . . . How will the One get charged? With usb? And when this socket is in use for a wired ethernet dongle, an external hdd, digital usb to convertor? There must be a solution for more connections (I would think, but cannot find it on the site of Olive). Thank youM
Beofan53: Maab: Two questions: 1) Although, I read that there is a coax-digital out available, I don't see it in the photo and I wonder if this device would be a good match to a pair of beolab 5 if connected digitally. It is a 3.5 minijack (mono, digital). You still need a 3.5mm (male) to S/PDIF convertor for connecting to the BL5 speakers. 2) what does this device offer that a macmini doesn't- beside form the elegant factor? I really don't know . . . How will the One get charged? With usb? And when this socket is in use for a wired ethernet dongle, an external hdd, digital usb to convertor? There must be a solution for more connections (I would think, but cannot find it on the site of Olive). Thank you M Let's wait for some improvements and see the One in the shop live (in July?) That's what I am going to do.
Maab: Two questions: 1) Although, I read that there is a coax-digital out available, I don't see it in the photo and I wonder if this device would be a good match to a pair of beolab 5 if connected digitally. It is a 3.5 minijack (mono, digital). You still need a 3.5mm (male) to S/PDIF convertor for connecting to the BL5 speakers. 2) what does this device offer that a macmini doesn't- beside form the elegant factor? I really don't know . . . How will the One get charged? With usb? And when this socket is in use for a wired ethernet dongle, an external hdd, digital usb to convertor? There must be a solution for more connections (I would think, but cannot find it on the site of Olive). Thank you M
Two questions:
1) Although, I read that there is a coax-digital out available, I don't see it in the photo and I wonder if this device would be a good match to a pair of beolab 5 if connected digitally.
It is a 3.5 minijack (mono, digital). You still need a 3.5mm (male) to S/PDIF convertor for connecting to the BL5 speakers.
2) what does this device offer that a macmini doesn't- beside form the elegant factor?
I really don't know . . . How will the One get charged? With usb? And when this socket is in use for a wired ethernet dongle, an external hdd, digital usb to convertor? There must be a solution for more connections (I would think, but cannot find it on the site of Olive).
Thank you
M
Let's wait for some improvements and see the One in the shop live (in July?) That's what I am going to do.
If you read through the development notes/ blog on the Olive website you can see that there will be additional connectivity besides what is shown in the concept photographs.
Waiting until July may be a good approach. What is not clear is whether the price will triple in July (as implied in their reasons for crowd funding). Also, you get a free upgrade to a 1TB cloud model now that they've exceeded $500k. The funding seems to finish in 16hours from the time of this posting. They may extend their funding/offers etc or terminate the offers and just quote a new price. It's all a gamble, including whether the development of the Olive One is successful. The current models are expensive, and there are good and indifferent reviews on, for example, Amazon.
New message from Olive site suggests that you only get the 1TB free upgrade if you contributed before they hit the $500k level.
"Hello Xxxxx and others, ($500K related questions)
yes, we will provide a free HDD upgrade to everyone who backed us before the $500K level and paid the full price (if you got a discount simply contribute the difference to the original price and you will get the free upgrade). We also consider to provide a free USB-DAC or Ethernet dongle and will add this once the specs are finished. You will be able to decide before we ship your ONE. Hope that clarifies the questions regarding the free upgrade."
Hi vikinger,
could you give us the link to the "good and indifferent reviews on, for example, Amazon", please?
How can people review a product that is not produced yet?
Greetings MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Millemissen: Hi vikinger, could you give us the link to the "good and indifferent reviews on, for example, Amazon", please? How can people review a product that is not produced yet? Greetings MM
The reviews are of current Olive streamers / servers, not Olive One. For example:
http://www.amazon.com/Olive-06HD-2TB-Music-Server/product-reviews/B003OX5SUW
http://www.amazon.com/Olive-500GB-Music-Server-Black/product-reviews/B004HMWMUS/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
There are other Olive reviews, plus some of what must have been prototype Olive Ones.
Well, if that is what you meant, I could have googled it myself.
The 'other' Olive's are different from the concept of the 'One' - that is why I did not think of them reading this thread!
The Olive 4/5/6 aren't pretty - maybe that is why no one on this forum paid attension to the company untill now
Greetings Millemissen
Just had an update from the Olive One people. June delivery dates seem to have gone back to September.
According to the email, anyone who paid full price $399 and thought they had qualified for a free 1TB hard disk is going to be disappointed as they have withdrawn the free upgrade to fund other features! This looks rather fraudulent to me as there were other discount prices below $399 that did not qualify for the upgrade, so a lot of people will have paid an extra $25 or $$50 for no benefit.
i have queried this approach with Olive One and will publish their response here.
The other thing to note is that the basic Olive One price goes up to $499 this month..... not the tripling in price they originally suggesting that would have been the alternative to crowd funding. So crowd funding might be good for product developers, but it's not of much benefit to customers. You make a contribution but may not get the associated and advertised product or 'Perks', and you probably do not get the suggested massive discount on future sale prices that are not implemented in practice.
Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price.
"Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price."
They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity.
symmes: "Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price." They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity.
True, although there are Olive products already on the market (that look ugly and are expensive)!
I could have told you $1200.00 was a ridiculous price for this without ever seeing it. Not surprised the "tripling in price" never happened.
Well the Olive one looks promising....
Too long to list....
Let's hope it doesn't end up like the 'Touch Diva' project...
Steffen: Let's hope it doesn't end up like the 'Touch Diva' project...
Was there ever one?
Olive have had a lot of hostile comments on their Indiegogo blog about the promise to upgrade customers to a 1TB hard disk if a certain funding level was reached, and their apparent withdrawal of this offer in the last couple of days.
According to the Indiegogo crowd funding rules, they are supposed to reach agreement with customers if they are unable to deliver a promised 'Perk', including the possibility of a full refund. What is infuriating about the current situation is that they only made the upgrade promise in April and got a lot of last minute funding because of it. They are still going to sell the Olive One with an optional 1TB HDD, so they can't argue that they can't deliver the 'Perk' because they did not succeed in developing it.
So the dilemma now facing a lot of customers: demand a refund under the Indiegogo rules, or accept that the Olive One without the HDD is still a good proposition at the price and spend £60 on your own external 1TB drive.
Now, if only B&O could offer a similar streaming music player at under $1000 I know which company would be getting my money..........
Still hoping Olive One is going to live up to expectations.
Two things worry me.
1. They rescheduled first deliveries to November.
2. They demanded extra payments for the 1TB upgrade that was supposed to be free. Their reasoning was that they had added a lot of other features not available at the time of the original offer.
I'll post a review if and when the thing arrives!
Just had an update from Olive one.
First prototypes have arrived. Prototype testing in December. Deliveries to crowd founder backers in first quarter 2014.
Considering that deliveries were originally scheduled for June 2013, it's not a very impressive performance. They seem to have added a lot of features. I've had an email with lots of embedded links. If I can find the original YouTube demos etc I will post them separately. They do not yet appear on the myoliveone.com website.
symmes: They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity.
This continues to be the case.
Just had two apologetic emails from them saying that their mail server has been down for two weeks: this is their excuse for not replying to any queries since Christmas.
Latest is that first units are out... debugging going on after feedback ....... deliveries to Indiegogo backers during February ........ anyone ordering now will be March or later.
vikinger: Considering that deliveries were originally scheduled for June 2013, it's not a very impressive performance.
Considering that deliveries were originally scheduled for June 2013, it's not a very impressive performance.
I backed one of those crowdsourced financed products over a year ago, with delivery expected end of 2013. Not heard a thing since. No status update, nothing. I've even forgotten the name of the project! They stopped emailing last Summer, as I've not seen anything for a good 6 months. I think I invested $100. It was some kind of device you can hide and embed in other objects, so you can track electronically if they are stolen - much like "find my iPhone". To be fair, I didn't need them, but they sounded cool at the time.
Not easy to trust some of these crowdsourced financed projects, where they rely on pre-orders up front to finance, before producing the product.
Fed X tracking number just received. It's on its way!
vikinger: symmes: "Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price." They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity. Fed X tracking number just received. It's on its way! Graham
Ha Ha! Next email will say Somali pirates have boarded the FedEx freighter carrying your unit and the Olive can be released for 1000 English Pounds ;-)
symmes: vikinger: symmes: "Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price." They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity. Fed X tracking number just received. It's on its way! Graham Ha Ha! Next email will say Somali pirates have boarded the FedEx freighter carrying your unit and the Olive can be released for 1000 English Pounds ;-)
More likely will be the note through the door from the Royal Mail saying that the parcel is being held hostage pending my payment of Customs Duty, VAT, and Royal Mail's special handling fee. Unless, of course, they count it as an unsolicited gift and the Indiegogo crowd-funding payment as a donation.
vikinger: symmes: vikinger: symmes: "Having said all that, the Olive One still promises to deliver high quality streaming at a very competitive price." They have yet to deliver on anything except how to get money and publicity. Fed X tracking number just received. It's on its way! Graham Ha Ha! Next email will say Somali pirates have boarded the FedEx freighter carrying your unit and the Olive can be released for 1000 English Pounds ;-) More likely will be the note through the door from the Royal Mail saying that the parcel is being held hostage pending my payment of Customs Duty, VAT, and Royal Mail's special handling fee. Unless, of course, they count it as an unsolicited gift and the Indiegogo crowd-funding payment as a donation. Graham
That would be too much work for the US Mail. They would toss it before they went to that much trouble.
It's arrived.
No pirate ransom.
No Import Duty.
No VAT.
EDIT But Fedex deliver first and invoice for VAT etc after.
I think they've taken a cue from B&O and from Apple regarding the packing.
Very slim instructions in box lid.
Lift the foam:
Lift the cut-out paper:
So it does exist, still waiting for mine!
badgersurf: So it does exist, still waiting for mine!
Arrived very quickly (if you ignore the first twelve months!)
Out of the box:
Unit, power supply and connection, WiFI aerial, speaker cables for passive.
Headphones and power connected for inital try out.
Sample tracks already loaded.
Two taps to play.
Olive's own sample cover art is a bit of a let-down!
Inital view, listening through headphones, is that the music quality is really superb!
Side view:
Connections for passive and active speakers/ external amplifier.
Via WiFi will play all internet radio stations too.
Total cost with 1T hard drive $450 or about £280.
I'll try to connect it all up properly tomorrow. First impression is good quality output and superb build!
vikinger: badgersurf: So it does exist, still waiting for mine! Arrived very quickly (if you ignore the first twelve months!)
And seemingly not a "Moment" to soon ?
BeoNut since '75
Having been really awful at updating customers about their deliveries etc Olive have suddenly gone to the other extreme. I submitted a query on internet radio stations and got a reply back within minutes. If the reply came from California it was after midnight!