Grace Digital GDI-IR2550P Pandora Wi-Fi Internet Radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Very happy with this purchase. Works even better than I expected.
Connecting it to my wireless network was a breeze. Well, using a single knob to enter my very long network key into the radio was maybe not quite a breeze, but you only do it once. Other than that it was a breeze.
The radio came with a bunch of chinese radio stations set. That was amusing for about 30 seconds. Cleaning them out and setting up something more to my tastes went quickly. There are way more choices out there than most people will have the time to explore. Fortunately it's easy to quickly find something that you'll like. And with access to Pandora (which requires extra steps (including setting up a free account with Grace Reciva (see below))) you can create stations that are tailored to your tastes.
Creating my free account on Grace Reciva to enable "premium" features was a challenge. The website didn't seem to be working too well when I first tried. Lots of "Oops, something seems to have gone wrong and we are working on it" type of messages. I tried later and it went a lot smoother. Linking my Pandora account to the radio was easy (once Reciva started working). Took less than an hour to get everything set up, with most of that time being waiting for Reciva to get their act together.
The sound of the radio is what you would expect from a radio. It won't thump your chest and shake your house. However if you want that sort of performance you can hook it up to your stereo system or a set of powered speakers with volume limited only by the power of what you hooked up. I hooked up a powered speaker system with a subwoofer that I had laying around from a past computer system. Works great.
Radio has pretty good range, but performance will depend on the quality of your wireless router.
I would recommend this unit to friends and family.

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The Grace Digital Pandora radio (GDI-IR2550p) is a combination of the best Pandora radio, Internet radio, and audio media streaming device. Simply enter in your Pandora user name and password on the Grace web site and your Grace Radio has immediate access to all of your Pandora radio stations. Now play stations, thumbs up / down or skip songs and for the first time ever pause live Pandora stations directly on the radio, remote control or the free Grace iPhone app. With the flip of a switch change from Pandora to immediate access to over 16,000 radio stations from NPR on-demand, FOX news, CNN, BBC, CBS to KROQ, over 35,000 podcast, 20,000+ On-Demand subscription streams - Free. If Sirius content is what makes your tick, simply add your SIRIUS Premium Internet radio user name and password and enjoy instant access to SIRIUS internet radio. The Grace Digital GDI-IR2550p comes with a full featured remote control with dedicated Pandora buttons, and is compatible with the free Grace remote control App for iPhone/iTouch. Listen to all your digital music inside or outside your home, with Grace.

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Boston Acoustics SOLO2W Solo II AM/FM Radio with Clock (Gloss White) Review

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(More customer reviews)First, note that the SOLO2W is the same as the SOLO2B, except white (even though the picture looks different). So look at the reviews for the SOLO2B, too.
I think that this is a really fine clock radio. It has the two features that are important for me: 1) a standard, external FM antenna coax connection and 2) a good digital tuner. The sound is good, too.
As shipped, when you have the radio turned on, the radio station frequency (not the time) shows on the display. But you can change it by going to the "INFO" option, so that you see the time while the radio is on.
The display is bright and I cover it at night, but that is minor.

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Room-filling Sound That Fits Anywhere Boston Acoustics' Solo II has been designed to look great -- and engineered to sound even better. It measures only 5¼" x 8¼" x 6¼" (134 x 210 x 159mm) and contains a precision AM/FM tuner capable of locking in even distant radio stations. In addition, its advanced full-range driver with Boston's patented BassTrac audio processing provides rich, clean bass at all listening levels. Your ears will hear all the bass and none of the distortion. A complete home theater system that maximizes your. Viewlarger.

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Grace Digital Wireless Hi-fi Internet Radio Tuner featuring Pandora and NPR (GDI-IRDT200) Review

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(More customer reviews)Wow! What a sweet device this is for the even the not so techo-inclined. Installation was a breeze as there were only 2 cables to hook-up: power, and RCA jacks. I piped it into my receiver and hit the power button and bingo! it found my network over it's installed handy dandy wireless network adapter (G). It prompted me for my password, which I entered (by turning the knob, which was kind of a pain) and it connected no problem. You can also wire your connection through the network cable slot in the back, however, no network cable was included.
After that, I chose internet radio and I had choices galore. The real beauty of this device is how you can personalize it. Got a Pandora account? Pipe it through this baby with ease. How about Live365? You can do that too. Want to search the internet radio via genre? No sweat. Absolutely amazing I tell you.
I created my Grace account, added stations online and podcasts and after unplugging the device and plugging back in (yah, they tell you to do that so it updates the streams), my customization was found on the device and away I went.
Here is the absolute frosting on the cake...I'm now streaming all of my music from my laptop and external hard drive to this device! Sort by genre, album, album artist, create a queue, you name it, this thing can do it. This kills the Windows Media Center that never worked right with my 360.
Who knew you could have so much fun with a radio??

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The Grace Digital Tuner (GDI-IRDT200) is a combination Internet radio and audio media streaming device that brings all the audio content of the Internet from your broadband connection directly to your home Stereo. With it users can listen to 16,000+ radio stations from NPR on-demand, FOX news, CNN, BBC, CBS to KROQ, over 35,000 podcast, 20,000+ On-Demand subscription streams or your personal Pandora radio stations - Free. The Tuner provides not only standard RCA connections to your home stereo but also two digital out connections for the highest audio quality experience as well as both Wi-Fi and an Ethernet connection to your home broadband router. In addition to the ability to play all the Free music in the world, music files from your PC or Mac, a SD or USB drive the Grace Tuner can also access Sirius Premium Internet radio services with a subscription directly from Sirius. The Tuner comes with a full featured remote control and is compatible with the free Grace remote control App for iPhone/iTouch. Connect all your digital music to your home stereo, with Grace.

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Livio Internet Radio Featuring Pandora (WiFi and Ethernet, Silver) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)There are a lot of buzz about HD radio being the wave of the future. I tried an HD radio, and let me tell you, this internet radio has HD completely beat! I live in an area with poor reception for local stations, and I was tired of having to listen my favorite station through my laptop. Within minutes of taking the radio out of the box, I was connected to my favorite station but then I started exploring. I couldn't believe what I found! The radio connected to my Pandora account seamlessly. I've added stations to Pandora on my laptop and they appear on the radio within seconds! Controls on the radio link to Pandora for "thumbs up" or "down." Fantastic. But the really amazing thing is the intuitive interface that provides access to countless (there must be tens of thousands) of radio stations from around the globe! The interface is so intuitive that the stations can be selected either by region or by genre. All with no buffering! Incredible! For these features, I am deleriously happy with my purchase.
For all of its exceptional qualities, the sound quality is disappointing. With one speaker, the bass is truly lacking (and I don't like heavy bass). The sound doesn't seem "full." There are jacks in the back to connect stereo speakers but I'm not sure how that would work or whether I want to go through the effort. I bought this radio based on a review in the Boston Globe. They mentioned the Squeezebox Boom as having the highest quality sound. Of course, that radio was significantly more expensive and doesn't have Pandora controls. Neither radio has an iPod connection and they don't have back-up batteries. Neither has iTunes tagging (seriously?!).
All in all, I'm very happy. When they develop a radio with audiophile-quality sound, I'll be in line to buy one. Hopefully, wifi/internet radio will really take off. I'd love to have a receiver for my home stereo (since that sends sound throughout the house).
January 2010 edit: I keep this radio in my home office. I still love, love, love it. Recently, I bought a Squeezebox Radio for my bedroom. This edit is to compare the two. I love both of these radios, but for different reasons. The Livio has quality throughout. The two standout features are the controls and the link to Pandora. The radio is so easy to set up and use! The controls are clean and uncluttered. The Pandora Thumbs-Up/Thumbs-down is easier on the Livio than it is on the computer. I also love the interface to find stations by genre. It just works so intuitively for me. On the negative side, it does not have an alarm clock built in. Otherwise, I would have bought one for the bedroom as well.
Now, the Squeezebox Radio: Also easy to set-up. The interface is a bit more daunting than the Livio. More options = more controls to tweak. As other reviewers have mentioned, the presets disappeared the first time the alarm went off. After resetting it, things have been fine. The alarm clock works well. Although the specs don't mention a back-up, I have found that if the router is out of commission, the alarm will still go off, just to a tone from the radio, rather than from the internet radio station. Other people have mentioned that the clock gets too dim at night. Not for me! I am so grateful that my bedroom is now reasonably dark at night! My old clock lit up the joint to the point that I used to cover the clock. Now, it's just right. Plus, the brightness level can be manually adjusted. Funny, someone elses complaint is one of my favorite features. The interface and controls are also more baffling than the Livio. Still OK, I just prefer the very clean controls on the Livio.
As for the sound, this would be a matter of preference. The sound in the Livio is a bit flatter. It seems to be missing some mid-range and higher range. The Squeezebox sound is bright and bold but is lacking in the low range. All in all though, I really like the sound on the Squeezebox. Especially for a small radio. I hope that these comments are helpful to someone looking at these two radios.

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The Livio Radio, featuring Pandora, goes beyond making more than 11,000 free Internet radio stations easily accessible anywhere you, a power source and a Wi-Fi connection should meet. As if that isn’t cool enough, the Livio Radio, through Pandora and the Music Genome Project®, gives its users the ear of their own personal DJ, one that actually pays attention to what you like, and what you don’t. The Livio Radio puts you in the driver’s seat, empowered with clean, easy-to-understand controls, allowing you to tap into the power of Pandora, sans the tether to your computer or cell phone. Empower up! What is the Livio Radio?The easiest way to enjoy Pandora Internet Radio at home or at the office, without the need of a computer.The first Internet Radio to feature the Thumb-up and Thumb-down controls right in the front of the unit. What is Pandora? Pandora is your personal DJ. Enter the name of an artist or song and start listening. Discover new music you’ll love and rediscover old favorites.Give songs a Thumb Up or Thumb Down and Pandora will instantly change the music selection to better match your tastes. Enjoy all styles of music rock, pop, urban, country, jazz, classical, latin and more. Listen to your stations on the Livio Radio or on the web at Pandora website.

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Myine Abbee Commercial Free Music Radio with Music Lock Portable Player Review

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(More customer reviews)I have really struggled with this review over the last week. I really like the concept of the Myine Abbee. I think it's innovative and it doesn't try to replace the whole digital quality, buying music and downloading it onto an MP3 player or computer scene. Picture a housewife who listens to her favorite FM radio station in the kitchen for a couple of hours each day. Picture an older person who isn't necessarily computer or MP3 player savvy who likes to listen to the radio.
Here are some of the other Pros I recorded in my notes on the Abbee:
-Unit (Abbee) isn't too large, about the size of a full-size box of Kleenex. This can easily live on your kitchen counter, or on a night stand.
-Has a sort of a simple, appealing modern look to it
-Included "Music Lock" device allows you to take the music with you if you want. The system does a really good job of eliminating background fuzz that is typical of radio listening. I was surprised at how good music sounded on the Music Lock.
-Sound played out of the Abbee base is quite good for its size. It has decent base. Music played via the Aux port on the back (eg. MP3 player) isn't quite as loud, but sounds even clearer.
-When recording songs from stations that pollute the last 5 seconds of the song with song name/artist information, the Abbee handles it by quickly fading the volume out so that you don't hear it, or hear very little of it. Pretty amazing.
-Abbee has a mini-USB port on the back titled "Update", paving the way for future firmware upgrades, etc.
-Abbee can serve as the speakers for your MP3 player via the Aux port on the back.
-Abbee can also output live radio content or recorded content to your stereo system via the white (L) / red (R) RCA Out ports on the back. Concievably you could capture the outputted sound on your PC and burn it to CD's or create MP3s if you have the right hardware.
Now for the Cons, which are the reason for 3 stars instead of either 4 or 5:
-Most buttons serve multiple functions, which can make it confusing to use. For example, the "Favorite" button can be pressed to save a song from being overwritten, but if you press and hold the "Favorite" button it deletes the song. Hmmmmm
-There is no indicator that tells if a song has been saved with the Favorite button or not. If you save a song with the Favorite button but do not sync the song to the "Music Lock" portable device, it will still get overwritten.
-After my initial 30 hour recording session in which I thought 98 songs were recorded, I switched to "Play" mode. Abbee never initiated a Sync with the portable player known as the "Music Lock". I listened to several songs and then changed mode to "clock mode" to set the time. Then I changed back to "Play" mode and it said "EMPTY". All the songs appeared to be gone. I had to pull the "Music Lock" device out, and then the songs reappeared on the Abbee. When I put the "Music Lock" back in its holster, it finally started the sync process. It took about 10 minutes to sync the device. I was able to successfully switch out of the random playback mode, because I wanted to start at song #1 and go all of the way to #98 to see what was recorded. Well I was surprised to find they were numbered #65 to #98, with NO 1-64 available apparently. I pulled the "Music Lock" device out of its holster, and now the Abbee shows "EMPTY" again. This is actually by design...when you sync the Music Lock with the Abbee it actually removes the songs from the Abbee. I don't find this functionality particularly desireable.
-Abbee may be the only device in the world where the portable player has more capacity than the base unit. When the "Music Lock" is unplugged from the Abbee base unit, the Abbee will only play live radio or any songs recorded since the "Music Lock" has been unplugged. If you have 300 songs on the Music Lock, you can't get to them unless the Music Lock is plugged into the Abbee. In this day of cheap memory I don't know why the Abbee base unit can't hold more than 100 songs.
-A couple of the "Songs" recorded by Abbee were entire commercials.
-When Abbee is powered on, it defaults to "Live" music from the radio with volume set to zero, and will not let you switch to "Play" mode until you "WAIT" about 30 seconds. This is true even if you were last listening to recorded content in "Play" mode.
-I executed a Master Reset in order to test the functionality, and then I let Abbee learn for another 24 hours WITHOUT the Music Lock device plugged in, and now it looks like it has 64 songs. Nope, they are numbered 30-64. So I change over to live mode to start recording more songs. After another 5 hours I check on it and now they are numbered 51-85. Songs 51-64 are from my previous list, songs 65-85 are new, and my songs 30-50 are gone. Now I realize the Abbee can only hold roughly 33 or 34 songs and then it starts deleting the oldest songs. The User Guide states "Over 100 Songs", but that's not what I'm seeing.
-When I plug in the Music Lock device it syncs the music, which is now removed off the Abbee base unit. If I pull the Music Lock back out, I expect the Abbee base to record another 33-34 songs so I can sync it later, but it no longer records ANY music without the Music Lock plugged in. It always shows "EMPTY". So now if someone has the Music Lock player with them, the Abbee base unit is literally only a radio.
-The highest song total I have reached now after 4 days is a range of songs between 52-202. No more songs are being added. If I delete a song, then it will add a new one (eg. 203 etc.) I don't know what happened to the 500 song limit...
-The User Guide offers a URL if you need help: [...], but the only help that is available is a PDF version of the User Guide. So what you have is a "User Guide" that refers you to itself if you need additional help. ;-)
-I submitted an email to [...] on 3/1/2010 with some of my experiences and some questions, and have had no response. There is also a support phone support number which I elected not to call. (UPDATE: Email was received on 3/4 but was in my spam folder)
-One time while the Music Lock was syncing I changed the recorded song I was listening to and it got stuck in a 1 second loop for about 10 seconds.
-Another time I switched from Live Mode to Play Mode and the Abbee would allow me to scroll through the recorded songs, but it would NOT show the song number until I powered off and then on the Abbee base.
Some "Nice to Haves" that did not effect my rating of the Abbee:
-Being able to set an alarm and use it as a clock radio would be a nice feature to add.
-A small remote control would be a nice option too.
In summary, this is a really excellent and innovative idea. I applaud its inventor for inventing it, and for naming it after his wife. Behind every good man there is a great woman.
This product is so close to being really amazing. I think the USB plug in the back marked "Update" is key if Myine plans to update the firmware on the Abbee.
UPDATE: You will have a much better experience with Abbee if you initially turn on the Abbee base without the Music Lock plugged in. Set your time. Choose a station and lock it on a preset. After about 5 minutes of listening to Live mode, switch to Play mode (it will show EMPTY) and plug in the Music Lock. This will enable you to record much more than 34 songs and will insure the numbering starts at 1. In fact I now have songs recorded that are numbered 1 thru 200 and growing, so this is looking much better...

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No Commercials or DJ Talk. No Computer or Subscriptions. ABBEE - COMMERCIAL FREE MUSIC SYSTEM FOR THE HOME, THE CAR AND ON-THE-GO. The Abbee Home Speaker system has a built-in FM tuner that records songs from your favorite FM stations directly to the Music Lock portable player. Abbee automatically removes commercials and DJ chatter, so all you hear is the music.

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