Customer Reviews

Emerson iTone Clock Radio for iPod (Black)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

The earlier reviewer is dead-on in his description. This clock radio has amazing features when comparing it to the other contenders on the market. I was impressed by the dual alarms which can be set for weekends, weekdays, or both. The analog in is also a nice feature, as is the overall design and remote control.

Of course none of this matters in the least, since anything you listen to while the unit is on has an extremely audible hum to it. Whether it's the radio or the ipod setting, the minute the unit is turned on the very annoying humming starts.

Given that most people will be using this to wake up to in the morning, I would caution against purchasing it unless you enjoy feeling like there's a small ufo hovering next to your ear while listening to whatever's playing on your ipod. This product only has 2 online "real" reviews thus far from iprong and elsewhere, but unless emerson fixes the buzzing I'd recommend saving your money for the next best thing that comes along.

I receive this clock radio as a birthday gift from my parents. So far I have not had any problems with it. The radio and ipod functions sound great (just make sure to turn off the equalizer on the ipod first) and I had no humming sounds from the speakers. I think they sound great for how much this radio costs.

The buttons on top are a little small and the controls for actually turning off the alarm, not just silencing it, are on the left side... but I am bad about changing the alarm time or just completely turning it off instead of hitting snooze so these are nice because I pretty much only have the choice of silencing the alarm or hitting the snooze when I am half asleep.

The remote is nice if you don't want to have to reach over to change the song on your ipod, change the radio station, mess with volume or switch between functions. It doesn't let you go through the menus on your ipod and I am not sure if I like the snooze button on it, because knowing me I would probably end up just hitting the snooze without even looking what time it was. I just keep the remote where I can't reach it while I am sleeping.

I haven't had any problems with the touchless snooze. I was worried it would pick up movement to easily and it would pick up motion if i moved wrong when the alarm went off but I have yet to have any problems. I still just keep using hte snooze button on the top of the clock.

I had another clock by this same brand that also set the time itself and so far I have no problems. I think that it is a great product for the price and I would recommend getting it.

This is a very good looking system. It is painted in piano black, very shiny, very classy. I'm very impressed with the many functions of this alarm clock like 20 station presets, touchless snooze, remote control, covered Ipod connector... Most of those functions, iTone's competitors like iHome, iWake, iLuv, JBL Ontime don't have.

However, all those functions count for nothing as the iTone has the most horrible speakers I had ever heard from. There is a constant buzz/hum/static noise that accompanies the music every time you play. Radio, Ipod, Aux, headphone... they all have noise.

Without the noise, this would easily be the best Ipod dockable alarm radio currently.

Update: 7/14/06

After returning the iTone, I had been looking wide and far for a substitute. A few days ago, just by chance, since I was bored, I looked at the Bed Bath & Beyond catalog (which, being a typical male geek, I didn't care much for), and found my dream alarm clock.

It is called the iBlaster Clock Radio made by Excalibur Electronics. It costs the same as the iTone. Unlike the iTone however, it doesn't have touchless snooze, station presets, and only one alarm. Instead, the iBlaster has video out (yes, video out folks), and awesome, crystal clear sound. The design is very nice, futuristic and smaller than the iTone, iHome, and iWake.

The only complain I have about the iBlaster Clock Radio is that the volume and tuning dials feel kind of cheap.

Overall, I highly recommend the iBlaster Clock Radio. Kind of sad that not a lot of people know about this great product, I hope Amazon will start selling it soon.

I read some of the earlier reviews about the humming and whatnot. The instructions explicitly say to turn off the equilizer on the iPod before trying to play it through the radio and to avoid the buzzing noise.

This is really the coolest iPod radio I've ever seen. I love the SmartSet and the two different alarms for weekdays and weekends. The touchless snooze sensor is a little lost on me though because I put it so far away from my bed, but that's the only way I get up. The remote is great though because it works from everywhere in my room (I have a small room though). I also have an iHome and I would highly recommend the iTone over the iHome.

It looks sharp and it works great. Just remember to change the settings on your iPod before trying to play it through the radio and use the little plastic adapter for your particular iPod.

The light is a little too bright, even in the "dim" mode and the alarm settings on the side are less easy to use than expected, especially with all the little buttons on the top it's hard to get it right in the dark. The lack of an "hour" and "minute" button makes the alarm setting more tedious than necessary. The music plays well, remote works well and the motion dectector for snooze is a nice feature. Overall it's a decent product.

I spent a lot of time researching all the different "MP3" player docking style radios, stereos, and clock radios. I ran across the Emerson iC200BK iTone Clock Radio in black and decided to give it a try.

Unit is very attractive and functions very well. Sound is good, however it is not very loud. Bass is limited, but still produces a great sound. If you are looking for something to give a whole room sound, I would suggest sticking with the Apple brand unit which is very expense.

I am pleased with the unit for the purpose I purchased it for. The price is definitely reasonable. Excellent match to the 30GB Black iPod Video I own. In fact, I have purchased a second Emerson unit for my desk at work.

Amazon is a great online seller and I would purchase from Amazon again.

This clock really has great features, but I wonder about Emerson's quality assurance. Even though various reviewers had problems, I still bought it. (The eternal optimist!)

When I first opened the box and plugged it in, I found that several segments of the display were out so you couldn't make out the numbers in the time. I sent it back and Amazon was wonderful about sending me a new one overnight.

As the other reviewers have commented, the time display is very bright! I thought, oh how bright could it be? Well, it's EXTREMELY bright, making it hard to sleep. Here was my solution: My husband is in the film industry, and had lots of samples of film camera filters. I taped a sample of a neutral gray lens filter over the time display. (In case anyone is interested, Roscolux #98 Medium Gray Transparency = 25% did the trick!) It mutes the light a little but the time is still readable. The sample swatch fits over the display perfectly.

I have had no humming problem, but I turned off the equalizer on my iPod. Being able to set one alarm for weekdays and another for weekends is great, and the fact that the clock sets its own time is wonderful too. No battery backup needed.

One reviewer found the clock hard to use because of all the buttons on the top. HELLO!?! There is a REMOTE included. You really only use the buttons on top when you first set up the clock. The remote control has just a few useful buttons (like "Alarm Off") that I use in the morning when the alarm goes off. I keep the remote right next to the bed, and the clock can therefore sit a little back on the end table.

I'm very pleased with the clock even though I had to modify the display so we could sleep at night.

OK simply stated, I love this thing so much I went and purchased another one for my home. I initially purchased my ITone for the express purpose of playing my ipod at work so the alarm, clock, etc. were irrelevant to me. After reading the reviews I was skeptical but reluctantly took the plunge anyway.

What else can I say except AWESOME! I have a small office at work and the sound quality is superb, as is the overall aesthetic appearance. It's a perfect backdrop in black and works well w/my Nano. I love the remote control too!

So with that I went out the next day to buy another one for my home. The clock features are fantastic; you can silence or snooze the alarm w/the remote - enough said!

Now for the humming - What humming? This was my largest concern and I can honestly say I have no idea what the reviews were referring to, I have yet to hear a hum of any kind unless it was the vocalist on one of the songs on my ipod.

In summary, a great value for the money. I looked at several including the IHome and I'm glaed I opted for this one, I'm very happy.

Everything started well. Good sound, lots of features. But it only plays one song from the playlist for the wakeup alarm. After only one month of owning it it started to fritz out. Playing one and a half songs, two and a half, one half, (random wakeup playbacks), finally it automatically set itself to nap mode and the alarm started going off every 60 seconds and nothing would stop it. Even tried unplugging it and pulling out the battery, then reassembling it. It never stopped resetting itself to nap mode! It has been an awful experience.

I had an Emerson dual-alarm clock radio and I was looking to replace it to accommodate my iPod. I was rather cautious after reading the mediocre reviews here, but I knew and trusted the brand and decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed. I have no problems with docking my iPod even with a EVO4 Duo for Ipod Classic 80GB Electra / Blue on. The dual alarms function exactly as I'd expected them to. The remote works fine and the touchless snooze is a cute but unnecessary feature.

My only nit-picks are cosmetic or outside of what I'd expect from a bedside clock-radio:

The readout does seem needlessly bright but I faced the clock directly & closed my eyes and could see no difference if I then covered my eyes with my hand.

The radio reception is not good at all, but I've never had a clock-radio with good reception and I now use the iPod anyways. It could come without a radio for all the interest I have in one.

Finally, the buttons on the top are small and spaced closely together. But after it is set the only thing they are necessary for is shutting the alarm off. Since either the alarm 1 or alarm 2 button works for this, I've had no problems with that either.

I have had NO buzzing problems from the speakers and the music from my iPod sounds just fine. It's not a high-end stereo and I don't expect it to be. It's a charging station with playback capability and dual alarms. The iTone does the job I wanted it to and does it very well.