Customer Reviews

Aluratek AIREC01F WiFi Internet Radio - Home Theater Edition (Black)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have had much better luck than the previous reviewer. My unit worked out of the box and has continued to work for about four weeks, with no trouble whatsoever. (I have only used the WiFi internet radio feature so I cannot comment on the other things it can do.)

I would give the unit five stars but for one concern: The Aluratek business model. The tuner depends upon an Aluratek server to set up stations. The good news/bad news is that there is no annual subscription fee.

It appears that Aluratek pays for the server out of cash flow from sales. If sales ever fall off, there goes the server, and there goes the radio. Hopefully somebody will figure out how to hack it before the server goes away.

Internet radio is a great idea. I've listened to streaming radio for years on my computers. I even purchased a Sangean internet table radio from Amazon and enjoy this quality product. The Aluratek AIREC01F WiFi Internet Radio - Home Theater Edition seemed like a perfect addition to my music system. The unit is attractive, has an easy to read display, is easy to set up, and features the ability to add stations from a preloaded station list or stations and streams through v-Tuner internet portal The unit also serves as a media player when used in conjunction with a computer and a router. Connect the Aluratek tuner with an ethernet cable or wifi and you're in business. Or so I thought.
My Aluratek tuner worked for about an hour and then began to add lines of "gibberish" to the list of favorite stations stored in the memory. After two such lines appeared, I attempted to delete them from the station list. The tuner froze. It would no longer "boot" no matter what I tried. So I returned the defective unit to Amazon who quickly sent a replacement (return shipping and replacement are free). Unfortunately, the second Aluratek tuner developed the exact same problem. After two tries, I gave up on this internet radio tuner. This could be a great product once the manufacturer fixes the bugs. As it is, the Aluratek AIREC01F WiFi Internet Radio - Home Theater Edition makes a great paperweight. Try the Myine Internet Radio Adapter which has a few less features, but works flawlessly.

Got my ALURATEK AIREC01F Internet Radio yesterday.
It connects to you existing stereo or home theatre system through an audio input like a tuner. It can also be used with powered multimedia speakers because the output has a volume level control on the remote.

Setup to my secure wireless network was too easy. It only took 5 minutes and I was playing music off the WEB. I did cheat a bit and read the manual first.
It also has a wired LAN port if you don't have wireless.
No problems so far. Audio quality is great.
The user manual could use a little work. It seems to leave out a few basic things that so far I have been able to figure out.
A website is available for help and firmware updates.

You find internet streaming stations using their Internet Portal Server by continent/ country/state/genre or all. If you know the station ID they are listed in alphabetical order. You can then save as a "favorite" station and recall it later. The manual does not tell you how to delete a single favorite that you have saved, only all of them. WEB site Support did give me a clue that I have not tried yet.

Everything is done with the remote and the display is large and easy to read.
It even sets the time clock with a WEB time server.
It also plays music from a USB thumb drive, can act as an access point, and access music from a media server on your PC that is on the network.

It seems most radio stations have their programming on a WEB stream now days. I have been exploring station around the country, especially public and community radio. No PC required and the quality is better than FM radio in most cases.

I had 3 wifi radios: sangean, denon and aluratek.
Only de Aluratek don't interrupt the transmision on the 256 kbs, the two others has problems, and every minute made a interruptions. The 3 radios I play with the same wifi internet conection. So aluratek win.
This radio is only a reception device, so the quality of the sound will be as the quality of your speakers and main equipment.
Be advice, that the sangean and aluratek has problems with the remote control reception if you have flourecent lights nears to the equipments.

I live in a semi-rural area prone to complete AM noise at night and poor FM coverage in general. After a fair amount of research, I selected thsi product. No PC is required. Others in this category are grossly OVERPRICED, and offer less capability. Stereo sound, perfect to attach to a home theater AV amplifier or a whole house amplifier. The device setup is simple and straight-forward. The interface for selecting stations is a cell phone like scroll thru LCD screen. This could have been a five star rating if I could have programmed my favorites via a web browser once connected to my home network. The sound quality meets or exceeds over-the-air, however does have very infrequent pauses or pops as the device rebuffers. I'm was concerned I was buying poor quality, poorly documented stuff, and can report the exact opposite experience. The streaming capability from PCs a hidden plus, especially when compared to media adapters from Cisco/Linksys (and others) with less functionality. High value at $83, especially compared to competitive products, so much so that I may buy another unit for my home theater.

8/2010 Update. I'm still satisfied with my unit; however, it is not Windows7 compatible. I've done a firmware update and contacted tech support. No luck so far. If this got true uPNP including Win7 and WHS, I'd upgrade it to five stars. One final tip...put your router, modem and this unit on a UPS.

I thought it was just what i needed. Bought it, set it up......and it didn't work..
5 days later Tech said the product does not work with my wireless router (Linksys). Wish they had told me before i purchased it, paid shipping, got an RMA, and paid shipping back. Be Carefull of this product.

I got my unit in October, 2010, when there was, briefly, a rebate deal being offered. Total cost, well under a century note. But I would say that it is a good buy even at a somewhat higher price. Mine has been online for 3 days, so this is a first impression, and of course reliability over the long hall is a prime concern, and a question I cannot address in this initial report.

It worked right out of the box, and pulled it all kinds of stations from get-go, with virtually no problems except an occasional hiccup or two talking to the router. Let me say that, although you can program it with just the built-in LED plus the remote (which contains some surplus, non-operational buttons), it is much easier to build a database of desired stations from the company's website. Your choices will be relayed to the unit. But for this to work, you will have to download and upgrade the firmware using a USB key. The instructions for doing this, fairly clear, are included in the manual.

I use it to get my favorite stations in France, plus a personal repertoire of classical and jazz stations from around the planet. Sound quality from online stations can range from just awful to near-CD quality. At the high end, the music signal is better than what you can obtain from FM radio. Different stations seem to have different ideas of what constitutes good sound, and/or different technical capacities. A bad example is WGBH - Boston, whose music signal is stingy and compressed. For a much nicer result, try RETE, a classical music station from Tuscany. Go for the stations with higher bandwidth rates (128K and up), and use a decent amplifier and speakers. I am using an entry-level Sherwood ampli-tuner from the Radio Shack, attached to a pair of Bose bookshelf speakers, and at best the sound is terrific.

I consider this to be one of the better internet tools on the market!

I had a brand new LinkSys wireless router, so I figured this unit would be a snap to use. After hours of trying to figure out what to do to set it up, I got it going and thought I would be pleased. The first clue there would be a problem was the fact that every station I tried would drop out, rebuffer, and come on again - on a very regular basis. The second, and far more serious problem was that almost every time I turned it off, I would have to go through the entire setup procedure all over again when I turned it back on. Imagine having to enter WEP codes and IP addresses every time you want to listen to the radio!
Amazon was nice enough to take it back and send me another one, but that one had exactly the same problem. I finally returned it for a Grace tabletop model, and it works like a charm with my router. I don't know how anyone can live with the Aluratek.

I've had the Aluratek AIREC01F WiFi internet tuner for all of two days now - and am really enjoying it! I originally purchased it to pull in just one station clearly (WIXV I-95 Rock out of Savannah, GA. 75 air miles away) without having to buy and install a large exterior antenna.

What a super solution! This tuner works great and now not only does it offer me WIXV crystal clear - I can listen to dozens of Rock, Classic Rock, PBS, and Jazz stations from all across America (and the rest of the world).

I have it plugged into a Harman-Kardon 120w receiver that is connected to two medium grade JBL speakers - again - WOW!

It took me about 10 minutes to get it up and running wirelessly (with the "quick start" instructions provided).

Three things you must have before ordering - a good/fast/dependable internet connection, a good wireless router and (important) the Password to your wireless router. Do you have these three things? Buy this Aluratek AIREC01F WiFi tuner and you'll rock like never before!

I wanted something else to listen to internet radio aside from using a computer, and the Aluratek AIREC01F internet radio tuner is just what I needed. Pros: great sound from stations that stream 64K or higher, the ability to either turn on or off the display by way of a time delay (this can be done), the ability to turn off the time display, the ability to set up favorites under - Internet Radio > Station List > My Favorites ... and then setting up different genres via vtuner.com, and overall flexibility.

Cons: everything is controlled by the remote, the firmware hasn't corrected a glitch that if one clicks on a title that's either non existent or a bunch of jumbled letters and characters - then the tuner may seize up on you by way of not being able to see what's being played (at least, this is what happened to my tuner, and was corrected by reinstalling the firmware despite it being a beta version), and not being able to make every station / channel work. I have yet to use it as a media server, but found the mp3 connection exceptional (flash drives with music on them). So, I take extra care not to click on those particular titles, and overall have the perfect internet radio tuner, in my opinion.