Sonoro AU-1400RE Cubo Audio System (Red) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)1. Fine sound for the size, really liked that.
2. Waaaaaay too complicated to set things. This is one of those, "We're only going to give you 10 buttons, so to set an alarm, you have to hit this button, then hit that button 4 times, then hit a third button. Complete pain in the neck to get to simple features. I might put up with that, but if you're the sort of person who is frustrated by utterly mysterious ergonomics, be aware, this unit is the anti-iPhone.
3. The system uses an automated CD insert -- you slide the CD into the front of the unit and a little motorized gripper pulls it in or pushes it out when you hit eject. After two weeks, mine stopped working. If I want to hear The Goldberg Variations, it's great, but I was sort of thinking that it would play lots of DIFFERENT CDs, not just the one I put in a week ago!
Bottom line: I'm returning the unit with my CD of the Goldberg Variations still inside it, because I can't get the furshlugginer thing out. I figure if it starts eating CDs in 2 weeks, there's not much hope for this as a long term addition to the house.


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Olive O2M Media Player (Silver) Review

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(More customer reviews)The touch display is really bad - my fingers aren't particularly fat, yet choosing a menu item requires incredible patience and precision - or you end up selecting an option you never wanted. The menu and font designs, the screen sensitivity - pretty bad. The wifi connection keeps dropping. I've been through a number of software upgrades and after each, I either have had no wifi connectivity, or at best it drops after an hour or two. Would NOT buy this product again.

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Tivoli Audio SBBS Songbook (Black/Silver) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have owned a Tivoli Pal for many years and thought a traveling Tivoli would be great. My wife needed a last minute rush Xmas gift for me and I suggested this without having seen one or doing research, instead relying on Tivolio brand expectations. Expected the radio to be rubberclad like the Pal, the one we got is slick hard to hold onto plastic, looks and feels like the "tansistor radio" I owned 40 years ago. Radio reception is fair, a $75 Audiovox I have in the same room locks onto a distant radio station I constantly listen too. Pluging the A/C adaper in causes static. Sound quality is equal to the Pal which would warrant 2 stars if not for the weak radio tuner.
This was a waste of money


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Sonoro AU4101BL Elements W Audio System (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this radio 2 weeks ago. I couldn't get Pandora to load onto to it. Had trouble finding service, I finally had to call Reciva's UK office to get service. Pandora worked but then iRadio would not connect. I'm returning this week.

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Logitech Squeezebox Touch Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased my Squeezebox Touch directly from Logitech, and have enjoyed it enough over the first few days of ownership to write a quick review.
To understand where I'm coming from, it may help to know I enjoy classical music, especially when its reproduced by a traditional stereo system with high quality discrete components. I own a British designed and built integrated amplifier and some tall floor-standing speakers from a Canadian manufacturer. Sound quality matters a whole lot to my enjoyment of music, and that shows in the care with which I select the components in my audio system.
I have owned a number of Logitech's previous Squeezebox WiFi streamers, including the Squeezebox Classic and some Duet receivers, so I am not new to the Squeezebox ecosystem. I keep my music collection as a large library of FLAC-encoded files, so as to avoid any potential losses due to codec compression artifacts.
On receiving my new Squeezebox Touch, I swapped out an existing "Slimdevices" branded classic Squeezebox in my main HiFi system for the new device. The Squeezebox Touch first discovered MySqueezebox.com as its source of music and asked me to provide login credentials, which caused it to upgrade its firmware from that site. After that, it rebooted and was able to connect to my local Squeezebox Server that I have running to serve music around the house. After that, I was able to browse my music collection and navigate to internet radio stations either using the touch interface or by using the supplied remote control.
I noticed that the interface automatically uses bigger fonts if you are controlling it from the IR remote and smaller ones if it finds you are controlling it via the touchscreen, which obviously makes sense when you are within an arm's length of the display.
As a first test, I played back a 96kHz, 24-bit high resolution copy of Marianne Thorsen on violin with the TrondheimSolistene playing Mozart's D-major Violin Concerto. At first I played the tracks via a Benchmark DAC1, which is a studio-quality monitoring DAC for use by mixing engineers. The sound was detailed, rich with a deep stereo image and musically involving. Next, I removed the Benchmark DAC from the signal path and tried again. Once again the sound was clearly better than a CD could provide and very close to that rendered through the Benchmark DAC. There has clearly been an improvement to the quality of the analog stereo outputs compared to previous Squeezebox versions, which was already pretty good.
I then went on to listen to Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma playing some Mendelssohn Piano Trios. This recording was "only" in 16-bit/44.1kHz CD quality audio, nevertheless I was soon captivated by the musicality of the performance, and could find no significant short comings of the quality as rendered by the built-in DACs compared to the external, studio quality Benchmark DAC1.
Someone starting to use this system without prior experience of Squeezebox Servers or software might face something of a learning curve to begin with. I can't speak to that, but I appreciate that I was able to drop this new device into an existing system and, within a few minutes, start to enjoy some very high quality reproduction of my music library.
The advantages over the previous Squeezebox Classic are:
* Color, touch-controlled user interface and display
* Ability to play back high resolution music without loss of quality
* Excellent audio quality from the analog outputs; significantly better than previous versions.
Another possible advantage is to use the Squeezebox Touch as a music server as well as a client, by attaching a USB hard drive to the supplied USB port. I have not tested this functionality, so I can't comment on how well it works. This review was mainly focussed on sound quality.
Based on my short experience, I recommend this device highly. I think it is a worthy successor to the Squeezebox Classic, as it provides significantly more in terms user interface and sound quality for the same retail price as the older player.

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Logitech Squeezebox Touch. The color touch-screen Wi-Fi music player that lets you discover a world of music—all through your stereo.

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Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio Review

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(More customer reviews)It's hard to review the Squeezebox Duet without comparing it to the Sonos system, current ruler of this class of products.
Since there are already many excellent reviews, I thought I would focus on a comparison of the two, to help you decide which system best fits your needs.
Controller
----------
Both controllers are responsive, pleasant to hold and operate. They are well built, and their LCD screen of excellent quality and easy to read.
Squeezebox: thin, light, easy to operate with one hand, excellent battery life, battery is user-replaceable, comes with charging stand. It also features an infrared blaster and a headphones port, which will be supported at some point in the future (although Logitech makes no promises there have been demonstrations of prototype firmware using both features), as well as a 3D accelerometer (yes, like a Wii remote).
Sonos: bulkier, designed for two-handed operation, battery life could be better, battery is not user-replaceable, charging stand optional.
Networking
----------
I did not compare the two systems in the same location, but they both operate well with a range sufficient for most medium-size houses.
Sonos: uses proprietary mesh networking that requires to plug one of the players into the wired LAN. Other players act as repeaters.
Squeezebox: uses standard 802.11g networking. Can hook up to an existing wireless network, or the player can be used as an access point for the remote.
Players
-------
Sonos offers two players: the ZP100 has a built-in amplifier and the ZP80 doesn't (but it offers a digital output missing from the ZP100). Both players feature an Ethernet hub and an audio input.
Squeezebox: on top of the inexpensive player bundled with the Duet, the Squeezebox system is also capable of controlling all other Squeezebox devices (excluding the first generation models).
Audio quality is comparable, although audiophiles may be attracted by the compatibility with the Squeezebox Transporter.
Server
------
This is where both systems differ radically. Sonos connects to existing SMB shares whereas Squeezebox requires that you install and run the SqueezeCenter server on your computer. SqueezeCenter is open source and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Sonos: less intrusive, no software to install, works happily off a lowly NAS. But: if your music collection is larger than 30,000 tracks, you may hit the limit of the indexing capabilities, a problem with no easy workaround.
Squeezebox: requires simple installation of server software, so you have to have a computer always on. Server is too CPU-intensive to run properly on a low-power NAS such as the D-Link DNS-323
Internet radio
--------------
Sonos: Napster, Rhapsody, Audible, eMusic, Zune Marketplace, Sirius, Pandora, all configurable from the controller
Squeezebox: Rhapsody, MP3Tunes Locker, Radio IO, RadioTime, Slacker, Live365, SHOUTcast, Sirius, most must be configured and authorized from a computer using the SqueezeCenter web interface.
Support
-------
Both companies offer spectacular support through their on-line forums.
Summary
----------
Price: Squeezebox. A three-zone Sonos system will cost you about twice as much as a three zone Squeezebox system.
Capabilities: tie
Ease of setup: Sonos
Ease of use/WAF: Sonos. The Squeezebox interface is beautiful, but Sonos is more logically organized and simpler.
So, should you get Sonos or Squeezebox? It depends. Both systems are excellent.
If you're a tinkerer and want a solid, inexpensive system, the Squeezebox is for you. If you don't mind the added cost, want the best, simplest, friendliest user interface around, Sonos is still the ticket.
One thing is for sure: Sonos finally has some serious competition.


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Listen to the music you love in any room in your home with the Logitech Squeezebox Duet. Play songs stored on your computer, tune in to thousands of Internet radio stations, or connect to online services such as Pandoraand Rhapsody . Plus, the multi-room controller with 2.4-inch color display and scroll-wheel navigation makes it easy to browse, select, and play music from the palm of your hand.

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Mutant MIG-PIR-3 M-Wavio Portable Pocket-Sized WiFi Internet Radio with AM/FM Radio (Pure White) Review

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(More customer reviews)The Mutant is an innovative device that picks up internet radio stations anywhere there is a wi-fi connection.I enjoy this device and like to take it out with me. But I can't if it threatens to rain, that's a drawback. But I dc like this device because I can take internet radio anywhere. This is a wave of the future, and there will be more of these radios coming, which is very good.

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Yamaha YBA-10WH Bluetooth Wireless Audio Receiver for Select Yamaha Home Theater Receivers Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got it to sync with my wife's PC and my iPhone without too much trouble. (Apparently the MacBook pro's bluetooth doesn't work very well with this unit - streams very poorly and with a lot of distortion.) My main complaint is the high-pitch "whislte" that has been referenced by other reviewers. It is very annoying, and overwhelms the sound for me. Makes the unit almost unusable as the high-frequency tone is all I can hear after a few minutes of listening. If Yamaha could somehow fix this with a software update for their receivers, it would make this a great product. In the meantime, save your money.

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

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(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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Livio Internet Radio Featuring Pandora (WiFi only, Black) 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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Stand-alone radio automatically connects to the internet and makes NPR stations, programs, content, and podcasts accessible to more people, in more places. Sets up in minutes. Searches for NPR programming by genre, location or keyword. The first and only dedicated device to offer Pandora's signature "thumbs up, thumbs down" controls on both the front panel and a remote, the Livio Radio puts you in command by allowing you to customize the music and programming you receive across any genre, from anywhere in the world, without a required monthly fee and independently of a computer. The Livio Radio makes Pandora accessible to more people, in more places. The Livio Radio, through Pandora and the Music Genome Project, gives its users the power to be their own personal DJ, one that actually pays attention to what listeners like and dislike. With its sleek design and set of features, the Livio Radio goes beyond providing access to free, personalized Internet radio available through Pandora. In the home, office, or anywhere a power source and a wireless internet connection meet, it's a stand-alone radio that connects quickly and plays Internet radio programming through its own speaker. The Livio Radio does not require access to a computer interface or a mobile phone for everyday operation.

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Grace Digital GDI-IRD4500m High Performance Stereo Internet Radio - Black Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had My Grace Bravado-X (GDI-IRD4500M) just a couple of weeks now and I am not sure how I lived without it. I have listened to great music I am sure I would have never heard before. The sound is good for a table sized radio but I wanted better and so I ordered and installed Carver TS-241S Home Theater Speakers - Pair. These speakers more than doubled the sound quality! The internal speakers are fine for voice and music but I wanted to fill the whole house with music. Thanks to Grace, hook up was easy with plain old fashioned speaker wire. The radio is in the kitchen and I wanted to be able to turn up the volume enough so I could still hear the radio easily over the usual kitchen noise. The Grace class D 16-Watt digital amplifier really cranks up these external speakers. I am using a NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N300 Gigabit Router with USB WNR3500L and all works fine. You only have to know your router network code and the radio supplied all the other information needed to set up. I had my radio playing in 10 minutes! Also the enclosed user guide is better than you usually get these days. It covers most everything you will need to know. Adding stations that you find and want to keep is easy at [...]. Add your station to your list (after you set up your free account) and by the time you walk into the other room it will already be on your radio. Really cool!
Constuction is very good and the unit is very impressive looking on display. There is nothing on this radio that looks or feels cheap. The remote is just like your TV remote only smaller. When the unit is off the display clearly shows the time, day, month and year. The display can be easliy read in day light or a dark room and is adjustable to your preference. I use reading glasses for almost everything but I do not need them to see the display on this radio which for me is a big plus.
Grace customer service should be something you should really take into consideration when making your purchase decision. After a few days my radio developed a minor problem and I was not sure if it was my fault or not being that this is my first internet radio. I emailed customer service at the Grace website and received very quick responses. You can also call them but I prefer email so I did not. Every thing worked out and I am giving Grace customer service *5* STARS. Grace seems to really care that you are happy with your purchase.
I read every reveiw I could find on ALL internet radios and this one kept coming up as my favorite selection. As you can see by the above I think you will find that this radio will be above your expectations as it was with me. I did purchase a SquareTrade 3-Year Electronics Warranty ($) just in case. There is clear plastic to protect the front of radio during shipping that you should remove. I could not get a hold of the corner to peel off. I finally stuck a small piece of tape on one corner and it lifted right off. The problem is the front of the radio is recessed which makes it difficult to remove.

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Grace Digital GDI-IR2500 Wi-Fi Internet radio Featuring Pandora, NPR On-Demand, Sirius and iheartradio Review

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(More customer reviews)I have owned the Grace GDI-IR2500 now for a couple of months, and I will try to be as brief as I can with my thoughts and comments.
Build quality: Fair - not terrible, but not great. The black vinyl or plastic wrap used over the wood housing is attractive but not assembled very well, with very noticable imperfections/large wrinkles on both the top front right corner and the top back right corner. The controls are of comperable quality to those of a $10 clock radio, and will probably start wearing out after a couple of years of heavy use. The 4-line LCD display is relatively easy to read.
Setup: If you have ever setup any other wireless devices such as a laptop, smartphone or other wi-fi enabled device, it is not much different and pretty straight forward. The only area that can be somewhat cumbersome is the same issue I have in other areas of operation: the poorly functioning and designed remote control. The remote basically offers up and down keys for entering a security key, scrolling through each number and letter of the alphabet, locating the character you need, then selecting, then scrolling... you get the picture. A remote offering a numeric/ABC type of entry would be preferred, and for $130 to $150, should be included.
Station selection: Good - but not nearly as good as some of the applications offered on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry smartphones such as WunderRadio and RadioTime. Searching for stations is also poorly thoughtout. Other than Clear Channel Communication's "iHeartRadio" offering, you can't even search stations by state, let alone city - and searching by call letters is again an entry where you have to scroll through every letter of the alphabet and enter each character, which is a pain.
Connectivity: No complaints, it starts up relatively quick once you have your wireless settings configured. Regarding connecting to a station url, it depends on the stream format... most .AAC streams begin playing quickly, .mp3 streams fairly quick, .WMA streams a few seconds longer, but none are frustratingly slow. It also played all streams consistantly for hours at a time without interruption.
Sound quality: Fair at best. I guess for $150 I expected this radio to sound at least as good as some of the $50 Sony or Panasonic tabletop radios from the past. There is no reason it couldn't on most mid-to-higher kbps streams - but Grace chose to cut costs on one of the most important aspects of any radio - the speaker - and the speaker quality is about on par with that of a $20 GE table radio. That would be OK if the radio cost $50, but for what these relatively cheap to build radios cost the consumer, I expect the materials and components used to be of higher quality.
Remote Control: Poor quality, poor layout, and many times you have to hit keys two or three times to get a response. I thought the included battery might have been old, but the Duracell replacement battery I bought did not improve the remote's performance.
The bottom line: If you want an internet radio that somewhat gives you the look and feel of your old tabletop radio, and you use the presets a good part of the time, it's an OK radio. I don't hate it, and have actually had some fun with it, but in reality it is worth about $79 tops. I would however look at the Logitech Squeezebox before this or any other internet radio. I played with one at Best Buy a couple weeks back and the build and sound quality is light-years better, and it also offers an optional battery pack.
If the old-time feel of a tabletop radio isn't important and you are wanting to just tune in stations from around the world and have decent sound quality, and if you own an iPhone, Blackberry or Android smartphone with 3G and/or a wi-fi connection, I recommend one of the many decent wireless bluetooth speaker systems (I own the Altec Lansing inMotion SoundBlade Bluetooth A2DP Speaker/Speakerphone, which I paid $50 for, or the Creative D100 Wireless Bluetooth Speaker, both of which sound much better than this Grace unit, and operate on either the supplied AC power adapter or batteries) and install some free to very cheap apps on your smartphone such as Pandora, Slacker, Sirius/XM, iHeartRadio, Yahoo Music, WunderRadio, and TuneIn (formerly RadioTime.) The beauty of smartphone apps is that you can also use them with many new car audio systems (wirelessly via bluetooth or wired via an auxiliary in jack), at the office, at the beach, and pretty much anywhere you have either 3G data or a wi-fi connection.February 20, 2011 note: I find it interesting that in one day my post went from "27 of 29 people found the following review helpful" to "27 of 37 people found the following review helpful"... yes, in one day, and over 4 months after the review was posted. Seems as though some Grace employees or dealers might not have appreciated my honesty.June 10, 2011 note: I have also owned a Logitech Squeezebox radio now for 6 months, and it is an outstanding radio, and a vast upgrade from the Grace radio. Build and sound quality are far superior, and the various interfaces available to control the unit, including the optional remote control, Android application, Squeezebox Server computer software, and mysqueezebox.com are all far superior to anything Grace offers. Also, while Grace touted that their radios supported iHeartRadio, this is no longer the case, with iHeartRadio confirming they will no longer be supporting Reciva, the radio station database used by Grace Radios.
Buy the Logitech Squeezebox radio.

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

Average Reviews:

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

Average Reviews:

(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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Mutant MIG-PIR-5 M-Wavio Portable Pocket-Sized WiFi Internet Radio with AM/FM Radio (Tangerine) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had my Mutant Internet radio for several months now, and don't really have much to add to the other 5-star reviews, but I can't figure out why this receiver isn't better known.
I use mine as a shirt-pocket receiver with cheap heasphones (no headphones or earbuds included with the radio). The internal speaker works ok, but it's not something I'd listen to for any length of time.
Ease of use and reliability make this ideal for use around the house and on my patio.
Be aware that it includes a USB charger but if you want to charge it (as I do) without having to tie up a USB port on your desktop computer you'll need to spend a couple bucks for a wall-wart charger with USB plug for it.
Pros:
Easy to use. You'll be listening to stuff you like ten minutes after you begin setting it up.
Sound is excellent thru headphones or earbuds.
Works on FM too, but I haven't used that much.
Cons:
No identifier of song titles (I forgot what that's called...this radio doesn't tell you name of song and artist as you're listning).
Names of stations when you search are less that helpful. Stations may be identified as "102.9 The River" with no call letters or even city names when you search--you may know the state in which the station is located, but not the city.
But I forgive those minor shortcomings. After all, the screen is the size of a postage stamp (it's a PORTABLE), so how much info can you cram into it?
If I were to drop it and break it, I'd order another in a flash.
I believe this is a superbly engineered receiver. If you have WiFi, get one.



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Philips DC315/37 Speaker System for iPod/iPhone with LED Clock Radio (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was looking for a radio that supports my iTouch and iPhone, looks modern, has a small footprint on my desk, and sounds good. I got all of those features. The only feature I did not get was an audio out so that I could plug in my external speakers. Hence, only four stars. I use Pandora and other iTouch apps that play music, and they all work seamlessly. The sound is remarkably good, especially considering the size. Also a plus is the support that stabilizes the iTouch when it is docked. You don't feel like you will break off the connectors when you push on the iTouch.

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Start a pleasant day with your iPhone/iPod tunes on the Philips Docking entertainment system DC315 with dual alarms. Featuring multiple sources, the stylish system lets you wake up to music of your choice from portable devices and radio.


Enjoy your music from multiple sources
MP3 Link auxiliary input for portable music playback The MP3 link 3.5mm auxiliary input allows you to play back external audio devices, such as MP3 players. Enjoy music from all your devices through this great-sounding system.
Play and charge your iPhone/iPod Enjoy your favorite MP3 music while charging your iPhone/iPod. Dock your device and enjoy your favorite music in superb stereo sound. It also charges your iPhone/iPod while it plays, so you can enjoy your music and not worry about draining your battery.
FM digital tuning with presets Enjoy digital FM radio when you feel like a break from your music collection. Press and hold the preset button to memorize a frequency, for quick access to your favorite radio stations.

Start the day your way
Wake up to your iPhone/iPod music or radio tunes Wake to your favorite tunes, or your favorite morning or news show.
Dual alarm with weekday and weekend settings Designed with modern day lifestyles in mind, this clock radio has a dual alarm feature, allowing you to set different alarm times for weekdays and weekends or even vary the alarm settings for couples. The alarm settings can be tailored for the same alarm times for the entire week from Monday to Sunday. Or you can set the alarm for an early start on weekdays from Monday to Friday, and lazy lie-ins for Saturday and Sundays. Whichever you choose, there's no need to fiddle with setting different alarm times every single night.
Gentle wake up call with an increasing alarm volume Nobody likes to be jarred out of sweet slumber, so the DC315 features a gradually increasing alarm volume.

Rich and clear sound experience
Bass Reflex speakers deliver a powerful, deeper bass The Bass Reflex Speaker System delivers a deep bass experience from a compact loudspeaker box system. It features a bass pipe that is acoustically aligned to the woofer to optimize the low frequency roll-off of the system. The result is deeper controlled bass and lower distortion. The system works by resonating the air mass in the bass pipe to vibrate like a conventional woofer, extending the low end.
2x4W RMS total output power Get 2 x 4 Watts RMS total output power from this compact system.
What's in the Box DC315 main unit, Power cord, AC adaptor, MP3 link cable, User manual, Quick start guide

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