Any recommendations?
I’ve checked the web, and those that aren’t just outright over-priced, don’t get really great reviews.
Also some of the pictures I’ve seen show them with a boxy look and a speaker that looks like it might be monaural instead of stereo?
Any opinions?
Thanks
Q
I’m also curious about this, as Pandora has become my music of choice.
Currently we’re sticking the iPhone into the iPod speaker system. Works great, except for the 3-6 seconds of feedback every 15 or 20 minutes.
I listen to Pandora all the time, and I just have the “aux in” on my stereo connected to the headphone jack of my laptop. The wire is plugged into the stereo all the time, and I just connect up my laptop as needed.
I just got the Linksys one used off Amazon for $25. I bought it strictly because of the cheap deal and because I plan to keep it outside (no big loss if it dies on me). But as you pointed out the reviews weren’t too good on it and I now see why.
For starters, you need to buy a ground loop isolator if you plan to use its speakers. Otherwise you’ll get an annoying hiss and pop even when the unit is off (chalk up an extra $18 there). Once you have that, the speakers sound decent at best. You’re already dealing with low quality radio stations so it’s never going to sound like a true stereo system.
Also, because it is an old model you have to download and install a firmware upgrade (no cost, but an annoyance). Once you do that, you get access to the internet radio stations. From what I’ve read, you get an automatic 90 days of full access but after that you have to pay a one time $30 fee to keep them all. Otherwise you get stuck with just 50 or so basic intenet radio stations. I can’t remember the name of the site that the stations come from but it’s not Pandora. Supposedly you can get Rhapsody stations thru it, but I haven’t figured that out yet.
While there are a good number of stations, my biggest issue is figuring out which ones I want to make favorites. The user interface is terrible to the point that just switching to the next station is 5 remote clicks and at least 10 seconds. Most of the stations are not in english and even more of them were playing garbage I’d never listen to. I spent an afternoon going through various stations and came up with no more than 8 stations I’d consider candidates for regular listening.
The one thing I do like is that I can play my MP3’s from my WMP11 library on the unit. I can choose an artist, genre, playlist, whatever and it sounds much better than the radio stations. I’ll probably use it for this purpose since I have so many songs in my library. The downside here is that your pc must be on to use it in this way. You can have your pc off for Internet radio once you have everything set up.
To sum up, I got what I paid for. I’d recommend trying one out in the store before paying for one of the $200 models. I saw the squeezbox on display at best buy and while it let you play a sample on the speakers they didn’t allow you to try out the user interface. Probably for a reason. Hope this helps…
My radio is the Sagem My Dual Radio 700 The sound isn’t great, but that’s a limitation of the medium. Many internet radio stations stream at 16kbps. Anyone who expects 44Mhz, 100db stereo separation are going to be sorely disappointed. Maybe some of the reviewers you’re reading have that expectation?
Unlike Joey, I can set bookmarks 2 ways: internal and through a website. Finding and setting them internally is lengthy because you have go maneuver through categories, countries, then the actual station names in 10-name pages. Thankfully I can also set bookmarks through a website that the radio syncs to. Most of the radios I’ve seen in the over $130 range seem to do this.
Mine has one small speaker. It’s suitable if you were using it as a clock-radio. I plugged the radio into my existing computer speakers to get better sound. I don’t use a ground-loop isolator with mine and haven’t noticed any errant sounds when the unit is off.
In the US, it’s sold under the Aluratek name. If you want all-black, Medion has it.