Aluratek AIRMM01 Internet Radio Alarm Clock with built-in WiFi (Black) Review

Think about the humble clock-radio.Everybody has one. They've scarcely changed in the last two decades.They have poor sound quality.Are usually in a bedroom where radio reception can be poor--and are usually given only a crummy wire antenna sticking out the back. With some, you can play a CD, just as CDs are being superseded by other digital music. Few can access the wealth of programming on satellite.Not a twenty-first century device.

This device brings the clock-radio into the 21st Century.It connects to your Wi-fi at home, and delivers almost any radio station you want from around the world.

NPR junkies can choose from a brace of stations, and the worldwide selection is superb--let me recommend Radio National and Directions in Groove from Australia, KQED and WNYC (the AM version; you'll get AM radio in hi-fi!), Deutsche Welle in English, Radio Netherlands, and of course, the BBC.Living in a non-English-speaking country, it's a real life-line for me.

It solves an issue that has vexed me with conventional clock radios I've owned.Reception problems.With an internet radio, the signal is as strong as your home wi-fi.

No need for an integrated CD.You can play music wirelessly from your computer or a USB stick.

And for a small speaker, the sound is remarkably good. You can plug it into your hi-fi if you wish, for even better sound.

It gets five stars, but not without a couple of glitches. The radio updates the station list automatically, but if a station changes its website in between software updates, you might miss out for a while.The menus are elaborate and can be a bit complex until you get used to them--and that includes the one you use simply to turn the alarm on.And the backlighted time displays ONLY when the radio is actually on; though I expect that glitch to be fixed in a software update.

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Product Description:
Choose between more than 11,000 radio stations worldwide via built-in vTuner with no monthly cost Compatible with universal Plug-n-Play audio servers such as: Microsoft Media Player 11 (WMP11), Microsoft Media Connect, MusicMatch Jukebox Wireless access WIFI 802.11 b and g, Ethernet and USB 2.0 (host only) connectivity Access music fi les (MP3, WMA, WAV) stored on a USB 2.0 flash drive, MP3 player or Hard drive through the unit-s USB port Alarm clock function with 2 programmable alarms wakes you up to internet radio, FM radio, digital music, or choice of several alarm tones

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Roku SoundBridge R1000 Radio Network Music System Review

Update: After two years, my SoundBridge radio began to die with a constant crackling of static, regardless of volume setting.Apparently, I am not the only customer to experience this problem, but the warranty coverage is one year, regardless.That is a disappointment, because this product is not cheap.I know that things break, but when a problem is common, it is a design flaw and I hope for manufacturers to take better care of their customers.So, I am not changing my rating - it was a great product while it lasted - but two years of life from a $300 product is not good enough for me to buy another, even at the low, low RMA price of $200.

Original review:

I have wished for a radio that could play Internet radio stations ever since stations began to stream on-line.Sure, I can use my computer, but I hate to leave the noisy, power-sucking thing on 24 hours a day.Over the last couple years, a few devices have popped up that could play Internet radio, but that lacked the ability to tune in regular AM and FM radio.At long last, the SoundBridge Radio has arrived with the ability to play both Internet and regular radio.

The SoundBridge is great.It is the best thing of any kind that I have purchased in several years.That said, it is not perfect.

Internet Radio

The SoundBridge delivers Internet radio every bit as well as a computer.Once you have your favorite stations programmed in, it is easy to switch between them - just press the preset button and you're streaming.

The downside is that it is a bit laborious to enter those stations.To add new stations to the presets, you need to log in to the web interface of the radio, using your web browser.No big deal if you are computer savvy, but it would be nice if there were a way to program the presets from the radio itself.

AM/FM Radio

The SoundBridge closed the deal with me just by offering regular AM and FM radio in addition to Internet radio.This was a feature I required and SoundBridge Radio delivers.

However, that is as much praise as I will give it for the standard radio features.There are several annoyances.You cannot scan stations manually.To select a station, you must select it from a list.A tuning dial would be much, much more useful.The reception is poor.This is probably due to the internal AC power supply.Don't expect to pick up weak, remote stations with the SoundBridge.

The radio does provide AM and FM antenna ports, so you can improve on the poor reception by adding a quality antenna.

Radio Controls

There are four ways to control the radio - the physical controls, the remote control, the web interface, and the command line interface.This provides a great degree of flexibility if you are willing to learn them all.It could also be confusing.

The biggest problem with the SoundBridge Radio is that each of these four control sets works differently and does not allow you to control the full set of features.If I had designed the SoundBridge Radio, I would have made sure you could manipulate every feature from every interface.Sadly, this is not the case.

The physical radio controls allow you to do almost everything you will need to do once the wireless network is set up and your presets are programmed.However, you need to use the remote control for setup.

The web interface allows only very basic control of the radio, but is necessary for manipulating presets.You can program the presets for Internet radio stations simply by pasting in the URL.

The command line interface can be accessed by Telnet.I have only done basic tinkering, but it appears you can control most of the radio functions from the command line.You can also do interesting things, such as rewriting the radio display.

Sound

The sound is fine.You're listening to the radio - how good do you expect it to be?Voices are clear and well balanced.Music sounds fine, though a bit heavy on the bass for my tastes.If you crank the volume while playing music, you will overload the speakers - they aren't very big.This is a table-top radio.You probably won't be blowing the windows out with your clock radio and you won't be with the SoundBridge either.I have no complaints.If you want better sound, there is a port for headphones.

Security?

The SoundBridge Radio is a computer, running Linux - it just looks like a Radio.It checks in regularly with Roku for software updates, but you should think of this little box as a computer before you plug it in to your network.I haven't tried to hack it, but just about any computer can be hacked if you try hard enough.You wouldn't connect your PC to the Internet without some kind of firewall and I wouldn't recommend that you connect the SoundBridge Radio to the Internet without some protection of its own.

Overall

I have been using the SoundBridge Radio for a week.I love it.Sure, there are a number of annoyances in the design, but they are far outweighed by the positives.

Most of the irritations come during setup.Once you have the radio set up, you just punch your presets and listen to the radio.

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Product Description:
SoundBridge Radio is a complete Wi-Fi Music System that brings the world of Internet radio to every room of the house in rich, clear, stereo sound. Combining all of SoundBridge's advanced digital music streaming functionality with incredible-sounding stereo speakers, subwoofer, AM/FM radio and alarm clock, SoundBridge Radio takes today's tabletop radio to the next level in audio power and ease of use. Access all your music using simple and familiar radio controls. A few buttons for presets, scan, and source select make digital music easily accessible.

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Cta Digital Global Net Internet Radio Alarm Clock Review

This is my first Internet radio, and I seem to have made a good choice----very nice sound at a reasonable price, and a handsome little unit to boot. I have an iMac G5 and a Linksys WRT54G wifi router and the radio pulls in all the stations both upstairs in my study (where the router sits) and downstairs and around several corners in the master bedroom. This is a compact little unit with a single speaker, and the sound is, to me, impressive. Not base heavy at all, so voices come through cleanly, but music also has a rich, full sound to it. Most impressive for such a small speaker, and the sound through headphones is excellent.

This is a reciva-based unit, so you can save any station not already programmed into the radio (damn few, I'd say, since something like 10,000 are already on board when you do your initial turn-on) by using the My Stuff link on the reciva site. Just click "Save this Station" and in a few minutes it's right there on your radio and ready to use. Within 15 minutes after setting it up I was listening to live evening prayers from some huge mosque in Tehran via Radio Iran International, half a dozen stations in Ireland broadcasting Irish/Celtic music, about 95% of which I had never heard before, audiobooks (a reading of a Robert Frost poem), 3 SUPERB classical music stations (you have about 200 to choose from!), the oddball Whole Wheat Radio from somewhere in Alaska, Radio Netherlands, Radio Prague, Beach Radio (Spain), and on and on. The list is virtually endless (nearly 2,000 choices in the UK alone). Even Papua New Guinea and the Maldives are here. There are only 3 preset buttons on the face plate, but using the remote you can add 96 more (99 total), which should do the job.

The manual is NOT very clear about how to do the programming and later recalling of the stations that you program with the remote. Once you get into double digits, you need to hit the Store key, then hold down the "-/--" key for about 3 or 4 seconds until a horizontal line appears at which point you hold down (again for a good 3 or so seconds) the first number, then the second and the station is stored as 10, 11, 78, whatever. When you want to play these stations, same thing, only using the Recall button but still holding for 3 seconds. With single digits, you skip the "-/--" key and just hit Store or Recall and then 4, 6, etc. This took me about half a day to figure out, so you don't have to. This radio is just flat out amazing. 10,000 stations with ZERO static and good to excellent clarity/sound. You can also use a USB stick to listen to your own music, but I've not done this and don't intend to so you're on your own here.

BTW, this radio is EXACTLY the same as the Intempo GX-01 sold in the UK and Europe, so if you want more info (there is next to nothing on the CTA via Google), use GX-01 for your search; a ton of stuff on it, including a good 2 minute demo video (by Shiny Shiny) on YouTube. It does cut out from time to time and has to rebuffer, but I think this inevitable whe you are streaming audio. So what you get here is the cool retro look of a 1950s tabletop radio but with access to the entire planet. It's quite an adventure.

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Product Description:
DESKTOP STYLE INTERNET RADIO

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