Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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 )

My wife bought me this for my birthday. She probably wishes she didn't. I keep her up at night as I go through all the internet stations each evening. I guess you could say this is the "world's worst alarm clock". I lose at least an hour's sleep each night, playing with the RIR200. It may soon replace my XM radio as my favorite radio. Seriously, the RIR200 is just awesome. Setup is fairly simple. You setup an account online (free), which takes about 5 minutes. You can customize some favorite options if you like. You use your Slacker password if you have one, and the radio will automatically log into Slacker. A free 4 year subscription to WeatherBug is included for instant weather and alerts. After you setup online, you turn on the RIR200 and follow the quick setup guide. Connecting to my WEP wireless network was no problem, and I had the radio up and running in a few minutes. All in all, I just love the RIR200. It performs well. The sound is very good, but by no means Hi-fidelity. If I had to say a negative thing about it, the AM and FM performance is nothing special. No big deal because I'll probably never ever listen to them on this radio anyway. Also, I wish the lowest volume setting wasn't as loud as it is. It's a little loud when trying to fall asleep. The radio isn't perfect , and does have its bugs. None of which I consider major. I haven't had any major issues. The firmware is updated in occasion. The most recent update added access to MP3Tunes, and fixed many of the previous bugs. It also introduced a few more, but they're working on fixing them too. If they get all the bugs out, I'd easily give it 5 stars.

I bought this as a second internet radio, mostly because it is pretty inexpensive compared to other radios. (My other is a Squeezebox Boom, which cost ~ $250.) At $90-$100, the AR Infinite Radio is a steal. It's kind of small, and has smallish speakers. There's no remote, either. But, the device works as advertised, and it's hard to remember why other companies charge twice as much for an internet radio device. It was very easy to get it on my WPK2-protected wifi network, search for my favorite stations, and away we go. This radio is great for my office.

BUYER BEWARE: IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS BELOW!

Having owned both the AIR200 and AIR205 models for almost two years, I've had plenty of time to evaluate them. The AIR205 is the same as the AIR200, except the former includes a wireless router, which is useful for those who don't already have a wireless router or don't know how to connect to their existing router.

Firstly, these units are NOT made by Audiovox. This is a classic case of an American company going to a Chinese manufacturer and stamping their logo on an existing product. The EXACT same unit can be found under the RCA brand name. Hopefully RCA had higher quality standards than Audiovox!

I originally purchased the AIR200 as a gift for my non-technical mother. Big mistake! She was totally lost and gave up on it quickly. I have a computer degree, so I didn't mind fiddling around with the unit. At first, I overlooked the flaws because it was such a great thrill to dial into thousands of stations around the world. Classic rock, retro 80s, you name it. I even rushed out and bought an AR205 for myself. That's when I started paying attention to how badly designed these things really were.

The built-in software has the most bugs I've ever seen in any commercial product. It appears they released this with absolutely NO bug testing or usability testing WHATSOEVER! There are so many issues, I don't know where to begin.

It often takes two or more tries to connect to its own router. I have to unplug it and then plug it back in again to get it to connect. If I leave it plugged in, it often turns itself on randomly during the night, even if the alarm isn't set on the clock radio. Sometime it turns on to the previous radio station; other times it turns on to no station at all -- I just wake up to light static/buzzing from the speaker being powered on.

The menu was very poorly thought out. Let's say you want to listen to KROQ in Los Angeles. The way to get there via the menu is as follows: choose Internet->By Region->North America->By Country->United States->By State->California->By City->Los Angeles->KROQ

That means you might have to click on TEN menu items to get to the station you want!!! Plus, you have to click the "down" button through each item in each menu to get to the one you want. Some menus have up to 50 to 100 items, so you'll be click-click-clicking quite a bit. I'm not sure how long these buttons will last. They should have used the volume dial to scroll through the menu. That would be much faster. In fact, voice commands or a search mechanism would have made more sense.

OK, so let's say you're back listening to KROQ. If you want to go to another station in Los Angeles, you'll have to go through the menu all over again because the "back" button usually forgets where you were. The preset buttons and favorites are helpful ways to create shortcuts, but they sometimes get confused and fail to connect too.

It appears to be impossible to remove a dead station from your favorites list because the remove option is only available [after] the station connects successfully, which it won't if the station no longer exists. And here's the kicker:

IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE USA, MANY STATIONS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCESSIBLE DUE TO CBS'S NEW GEO-BLOCKING POLICY.

When I first bought this radio, I was able to access thousands of US stations, which made all the flaws worth overlooking. However, CBS (who handles the streaming for most US stations) has since blocked access to non-US IP addresses. While there are still thousands of world-wide stations available, over half the US stations are now off-limits to many customers. Unfortunately, this means most of the best stations, in my opinion. This isn't Audiovox's fault, but it is a shame.

I don't have a problem with the sound quality. It's fairly clear for a small clock radio. Even a low-quality 48kbps stream sounds pretty darn good. It's a shame they did such a poor job on the software because the radio feels solid and sturdy.

In closing, I couldn't possibly recommend this to a non-technical user. Despite several firmware upgrades, none of the aforementioned bugs have been fixed, and I doubt they ever will be. I also think this has lost a lot of value for non-US residents due to the blocked stations. I'd probably begrudgingly buy this radio again because it's still nice to listen to internet radio without having a laptop or desktop computer in the room, but there are probably better products out there.

I've had this radio for over a year. It was a great purchase. It entertains me every day and wakes me up every morning. Yes, it looks a little funky-but don't we all? You'll grow to like it's looks, I promise. Yes at times it can be a bit hard to program-and the buttons could be laid out a bit better. But again you get used to its quirks. Right now it's like an old friend, not perfect, but a good companion to have around. By the way-the radio's internal circuitry produces FAR better sound then the speakers can reproduce. There's a headphone/audio output jack on the back. Connect this to your stereo with a $5.00 patch cord from Radio Shack and you'll be amazed!

I had issues with the radio the second day. After sitting over night it would not connect. I unplugged the power cord and waited a minute and after plugging it back in it connected.
You set this up via the AR website and once registered, when the system is booted it connects to the AR server and retrieves your saved stations. I had issues with wireless (could have been my DSL connection) so I switched to using an Ethernet cable which limits mobility but worked better.
It needs to be more fool proof which is why I only give it two stars.
I could not find the PIN number to set it up so I called the 800 number from the user manual and had a live support person in minutes who answered my question so tech support gets good grades.

I purchasd the AR Internet Radio (Model ARIR200), arriving about a week ago. I now have it hooked up and operating, and I am well satisfied with the result.

However, it was not easy getting there.

The quick setup instructions tell me that I must first register the product. I go to the computer and log on to the address provided. I fill out a five page form, then try to submit. I must first enter the script shown below. There is nothing shown. I try to submit with a blank entry. The web site is not available.

My problems are just beginning. I call the service number provided in the instructions. I am connected to Audiovox, a service company. It is quickly apparent that they know little about the product. The first girl compensates for that lack with a sassy attitude. It is my firewall. Disable the firewall and all will be well. It isn't.

In fact it was the fourth call before someone answered who knew the source of the problem. The AR server was down, and had been for at least a week. I could of course return the radio.

I don't want to return the radio!

A separate sever was found, this one through RCA, and I only had to fib a little bit to get my radio registered.

I now found that there were several services provided in which I have no interest. One, that provides on-line storage for my own MP3's, hangs the radio up until either a) it is unplugged, or b) the MP3 site is separately registered. A ditty by Marlene Dietrich is now stored on-line, for all I know for eternity.

That accomplished, I now go to sleep to BBC World Service, or classical music, or jazz, without sharing my cot with my laptop. Hooray!

John

I bought this radio (ARIR200) online in Sept 09 because I live in a rural area, far from any quality radio stations. Pros: Sound quality is decent for a clock radio. You can listen to some internet radio stations across the country. The USB memory can be used to record MP3's on a computer and play from the radio only. The radio has an internal memory to record programs internally for playback later. Cons: If the radio is on, the clock does not display time. You have to turn off the radio to read the time. Most of the time, pushing the preset buttons do nothing. The display will change but nothing will play. It usually takes a minute or two of fiddling to get the station I want to play. The clock radio is prone to lockup with any glitch in the WIFI stream. Unforunately, this locks up the clock radio at whatever the time was. Not so funny thing is that it has 3 AAA batteries for backup but do not help at all. Most NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games are blocked from internet play. You cannot program to record at a specific time and channel. Dont buy this radio if you want to listen to games via internet. The last straw was I took this to work to listen to recorded MP3's. The radio has completely locked up and will not do anything, not even play normal over-the-air radio or show the time. Tried every re-boot procedure available. Service has been no help to date. Its a $100 paperweight.

This has the potential to be a good product. However it seems the the people at ACOUSTIC RESEARCH who built this thing never gave the time to test it! The people that answer the phones at their help desk are technological idiots. When I called to ask @ what revision the firmware should be at they insisted that there is no firmware in the product. If you stump them they will tell you to send it in for repair for $65. I barely paid more than that. The biggest fault is it cannot maintain a wireless connection. It can work for anywhere from 5minutes to 5 hours. It will drop the connection. Guaranteed. I have seen this complaint on the web by other dissatisfied users. It seems that ACOUSTIC RESEARCH just doesn't care about any kind of quality for their products or theirs staffs skill level.
When it works, it works as advertised, However I strongly suggest you go elsewhere for an Internet Radio.

The biggest problem is that the ARIR200 is, frustratingly, unable to play many streaming links that other Internet radios can play with ease. The second biggest problem is that, while other Internet radios can start to replay a link after pausing due to buffering or otherwise, the ARIR200 prefers to stop altogether after encountering any (internal or external) problem with the link being played. Thus it's annoying that you'll have to walk many times to the radio to press the play button in order to finish listening to a show. If it's a live broadcast, you miss some content, but if it's a podcast, every time you walk back to the radio to replay, it starts playing from the very beginning of the show even if you're already 20 minutes into it! The ARIR200's only saving grace for me is its Wi-Fi sensitivity since it can be placed farther away from my router than my other Internet radios. That's why I've given it three stars instead of two.