AR ARIR200 Tabletop Wi-Fi Internet Radio with Alarm (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This radio is the same as the RCA Infinite Radio RIR200 which Amazon stopped carrying in favor of this Acoustic Research ARIR200, so I encourage anyone who is thinking about buying this products to ALSO read the reviews at the following link:
RCA Infinite Radio RIR200 Internet Radio with Wifi Connectivity and Slacker Personal Radio
In case the link does not work, put this number (a product number) into the search box: B0016OK5O0 (cut and paste because those are both O's and zeros). You can also look at the reviews for the RIR205 which is the same unit but it also includes a basic router for those who want a simple way to hook up their unit to the internet. Search for B0016OI1BY to get info on the RIR205
Some of the issues brought up in those reviews are still valid (e.g. the odd ergonomics of the controls, too bright illumination, etc.) and some issues have been fixed by firmware updates. Unfortunately, sometimes when they fix one issue in the firmware they seem to also "break" another.
I give AR/RCA credit that they are at least supporting the product with firmware updates (as of 3/2009 they have released a version during 12/2008 and 3/2009). Right now, in my experience the product is a bit buggy with the current version of the firmware and I have been experiencing some random crashes where it either locks up or reboots itself. This is a real pain because it loses the security key for the WiFi when this happens and thus it has to be reentered. There is also a base level of white noise through the speakers, even after turning the radio off, that I find annoying (hint: after going standby, turn the volume dial all the way down and it will disappear with a pffft - then spin the volume back up to the normal position so that you have volume the next time you turn the radio portion on). This unit is better than the iLuv unit I reviewed elsewhere and could be quite good if they ever get a good version of the firmware going.
One of the best resources for information on these radios is the message archives at the following group at Google groups: Acoustic Research ARIRC200 Internet Radio . Just do a search at Google Groups and you should find the group (I don't think Amazon will let me include the link, but here goes: http://groups.google.com/group/acoustic-research-arirc200-internet-radio?hl=en )

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Acoustic Research introduces the next generation of audio entertainment with the ARIR200 Wi-Fi internet and AM/FM radio. The ARIR200 gives you access to thousands of global music and talk stations with its built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity. It features a clock radio with alarm functions that allow you to wake to your favorite music or radio stations. Activate your free account with Slacker Personal Radio to access millions of tracks, hundreds of genre stations and over 10,000 artist stations. Slacker displays the next upcoming artist and provides the ability to pause or skip at any time. Other free accounts include Personal Portal and WeatherBug to receive local weather forecasts and emergency alerts. Preset six of your favorite stations per source into the radio so that you can save and retrieve your favorite stations with the push of a button. You can connect your mp3 player or flash drive into the USB connection to listen to your personal music files or save up to 10-hours of music onto the 512MB internal memory.

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Wolverine Data Internet WorldRadio - White (WIR900) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I recently purchased this radio because of my growing interest in WiFi internet radio and I could not be happier. Set-up was very easy as per the printed manual. Once your WiFi network is detected (It takes about 20 seconds) then follow the menu and use the remote/and or the front panel interface to enter your WEP Encryption and away you go. You can also set up with a wired LAN if you have to. There are 4 front panel presets and you can add 10 favorites to a graphical list also. The radio comes with the option to use vTuner website which you can use to create a "favorites" list for 20 more of your favorites. You can search for thousands of station and lsiten to a clip of the service. What is nice about vTuner is that it sends the list your create right to the radio! Another very nice feature is that you can stream songs stored from your computer right to the radio (Via Windows Media Player).
The radio itself is very well made with two 3 watt speakers that offer very good sound quality for their size. The radio is not that heavy and the color scheme is pleasing to the eye; The internal buffer is sizable and it allows flawless radio listening. The unit is very sensitive and as long as you have a good fast router you should have very little trouble with resets and hang ups which will happen from time to time on ANY radio. Remember that sound quality will be of MP3 so it will not compare to Cd quality but you can tune over 16,000 stations world wide; try that with your home tuner. Speaking of home tuners you can use the front panel 3.5mm stereo plug to connect to your HiFi home system. All in all for the price it has been a very good investment. My only gripes with this product would be that it could use a longer power cord and the remote receiving angle could be improved.

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Stereo / Built-in V-Tuner Software / Receive 15,000 Stations from 160 Countries / Requires WiFi or Broadband Ethernet Internet Service

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Acoustic Research Arir201 Internet Radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I received this as a Christmas gift and I couldn't get it to do anything. Note that I am a pretty technical person (I use lots of complex electronic gadgets, and I'm a programmer, so not exactly computer illiterate).
I followed the quick start instructions provided in the box to the letter: I plugged it in and a splash screen for acoustic research came on the display. And that's all this giant paperweight did.
It did not respond when I pressed the power button or when I attempted to follow the instructions for disabling demo mode (1 snooze 6). Unplugging the device did not change anything and neither did holding down the power button for 10 seconds as suggested in the troubleshooting. This unit appeared to be basically DOA.
I contacted Acoustic Research customer service and they said it would need to go in for repair. Apparently they need two tries (at least) to get this to work out of the factory.
Acoustic Research could have had a chance to get me to like this unit (clearly it had a glitch and I understand that defects can happen even with high quality products), but their warranty policies would have required me to send the unit in for repairs at my expense. No, thanks! Luckily Amazon has a good return policy for defective items. I decided, after seeing the other one-star reviews, that it wasn't worth the risk to get a replacement unit, so I just got a refund credited to my husband's account.
Additionally, the buttons were super cheap and felt like they were going to break very quickly. Totally unacceptable for a clock radio at this price point.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Acoustic Research Arir201 Internet Radio

Acoustic Research introduces the next generation of audio entertainment with the ARIR200 Wi-Fi internet and AM/FM radio. The ARIR201 gives you access to thousands of global music and talk stations with its built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity. It features a clock radio with alarm functions that allow you to wake to your favorite music or radio stations. Activate your free account with Pandora Radio or Slacker Radio. Slacker Personal Radio to access millions of tracks, hundreds of genre stations and over 10,000 artist stations. Slacker displays the next upcoming artist and provides the ability to pause or skip at any time. Preset six of your favorite stations per source into the radio so you can save and retrieve your favorite stations with the push of a button. You can connect your MP3 player or flash drive into the USB connection to listen to your personal music files or save up to 10-hours of music onto the 512MB internal memory.

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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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Coby IR825 Compact Wireless Internet Radio System (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm not as enthusiastic as the first reviewer since I have other radios to compare it to so I'm giving this Coby radio only 3 stars because of the 2 line display and the user interface being so clunky and hard to use although it plays well. I would give it 4 stars if the interface were improved. There are no knobs, just a lot of buttons on the top that are used for going up and down through a confusing array of menus in order to find anything. The buttons tend to stick, are sometimes hard to push and difficult to find in the dark. It would be easier to use after memorizing the menus but since you can't see them you have to keep them in your head and they are hard to follow on the little 2 line display. Coby has another model, the IR850, with a 6 line display that would be better but it costs more. Other radios with 5-6 line displays are much easier to navigate when you can see the whole menu at one time and have a rotary know to scroll through them. This radio could really benefit from a remote control.
I also have 2 other internet radios, an IR808 similar to the Kaito IR-168 and an RCA/AR RIR205 from Audiovox to compare this to. While the RCA uses Vtuner for it's portal and the IR-168 uses IR168's own site this radio uses the Frontier Silicon wifi radio portal but it seems to be based on Vtuner. Frontier Silicon, in the U.K., designed the radio's processor module, wrote it's firmware and also provides the website for radio makers and owners to use. When I first opened the box and got the radio out and plugged it in, it connected to wifi and got a station right away which was a surprise since I had a lot of trouble getting the first 2 other radios to work at all. I did have to update my wifi router from an old 802.11B to a D-Link DI624 G model a while back though which is a big part of why it worked right out of the box.
The radio is smaller than it looks in the photos. They do say it's compact but it's no bigger than a loaf of pound cake. In spite of the light plastic cabinet it's a lot heavier than I expected. The wifi antenna is hot glued inside the top of the cabinet but the rest of it seems well put together. The speakers look small but produce good sound and are quite loud in spite of only a 2 Watt per channel power rating. I also noticed that it was made by Hip Shing Elect. Co., model IR706. They also make Grace radios and others. Coby doesn't really make anything, they buy items from other manufacturers with the Coby name put on them to resell. I also have a Coby HD AM/FM radio which I like but it's actually a Mondo Revo. One potential drawback to this radio design is that everything is done on the Frontier Silicon web site, even storing Favorites. This means the radio won't work at all if their web site is down. The RCA has a similar design that relies on the RCA/AR web site but some others such as the IR-168 have their own built-in web server that you can browse to with your PC and store Favorite stations directly into the radio's memory.
While other radios tend to have an SD memory slot or USB jack for playing your own music files this radio has neither. They claim it can stream audio from a PC using uPnP with Windows Media Player 11 and the manual even shows how to setup WMP 11 to do streaming, something I've never found explained in other manuals. Other radios such as the IR-168 claim they can do streaming using uPnP too but they don't tell how to do it. I was only able to get that to work in Windows 7 though and not in XP Pro. However, most security experts say to never use uPnP at all and to always keep it disabled because it allows hackers access to your files. If you aren't worried about hackers, have Windows 7 or can get XP to stream and have a lot of music, podcasts or audio books on your PC you want to play then this feature would be handy. There is also a way to get iTunes and VLC media player to stream over wifi to the radio but when I tried that my router kept crashing. One advantage this radio has is the ability to receive KFI and other Clear Channel stations that are difficult for internet radios to get. It won't play if you use the radio to go to Region and browse to LA, Calif. then choose the station however. That just produces a Network Error but if you go on the web site and choose the station and add it as a Favorite then it plays but tends to work intermittantly.
This radio would be the best for someone who only listens to a few stations and can store them in the Preset buttons where they are easy to access. It's not really that great for someone who wants to browse the web a lot, they would want a bigger display and easier to use controls like the IR850. The RIR205 and the IR-168 are both easier to use to browse the web for stations than the Coby.
The build-in FM tuner is more sensitive than I expected and even has RDS, a feature normally found in car radios, to show the station's call letters and the title and artist of the song that's playing on the screen, something that's not mentioned in the manual or on the web site. The FM tuner doesn't get HD stations but the radio has a feature listed under Internet Radio called HDi (also not mentioned in the manual) that has a list of HD2 channels from various stations around the USA that are on the internet. It doesn't get all of them however.
Pros
1. Blue & white display is bright and easy to see but only from the front, not the top where the controls are.
2. Has Help built-in but it's hard to read on the little 2 line display.
3. FM radio plays better than expected, is more sensitive than other radios and has a real whip antenna instead of just a piece of wire hanging out the back but it's not HD.
4. Can receive KFI 640AM but sometimes it works and sometimes you get a network error.
5. Faster than the others to connect to the wifi router and tune in stations.
6. Remembers it's internet settings and it's wifi connection when power is off in spite of not having any backup batteries.
7. Besides internet radio and FM there is also an option to play podcasts and streams from a PC.
Cons
1. Display is only 2 lines and hard to see unless you are right in front so you have to put the radio up at eye level but then it's hard to see the buttons on top. It's also too bright at night and there's no way to turn it down but you could use it for a flashlight or nite lite to illuminate the bedroon.
2, Display doesn't scroll so you have to keep pressing Info to see all the data. It doesn't show the song or artist either when playing internet stations.
3. Volume buttons stick and are harder to operate than a knob.
4. Favorites are hard to add, you have to browse through a long list on the web site to find and select each one and you can only add one at a time.
5. Only has 5 Presets for internet and 5 for FM.
6. Built in wifi antenna not as sensitive as some others that are external.
7. No remote.
8. No SD memory slot or USB connection for playing your music files from flash memory or USB thumbdrives.
9. No Ethernet jack, wifi only. A USB jack on the rear is marked Service Port Authorized Use Only and doesn't seem to do anything.
10. Can only play MP3, WMA and RealAudio file types. At least those are the only types listed on the web site when you add a station. Other radios can also play AAC, WAV and AIFF. The Frontier Silicon prototype this radio is based on can play AAC and the new Grace GDI-IRD4000 is claimed to supported: Real Audio, WMA, MP3, AAC, AAC+, FLAC (lossless), WAV (lossless), AU, AIFF, and OGG Vorbis so it probably just needs a firmware update to play additional formats.
11. There was no user forum available for support like other radios have so I created one on Google Groups called Frontier Silicon Based Internet Radios.
I ended up sending it back because I couldn't explain to anyone in the household how to tune in a station on it. To replace it I got a Coby IR850. It also has 2 big stereo speakers with good sound but is much easier to operate and has a remote control. The buttons on top are easier to use and it has a big display that's easy to read. They have a problem with the display backlight LEDs burning out early but they are not hard to replace. Directions for doing that are also on the Frontier Silicon Radio Google Group.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Coby IR825 Compact Wireless Internet Radio System (Black)

Coby's IR825 puts cutting-edge radio in a compact package. Featuring both wireless internet and FM receiver, this compact system receives broadcasts from both traditional and web radio. Programmable station memory lets you save your favorite channels, digital or analog. Additional features include full-range stereo speakers, alarm clock function, and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack for private listening.

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Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In mid 2008, I purchased another Reciva-based product that was more expensive. I still like that one very much, but it has some glitches that are more or less permanent. Some of them are due to the design, and some are due to a lack of support from the brand. I was expecting rough edges from this radio, but my experience with it has been smoother. In short, it has the tried and true feature set common to Recivas, without the glitches of my old unit.
Positives:
Streams, Podcasts, UPNP/DLNA.
MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, Real.
Customizable menu entries via Reciva website.
Differences:
Missing from this is a wired Ethernet jack and a USB port for Mass Storage Compliant devices, but the MSC feature on the other radio was half-implemented anyway. The old unit couldn't run on batteries. The wi-fi bars on the old unit's playback screen have been replaced by a clock.
Knocks Cured:
More robust power cord from "brick" to radio.
Mute works with headphones.
Hardware power switch on back of radio.
More responsive menus.
Wider field of regard for remote control sensor.
More robust remote control.
Remote control takes AA batteries.
Fewer, but easier-to-use presets.
Display backlight can turn off.
Redundant entries removed from station listings.
Station listings have subcategories.

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Crystal Clear Streaming Wherever you Are AM and FM radio stations all over the world stream their audio content over the Internet. Grace Digital Audio's Allegro Wi-Fi radio allows you take advantage of this massive amount of free content, as well as a variety of subscription Internet radio services conveniently and efficiently wherever you are. Setup is simple, all you need is access to a broadband Internet connection via a wireless router. Acting like any wireless device, once configured to the Wi-Fi signal(s) available and its security, if any, the Allegro provides quick access to literally thousand of Internet radio stations and podcasts without having to fire up a computer. Users can listen to the hottest premium online music services like Pandora, Live365 and Sirius* utilizing either standard AC power or via battery power in the form of either 6 AA batteries or a rechargeable NiMH battery. In addition, the Allegro facilitates even further audio functionality by allowing you to stream audio files directly from your PC or Mac to the device's speaker. Supported formats include: audio - AIFF, AIFC, WAVE, CAF, Next, ADTS, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WMA; playlist - ASX, M3U, PLS; streaming protocols - HTTP, HTTPS, RTSP, WSMP, Shoutcast. Users can also utilize either the full function remote control included, with its 10 presets, search and song skip functionality, or control the unit via iPhone / iPod Touch. Totally portable yet easy access to thousands of free and premium Internet radio content streams. View larger.

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Acoustic Research Arir150 Internet Radio Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a great internet radio for the price. The sound is also very good. I really like the preset buttons to save your favorite stations and the one button live weather report for your zip code. I am sure you can get much more with other internet radios but for the price this can't be beat. The radio is also very elegant and not a good size for the night stand.

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Acoustic Research introduces the next generation of audio entertainment with the ARIR150 internet and AM/FM radio. The ARIR150 gives you access to thousands of global music and talk stations. Connect directly to your home network with built in Wi-Fi connectivity. Featuring a clock radio with alarm functions that allow you to wake to your favorite music or radio stations. Enjoy your personal music content from mp3Tunes. Set presets with your favorite stations and access them with the push of a button.

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Coby IR850 Wireless Internet Radio System (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this radio to replace the IR825 which had good sound but I found it too hard for anyone to operate using just the buttons on top and a 2 line display. This radio also has only buttons on top and no knobs but is easy to use and the big display shows everything you need to see. The buttons are not lighted though and are sometimes difficult to find in the dark. It also has a remote.
I also have 2 other internet radios, an IR808 similar to the Kaito IR-168 and an RCA/AR RIR205 from Audiovox to compare this to. While the RCA uses Vtuner for it's portal and the IR-168 uses IR168's own site this radio uses the Frontier Silicon wifi radio portal but it's list of stations seems to be based on Vtuner. Frontier Silicon, in the U.K., designed the radio's processor module, wrote it's firmware and also provides the website for radio makers and owners to use. When I first opened the box and got the radio out and plugged it in, it connected to wifi and got a station right away which was a surprise since I had a lot of trouble getting the first 2 other radios to work at all. I did have to update my wifi router from an old 802.11B to a D-Link DI624 G model a while back though which is a big part of why it worked right out of the box.
The radio has two fairly large speakers for good sound and is bigger than it looks in the photos so it might not fit on some small shelves or night stands.
The wifi antenna is just a small J shaped etching on one end of the processor board inside the radio but seems to receive OK. It could be replaced with a high gain external antenna for better reception if necessary. The radio was made by Hip Shing Elect. Co., model IR68N or iCanal withoug the iPod dock. They also make Grace radios. Coby doesn't really make anything, they buy items from other manufacturers with the Coby name put on them to resell. I also have a Coby HD AM/FM radio which I like but it's actually a Mondo Revo. One potential drawback to this radio design is that everything is done on the Frontier Silicon web site, even storing Favorites. This means the radio won't work at all if their web site is down. The RCA has a similar design that relies on the RCA/AR web site but some others such as the IR-168 have their own built-in web server that you can browse to with your PC and store Favorite stations directly into the radio's memory.
While other radios tend to have an SD memory slot or USB jack for playing your own music files this radio has neither. They claim it can stream audio from a PC using uPnP with Windows Media Player 11 and the manual even shows how to setup WMP 11 to do streaming, something I've never found explained adequately in other manuals. Other radios such as the IR-168 claim they can do streaming using uPnP too but they don't tell much about how to do it. I was only able to get that to work in Windows 7 though and not in XP Pro. However, most security experts say to never use uPnP at all and to always keep it disabled because it allows hackers access to your files. If you aren't worried about hackers, have Windows 7 or can get XP to stream and have a lot of music, podcasts or audio books on your PC you want to play then this feature would be handy. There is also a way to get iTunes and VLC media player to stream over wifi to the radio that is described in the Reciva Forum but when I tried that my router kept crashing. One advantage this radio has is the ability to receive KFI and other Clear Channel stations that are difficult for other internet radios to get. KFI wouldn't play if I used the radio to go to Region and browse to LA, Calif. then choose the station however. That just produces a Network Error but if you go on the F/S web site and choose the station and add it as a Favorite then it plays but tends to work intermittantly sometimes since the KFI streaming is not always reliable.
The build-in FM tuner is more sensitive than I expected and even has RDS, a feature normally found in car radios, to show the station's call letters and the title and artist of the song that's playing on the screen, something that's not mentioned in the manual or on the web site. There is no connection for an external antenna though, just a piece of wire sticking out the back. The FM tuner doesn't get HD stations but the radio has a feature listed under Internet Radio called HDi (also not mentioned in the manual) that has a list of HD2 channels from various stations around the USA that are on the internet. It doesn't get all of them however.
This radio has one major problem, the LEDs that provide the display backlight tend to burn out early. They aren't too hard to replace if you are handy and like to tinker though.
Pros
1. Six line display is big and easy to see.
2. Has Help built-in but it's not really much use.
3. FM radio plays better than expected and is more sensitive than other radios but the antenna is just a piece of wire hanging out the back.
4. Can receive KFI 640AM but sometimes it works and sometimes you get a network error.
5. Faster than the others to connect to the wifi router and tune in stations.
6. Remembers it's internet settings and it's wifi connection when power is off in spite of not having any backup batteries.
7. Besides internet radio and FM there is also an option to play podcasts and streams from a PC.
8. Good sound from 2 large stereo speakers and 30 Watt amp.
9. 20 Presets for Favorite stations.
10. Remote control.
Cons
1. Backlight LEDs tend to burn out early. Directions for replacing them can be found on the Google Group called Frontier Silicon Based Internet Radios.
2, No Preset buttons are on the radio but they do show up on the display where they are easy to see and are on the remote.
3. Favorites are hard to add, you have to browse through a long list on the web site to find and select each one and you can only add one at a time but you can add the station currently playing as a Preset
4. Built in wifi antenna not as sensitive as some others that are external.
5. No SD memory slot or USB connection for playing your music files from flash memory or USB thumbdrives.
6. No Ethernet jack, wifi only.
7. Can only play MP3, WMA and RealAudio file types. At least those are the only types listed on the web site when you add a station but that covers most radio stations and streaming podcasts. Other radios can also play AAC, WAV and AIFF. The Frontier Silicon prototype this radio is based on can play AAC and the new Grace GDI-IRD4000 is claimed to supported: Real Audio, WMA, MP3, AAC, AAC+, FLAC (lossless), WAV (lossless), AU, AIFF, and OGG Vorbis so this one probably just needs a firmware update to play additional formats.
11. There was no user forum available for support like other radios have so I created one on Google Groups called Frontier Silicon Based Internet Radios.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Coby IR850 Wireless Internet Radio System (Black)

Traditional radio gets a digital upgrade with Coby's IR850 wireless internet radio system. Featuring both wireless internet and FM receiver, this system receives broadcasts from both traditional and web radio, giving you flawless reception, premium sound, and thousands of stations to choose from. Programmable station memory lets you save your favorite channels, digital or analog. Additional features include a large 6-line display, alarm clock function, and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack for private listening.

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Free Fm Music Listen and Even Record Fm Radio Broadcasts Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I couldn't get it to tune an FM station or a web station. The software is not intuitive. I'm don't think the item is defective, as XP recognized it and loaded drivers successfully. I think the software just didn't work.
I uninstalled it and threw the thing in a drawer. It's not heavy enough to be a paperweight. I guess I'll hold on to it a while before I throw it away.
UPDATE: I got around to throwing it away.

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Instant FM Music

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ibiza Rhapsody H1A030BL 30 GB Wi-Fi/MP3 Player by Haier (Blue) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As were many others, I was reluctant to purchase an MP3 player from a company that normally manufactures microwave ovens, dehumidifiers, and other home appliances. I watched reviews and comments about the ibiza for a month before jumping in. I've owned several hard drive MP3 players in the last year, culminating in an Archos 504 WiFi that was working pretty well for me until Urge and Rhapsody merged, and I lost a compatible subscription based music service.
The Haier Ibiza is the first player I've owned that hits every major requirement I have. Subscription based music with a broad, deep catalog, unprotected music, unrestricted WiFi, bluetooth, a reasonable, quick, well designed UI, etc.
Additionally, the development team at VariaMobile, the folks who are developing the software for this device have taken a very open, community driven approach to making this device better.
Downside? There are no accessories yet, (specifically a docking station). The player cannot be used while connected USB to your computer, (my previous Archos models would prompt, asking if it should connect, or simply charge).
Haier and Varia have put together a potent combination of features that more than justify the price, (some have complained it is too expensive). Anyone looking for a player that does music, subscriptions, and pod-casts will not be disappointed. I haven't even dug into the video features yet.

Click Here to see more reviews about: ibiza Rhapsody H1A030BL 30 GB Wi-Fi/MP3 Player by Haier (Blue)

The ibiza Rhapsody keeps you connected no matter where you go. Boasting PC-free, wireless operation, this compact MP3 player offers 30 GB of storage and a "hot button" that instantly connects you to millions of songs, podcasts, and videos. Easy to operate, with simple navigation and selection you can manage with one hand, the Rhapsody is slim, light, and ultra-portable, with a long battery life. And its intuitive, user-friendly design helps you fit more fun into your busy life.Stay Connected On the Go Whether you're traveling to work or school, or hanging out at the local coffee shop, take advantage of the Rhapsody's Wi-Fi capability to access the Internet. Browsing is a snap with the easy-to-read 2.5-inch color LCD, and the 320 x 240 resolution lets you enjoy vivid videos and photos. Need to find something right away? The content menus are streamlined and straightforward, so you never have to hunt for what you want to see or hear.Personalize and Share Let your Rhapsody showcase your individual style. Airskins let you automatically personalize your player with styles, graphics, pictures, and colors of your own choosing. Have you found a cool picture or song you can't wait to show off? No problem. The included Rhapsody software quickly loads on your computer so you can transfer your favorite images and songs, making everything easy to share with friends and family. Or you can save data from your PC to the Rhapsody, organize pictures into portable digital photo albums, and enjoy click-and-drag access while you're out and about.Entertainment Anywhere and Everywhere With the Rhapsody, you'll never run out of entertainment options. Instantly tune to a host of your favorite, preset FM radio stations; enjoy free AOL videos on demand; and bring with you nearly 1,000 categorized podcasts, including free up-to-the-minute news and sports. Over-the-air updates mean you'll never miss the newest available information or services. The Rhapsody also features Bluetooth capability that works with compatible headphones or speakers.Free Trial to Rhapsody To Go Never run out of new music again. The Rhapsody comes with a free 30-day trial (credit card not required) for Rhapsody To Go, a four-million song library. Play or save your favorites in seconds. You also can listen to free, nonstop Rhapsody channels in any genre, completely free of advertisements. At the end of the trial period, your membership will be automatically canceled, with no cost to you. Or, you can choose to extend your membership and listen to up to 25 new songs a month, or play 25 Rhapsody channels without any monthly fee.What's in the Box Device, headphones, wall charger, CD, and gel skin covering.

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Grace Digital GDI-IRA500 Wireless Internet Radio Adapter Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Review

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(More customer reviews)The Grace Solo internet radio does a great job connecting the world of internet radio to my home stereo.
The Solo is good looking and connects simply out of the box. Plug in the power, connect the standard rca cable to your stereo, turn it on, choose your home network and within 5 minutes you are listening to Pandora or one of the 17,000 radio stations. While Grace has many models of standalone table top radios, I like the Solo because it connects directly to my home stereo (or even powered speakers). The solo even has a headset jack.
When you first take the Solo out of the box, you see the Solo internet radio tuner, a power cable, manual, remote and rca cable to connect to your stereo. It uses WiFi to access the internet. Make sure you have Wi-Fi in your home, and that it is strong in the area you put the solo. The Solo does have a built in Wi-Fi signal meter to see how strong your Wi-Fi is. So if you put it on the bottom shelf of your stereo system and notice a weak signal you may want to put it on a middle or top shelf. The Solo works with any 802.11b,g or n router and has a built in 802.11g receiver.
After you connect to your wireless network (you will need your wireless WEP or WPA password to do this) and set the time zone on the clock, the Solo remembers everything (including station presets) when you unplug it. That is nice because no one wants to type their wireless password in more than once.
Once you are set up you can start searching for stations by genre or location or type the call sign of the station directly into the radio. You can do this via the remote control or directly on the unit itself. I like Pandora. In order to listen to Pandora you have to register your radio at Grace's web site [...] . After you create a Grace account you enter in your Pandora user name and password on the Grace site and the radio is linked to your Pandora stations. Within a minute your Pandora stations are on the Grace radio in the `personal radio' folder. Pretty cool. You can create stations on the Grace Solo, although I prefer to do that on the Pandora web site. Grace plays SIRIUS and Live365 as well but I do not have SIRIUS or Live365 VIP accounts so I can't comment on that.

I really love the Grace unit. I get all my local radio stations #my FM reception is bad at my house but my favorite FM stations - most do these days - broadcast over the internet .. so I get those, Pandora, NPR and I even started listening to the BBC 4 which is kind of cool#.
Obviously I give this a 5 star. The only negative I would say is that on a few random stations they do not show the song metadata (they all show the station metadata). I'm not sure if that is because the station is not sending it or what. You get the station and song metadata for Pandora which is the most important for me. Oh - you can even thumbs up or down Pandora songs .. very of cool.

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Convenient Access to Online Music in Your Home AM and FM radio stations all over the world stream their audio content over the Internet. Grace Digital Audio's "Solo" product line of Wi-Fi Receiver and Media Streamers allow you link this massive amount of free content, as well as a variety of pay Internet radio services, conveniently and efficiently to your stereo or home entertainment system. Setup is simple, all you need is access to a broadband Internet connection and a wireless router. Acting like any wireless device, once configured to the Wi-Fi signal(s) available and its security, if any, the Solo Wi-Fi Receiver provides quick access to literally thousand of Internet radio stations and podcasts from your home stereo without having to fire up a computer. In addition, users can listen to the hottest premium online music services like Pandora, Live365 and Sirius*. Easy access to thousands of free and premium Internet radio content streams without using a computer. View larger.

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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??

Click Here to see more reviews about: Grace Digital Wireless Hi-fi Internet Radio Tuner featuring Pandora and NPR (GDI-IRDT200)

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

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(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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Logitech Squeezebox Radio Music Player with Color Screen (Red) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a long time owner of Squeezebox products and was pretty excited to find out about the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I picked one up and thought I would share my thoughts.
The first thing you notice is how much heft this little player has. It is really well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has plenty of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won't skid around on your night stand or table top. The screen looks great and all of the buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to many other cheap wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of magnitude better in its construction quality. The only disappointment here is the lack of back lit buttons, for using the radio in low lighting. It's also worth noting that the entire radio has a high gloss finish that will be a magnet for fingerprints. Looks great though!
The biggest challenge for most consumers with this device will be the initial set up. You need to create an account at [...] in order to set up your new Squeezebox Radio. The device uses this connection to play free internet music services as well as download software updates, etc, to the Radio. I already had a Squeezebox account so this was not a huge challenge for me, but it might be for some people who might be confused that they need to set up an account before they can use the device. There is an option to set up the account from the device itself. Don't do this (it is slow and tedious)! Go to the website and set it up in a few seconds and then just type your login and password on the device.
Other than the laborious task of entering my full email and password for [...] the rest of the setup is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is common on many newer model wireless routers. It's similar to programming a garage door opener. Simply point the Squeezebox Radio at your wireless network and for 120 seconds it will try to connect with the push to connect functionality. Then just push the connect button on your router and it's automagically all set up.
Once set up the Radio will update its firmware and reboot, a process that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.
In addition to the many built in free online services, you can also play your own music through the Squeezebox Server application. I run the Squeezebox Server application on my HP EX495 Windows Home Server but you can also run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux box (there are even installable distributions for many Network Attached Storage units). This allows the Squeezebox Radio (and any other Squeeze players) to access all of the music on my home network. It's absolutely wonderful to be able to take the little table top radio anywhere in the home and listen to your entire music collection.
Sound quality is very good, easily enough to fill a small to medium sized room. It gets quite loud with little to no distortion and the controls are easy to use to change tracks, change volume, etc. Wireless strength is superb. I get a full signal anywhere within about 40 feet of my router, and the radio works anywhere on my suburban property with no audio hiccups or dropouts.
In addition to the intuitive controls such as "home", "play", "stop", "back", etc, the unit also features six programmable "preset" buttons similar to what you have on a car radio. Setting these up is a bit more of a challenge than you would expect. You are supposed to be able to hold these down on any song, album, playlist, etc, that is being displayed in the radio menu and have it added as a preset. Unfortunately some items don't add correctly and must first be programmed as a "favorite". It turns out that you can only add favorites for some items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server web based menu, which is quite inconvenient. I don't doubt that Slim Devices (the arm of Logitech that makes these devices) will fix this soon enough.
Other minor glitches include some weird alarm behavior (it will show the time of the alarm when it is going off but strangely won't show the current time, which is annoying if you have hit the snooze button a few times and need to know what time it is), some auto dimming issues (the auto dimming works great but gets almost TOO dim in a dark room to see the radio) and a few other very minor nits.
Slim Devices have a long history of enhancement and improvement of device firmware, so I would expect a lot of these issues to be worked out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery pack and small infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a $[...] add on purchase. Personally I think at $[...] the Radio should include these items, but considering the great sound of the radio, the high quality screen and the superb fit and finish it is justified that this device costs as much as it does.
Also worth noting is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you can get the iPeng application $[...] from the Apple App Store which makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an absolute breeze. iPeng is really a must have if you have these devices and want a wonderful pocket control that works from anywhere in your home. Beats the pants off of what Sonus has to offer!
//Update 1 (Nov 2nd 2009)
Yesterday my SB Radio lost all of the preset buttons which is most annoying. It also turns out that many of the requests for fixes around the alarms functionality have not been addressed and don't appear to be scheduled to be addressed in the next release or two of the software. If your primary use will be a night stand alarm clock I would recommend holding off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues. If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating as it should then be a three star product.
//Update 2 (May 13 2010)
Logitech has not only not fixed many of the initial annoyances with the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less stable and reliable. It still does an admirable job of playing your local music library if you run the SB Server on a PC or Mac in your home, but the network streaming functionality seems to be having issues and I've found the alarm to be terribly unreliable. I would now under the current circumstances rate this only 3 out of 5 stars. It's really a shame too, as the "Slim Devices" that originally brought us these problems was very open and communicative about issues and what was being done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying useful information to its beta testers, err, customers and instead gives us the run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.

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Logitech Squeezebox Radio brings a world of music—free Internet radio, subscription services, or your personal digital music collection—to any space in your home, over your Wi-Fi network.

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