Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clever, and useful, July 11, 2008
Think about the humble clock-radio. Everybody has one. They've scarcely changed in the last two decades. They have poor sound quality. Are usually in a bedroom where radio reception can be poor--and are usually given only a crummy wire antenna sticking out the back. With some, you can play a CD, just as CDs are being superseded by other digital music. Few can access the wealth of programming on satellite. Not a twenty-first century device.
This device brings the clock-radio into the 21st Century. It connects to your Wi-fi at home, and delivers almost any radio station you want from around the world.
NPR junkies can choose from a brace of stations, and the worldwide selection is superb--let me recommend Radio National and Directions in Groove from Australia, KQED and WNYC (the AM version; you'll get AM radio in hi-fi!), Deutsche Welle in English, Radio Netherlands, and of course, the BBC. Living in a non-English-speaking country, it's a real life-line for me.
It solves an issue that has vexed me with conventional clock radios I've owned. Reception problems. With an internet radio, the signal is as strong as your home wi-fi.
No need for an integrated CD. You can play music wirelessly from your computer or a USB stick.
And for a small speaker, the sound is remarkably good. You can plug it into your hi-fi if you wish, for even better sound.
It gets five stars, but not without a couple of glitches. The radio updates the station list automatically, but if a station changes its website in between software updates, you might miss out for a while. The menus are elaborate and can be a bit complex until you get used to them--and that includes the one you use simply to turn the alarm on. And the backlighted time displays ONLY when the radio is actually on; though I expect that glitch to be fixed in a software update.
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51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good sound, lousy interface, impossible to add stations yourself, October 23, 2008
It has good sound that is punchy and decent. It's better than my clock radio. The hardware is superb and very functional for a bedside nighttable. The problem is the software. This excellent radio could be so much better if it weren't for the odd user interface mistakes and amazingly bad Vtuner software.
First for the interface. The backlight is extremely bright--a firmware update allows it to automatically turn off in 1, 3, or 5 minutes--each of which is too long. The remote control often stops working when you're punching buttons quickly, like the older TiVos. The interface doesn't make it clear that the system is busy downloading something and does not respond for a time (sometimes the hourglass appears, sometimes it doesn't). Takes a few too many 'clicks' to get to what you want. When you hit the 'power' button it doesn't start playing music automatically--you have to drill down through the menus again.
It is impossible to add stations yourself!! I am not kidding. You really can't. This is a major, horrible flaw that I didn't appreciate. There is no user customizable feature on [...] or at [...] to add a station, just a "suggestion" that it be added to the public Vtuner list. If you subscribe to premium audio services like DI.FM and SKY.FM, it is utterly impossible to sign in to those services, even though the service is completely standards-based and works on just about every player imaginable. It is not possible to input a URL into this unit. I am flabbergasted at this glaring mistake.
Oddly enough, I had to download the updated firmware from [...] to get the radio to work at all on a completely standard 802.11g secured network.
The sound is very good and I really like it. The software needs to be replaced with something better. It seems the software was designed to play your local media on your local network through the uPnP media center arrangement and the radio feature was grafted on later.
I tolerate the commercials on DI.FM and SKY.FM but wish I could log into my premium account. I'm getting a Reciva-based receiver to replace this one. This Vtuner-based receiver is just bad news for premium radio subscribers.
***EDIT*** There is a feature added recently since I wrote the review that allows you to add your own URLs on the Aluratek web site. It requires firmware updates (which requires a USB jump drive) to expose your VTuner ID number. This is a great feature addition and I am glad it was finally implemented. I still think it should have been added originally, because I like my Digitally Imported Premium subscription channels much better than the free versions of those channels.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Nice Radio, Plus, July 28, 2008
This new gadget arrived today. For a long-time short wave listener, this is the perfect device. Gives access to all the usual stations, and easy exploration of new stations. How nice to know immediately, from the display, what you have tuned in.
Less than a minute after plugging it in I was listening to BBC World Service. Three hours later I've just scratched the surface of its capabilities.
Great construction quality, audio is fine, controls are intuitive, has sleep timer (I plan to have it on a bed stand) and the light is easy to turn on or off.
Some of the better entertainment dollars I've spent. Now to find a portable, go anywhere version for travel!
Later today I plugged my small 250GB hard drive with MP3s stored in it to the jack in the front of the radio. I can play any album or any track of an album. Pretty amazing!
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