Customer Reviews

Griffin Technology RadioShark AM / FM Desktop Radio with Time-Shift Recording

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(35)

 

 

I already have a couple software programs that will automatically record and save radio programming but when the Radio Shark was announced, I couldn't resist. Mac elegance, simplicity and functionality. Or so I thought. The product is solid, well made and the software is easy to use. Unfortunately, the reception is unacceptably poor in my suburban, residential area. Every radio I own from clock radios, a couple Tivoli Pal's, a built in-whole house system, mini-systems and so on receive programming easily. The Radio Shark's reception is inferior to even the lowliest of portables. I've tried everything I can think of. Coiling the USB cable, moving it to every place within reach, using a high dollar shielded usb extension cable which also allowed me to move the Shark further from the computer), using the Radio Shark's headphone input with a pair of ear buds and a minijack to rca cable (as Griffin's website suggests). Nothing seems to help. I have two other radios within 18 inches of computers and they were pretty easy to set up and receive clear, static free programming. The Radio Shark has been a huge disappointment. I should have learned my lesson after purchasing the Power Mate from this company. The Power mate (ditto for the Radio Shark) is very high quality piece of hardware from a fit and finish standpoint but the software was glitchy with a pc. Maybe it would have been better with a mac. But I digress. Perhaps if you live far from all urban and suburban interference or live on a hill with better line of site to the towers you want to receive from, the Radio Shark might be fine. For the rest of us, the Radio Shark is likely to disappoint. If you want to time shift radio programming, I can recommend two excellent pieces of software. High Criteria's Total Recorder Pro (for the pc) and Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack Pro for the Mac. I don't work for or profit from either comany. I use both on a daily basis. Both are rock solid. All you need to do is connect a radio to your pc or mac and you're set.

You have bought a Griffin Radio Shark, and you have hooked it to your Mac Computer (or your PC if you are somewhat more challenged). Now being an astute, card-carrying member of Gen X or Gen Y, you may have noticed that your Griffin Radio Shark is playing static noise, not tunes. This is bad. You are pi**** off. You are not alone. Read 90% of the customer reviews.

OK, punks, Turn off your iPods and remove the earbuds. Notice how the extreme silence causes thought, concentration, and the ability to interact with other humans to gradually intrude upon your being. Now gather around old Uncle Dave because he knows what is "wrong" with your Shark and he's got some tricks up his sleeve to get you connected. (Don't expect him to explain all your gothic ink and piercing, though).

First off, imagine an ancient, primitive time when there were no wireless connections, no hotspots, no Bluetooth, and no Real World. Life was ugly, brutish and short. People wore colors other than black and engaged in quaint interpersonal rituals (called **being polite and normal**). Attention-deficit-disorder had not been invented yet. The world was ruled by large, ugly, thundering beasts (called **radios**, now extinct). Hideous metal contraptions inhabited the rooftops of human dwellings. These Jurassic contraptions were called **antennas**. In the old days, people would buy a radio and hook a **wire** from the radio to the antenna. Humans instinctively knew that if you bought a radio, you also needed to buy and own an antenna. Separately. Sadly, this ancient wisdom has been lost. Modern day radios have cheap antennas, and few people seem to know about simple, time-honored solutions. For whatever reason, the good folks at Griffin did not inform you of this.

So.... To correct the bad reception, simply purchase a good antenna for your shark. Don't skimp here-it makes all the difference for ANY radio. For decent reception, including decent AM reception, get a portable loop antenna such as the Kiwa Pocket Loop, or pull off the loop antenna from your parents' `80s-`90s era tuner. Or go for the gold standard in cheap AM antennas-the Select-a-tenna and/or the Twin Coil Ferrite AM antenna. I use the Twin Coil Ferrite antenna, and I can make distant, weak signals sound crystal clear. The TCF requires a transistor radio battery ...errrr... I mean 9-volt battery.

You'll find that the Shark, with a proper antenna, sounds great.

There are other radios that seem to do the same things, i.e., the compact Radio Your Way LX AM/FM Radio Recorder. I don't know how the RYW LX compares to the Radio Shark, but definitely give it a look before buying Griffin's product. It is compatible with PC and Mac.

Make sure to install the most recent upgrade (currently 1.0.5)-it improves the tuning increments, among other things. Also make sure to set the EQ window (equalizer), as proper EQ settings make a huge difference. If you are listening to daytime talk radio or other drivel, set the EQ to "Voice." It will improve the sound considerably, but the fanatical talk-show host will remain incomprehensible. To further improve the sound (if you are over 30 years old), you may want to crank up your hearing aids.

The software is OK, but I imagine that there is room for improvement, as others have mentioned. The best feature of the Shark, compared to basic radios, is the time-shift feature. Sure, you can use it to use it to listen to and record broadcasts. I personally use time-shift to listen to sports broadcasts that are on TV and radio simultaneously. I'd rather listen to my local radio announcers than the national ones. But the radio broadcast is usually about 10 sec ahead of the TV, so the time shift feature allows me to synch the two broadcasts by adding a 10 sec delay to the radio broadcasts. To do this, make sure to set the preferences for time shift to allow for small rewind/forward skip increments. (I set the rewind/skip increment to 2 seconds for this purpose).

There doesn't seem to be a way to play online broadcasts through Radio Shark, and it isn't quite Tivo for radio.... That's too bad, because I'd love to use the time-shift feature with online broadcasts. There are other products that do this (Applian Technologies Replay Radio), but I'm wondering if RadioShark could be modified to do this.

Griffin Technology should have called this unit the RadioGuppy, not radioShark. There are quite a few flaws that prevent this product from being truly great. Yes, the software is easy to use, and yes it has lights that are either blue or red in the fin. I noticed a few things wrong, though.

I installed the Mac version of the software and was listening to a strong, very clear station. I noticed the "Check for Update" menu item, and found a newer version of the RadioShark software was available. I applied the update, and suddenly that booming station was not nearly as strong and loud. In fact, I had to turn the volume up to achieve the same effect.

Next, when I tried via software to shut the LED off, a very weird, very annoying screech started coming out of my external speakers. I turned the light on, the sound went away. Light off, screech. Light on, no screech.

On the whole, I would stick with the software right out of the box. My perception is it was better than what the update will deliver. There may be features missing if you don't apply the update, however. I didn't mess around with the original software for very long to notice, so you may just want to skip right to the update. It's your call. I am just far too lazy at this point to clean out the upgrade and revert back to the original software.

The documentation is not complete, as well. For instance, there is a black port on the back of the "fin"... What it is used for? The manual is silent. Spartan may be a better word, as it is light on the actual mechanics and heavy on the usage of the time-shifting software. This is good news for the less-than-geeky, but rather lacking for the more sophisticated technology user.

But there is a plus side - they do include a USB extension cable right in the box in case you need to orient the "fin" away from your computer. That is a nice touch that is frequently overlooked in other products. Plus, you can send the sound file the RadioShark generates directly to iTunes to be sent to your iPod. Very, very cool and very slick. The iPod connectivity is a great touch.

BOTTOM LINE TIME : There are just a few minor flaws - like incomplete documentation - that prevent this product from being five stars. The RadioShark itself is worthy of five stars. The software is easy to use, easy to install, and overall the product works as advertised. It is up to you to judge if the original or upgraded software is the one to run with - as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. It excels at time-shifting recording, and integrates with the iPod for listening whenever and whereever you want. It might not be money well spent - the jury is still out on that - but I don't think you'll be disappointed either.

I've had and used the RadioShark for about a month now (I make daily recordings).

Like many other users here, my RadioShark appears to suffer bad reception. I record mainly AM stations, and I'm recording a very powerful AM station in San Francisco -- and I live in Oakland (10 miles away). Reception SHOULD be flawless (as it is on every other AM radio I own).

The problem I experience, however MAY not be a reception problem. To me, it sounds more like a recording level problem. It's as though the signal is overdriven, and distorts. I say this, because any "quiet" sections record relatively well. It's when loud commercials with lots of background music come on that the recording gets badly distorted.

I have not yet tried to discuss this issue with Griffin tech support -- but intend to -- to see what they say. (4/4/05 Update: I've explained my problems to tech support, and they're mailing me out a replacement unit -- we'll see if this correects the problem...)

Otherwise it has all worked well. I did have a couple of schedule recording failures, but discovered that when I didn't plug the USB connection into a USB hub, but plugged it directly into a USB connection on the computer (this is a Win XP box), my failed recording problem went away.

I have no problem with my monitor sleeping -- doesn't adversely affect anything.

The AM / FM reception of this device is HORRID. PERIOD.
I am a radio amateur for 30 years, intimately ramiliar with the workings of all types of radios, and this one is a horror.
Even after connecting 25 feet of line into the 3.5 jack provided on this "Shark" tail, the reception was marginal at best, and still noisy.

For the money, all it provides is an option to input AM FM broadcasts and record, time shift, or schedule record shows onto your computer.

However, the only way I am able to do it is to use an FM transmitter RIGHT NEXT TO THE SHARK, and then broadcast the AM FM shows from ANOTHER radio, through the shark and into my computer. BTW, this is a good way to record streaming audio, however you will need two computers to do it, or you will get a severe echo.

Lotsa work to get the desired result, IMHO.

Griffin should worry less about the catchy "Shark" and "Rocket" hip hop Mac designs, and get down to engineering a receiver that works.

I have to agree wiht the previous poster who said of the radioSHARK, "if you're using a G5, you might want to wait a little bit." I love the concept of the radioSHARK, but the implementation for me, as an owner of a G5 seems to be sub-par. I can understand having problems wiht new equipment, but didn't they test this thing with a G5? I would have appreciated being told that I would encounter the "skipping" problem before I bought it.

I didn't have any problems with the sound or reception, and I would have given this beast 2 stars were it not for the poor service I got from Griffin.

After encountering the problem, I called their support line. No one was there so I left a message. I didn't hear back from them for a week, so I called again. No one home, leave a message. So I sent an email. I waited for about three days and no response. I eventually got an email message back from a human being who told me, "oh yeah, they're not responding to support requests because they're so busy."

Come on guys! How hard is it to have an auto-reply feature that says, "okay... we got your email, we're frightfully busy right now, but we'll get back to you when we can."

I eventually got a response about two weeks after buying the thing and noticing it was virtually useless for me. It took about two or three emails back and forth before their support staff would believe that I actually had told my G5 not to sleep. They kept insisting that the Mac was going to sleep and causing this problem. Eventually I was able to communicate to them that the problem is not that the skipping occurs after the Mac goes to sleep, but after the DISPLAY goes to sleep.

Their solution? keep the display on all the time. Yeah. Right. Just what I want. A 22" LCD screen that's kept on all night while my wife and I try to sleep.

So... 1 star for "support" (note that I put the word "support" in quotes.)

P.S. - If you do buy this thing, be sure you buy this thing with a credit card so you can get your money back easier.

Got this thing for my mobile clinic and it cannot even get the local 50,000 watt AM station (static). It cannot receive FM transmitter from XM radio 7 feet away without major static.
Okay- so I brought it in the house- two different rooms where I have radios and OS X macs- the 50000 watt station was barely audible. Who would want to record?

I too would like to know what the jack in back is for because it needs an antenna. Another waste of money.

Oh- the software seems okay but it is moot when you can't get a decent signal.

What a great concept! I was really excited about getting a RadioShark. I wasn't that worried about reception where I live and given that reception was the major complaint for most people, I figured that I would have no problems.

Well, it turns out I made a mistake. RadioShark obviously designed the software for the Mac user and not the Windows user. Now, I don't have a problem with Mac software per se except that what works with Macintosh hardware doesn't always work with Windows hardware.

Here's the overview of my experience. I open it up and install the software on windows. It asks me if I want to check the website for the most recent version of the software before installation. I say "yes" hoping that this would eliminate problems with bugs that have already been fixed. The software then installs. However, when I plug the RadioShark into my USB port, windows begins its hardware installation. Contrary to what the manual states, I have to restart windows to get it to recognize the device. Minor frustration, but I'll live.

Next, I open up the software and start fiddling with it. I can't hear any radio. I check the manual which directs me to the troubleshooting area of the manual. Fine. It only has one tip that applies to me; check the "Sound and Audio Devices Properties" in the control panel. Everything looks as the manual says it should. I still here no sound. I click on the "test hardware" link that Windows has provided and it runs through several tests. Finally, during the recording test, I can hear the radio! While the test is running, I can change frequencies and I discover that I get pretty decent reception. However, the problem is that I can only get it while I'm testing the hardware.

When I stop the test, I figure that there are problems with my audio controls that prevent me from hearing the radio. I fiddle and fiddle with the controls but can't find any that work. For some reason, the only way that I was able to listen to live radio is to run the "test hardware" option in the "Sound and Audio Devices Properties" in Windows. Not a good sign.

Well, I'll see what the rest of the program can do. Whoops! Hitting the equalizer button causes the program to crash. I start it back up and try again. Another crash. Oh well. I guess I can't use the equalizer.

However, I know that the receiver is actually receiving radio so I try to record it. It wants to record to c:/mymusic. I would rather it record to a folder on my desktop so I change the settings to have it save there. Except that it never does. It would record away, but when I tried to find the recording to listen to it later it would give me a "file not found" error. No recording file ever ended up in my desktop folder. It didn't matter whether I tried to record live radio or record with a schedule, if you can't get recover the file, then that functionality is useless.

Ok. Maybe I'll start over. I uninstall then reinstall the software. I go through the same steps. The equalizer works once or twice, but crashes the program the third time around. I still can't hear live radio without running the test program. It says its recording, but I have no idea where it's putting the files (even after I leave it on its default setting, it doesn't know where it's putting the files either).

I call RadioShark for technical help, but there hours are 9:00AM - 6:00PM Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri and 9:00AM - 5:00PM Wed Central Standard Time. No weekend or evening hours. Thus, those of us who work kindof have a tough time getting tech support if you have to be sitting in front of the computer at the same time. Thus, they were absolutely no help.

I decided that the RadioShark was designed primarily for Mac users. The software looks very Mac in its design and the unit is elegant in appearance. All of the reviews from Mac users (those who get good reception) appear to be positive. However, Griffin obviously did not consider the needs of their windows audience and their effort (or lack thereof) shows badly. So, rather then waste my money on a useless, but pretty, antenna, I returned it to Amazon for a refund.

In conclusion, I would recommend against buying this product if you are a windows user.

I'm very pleased with the way RadioShark works - when it works. Sounds great and the software works fine.

But... There's a glitch with G5-based Mac computers which means that the software freaks out if the computer sleeps (even the monitor). After it sleeps, RadioShark only makes a chattering noise that sounds like a skipping CD. Restarting the app doesn't help, and unplugging RadioShark just crashes the computer. You have to restart your Mac to get RadioShark working again. Griffin says the workaround is not to let your Mac or its monitor sleep at all - not a valid fix in my opinion.

Apparently Griffin is working on a software fix. If you have any kind of G5 Mac, I'd wait until they get it figured out before you plunk down for this. Keep checking their website [...] to see when they post the G5 fix.

If you want to record AM stations, avoid this. I had unsatisfactory AM reception, even after attaching a simple AM loop antenna to the mini plug connector via a 300 ohm to miniplug adapter.