I just bought this radio several days ago and absolutely love it! Very, very simple to operate, and took literally 15 minutes to set up (and I employ both 128 bit WEP and MAC filtering). In addition to the myriad stations available, I've linked my Internet Radio to my Pandora account; this allows the unit to play music directly from my Pandora radio stations. I can even create new Pandora radio stations directly from the Grace IR (although it is quicker and easier to do this from a computer). The sound quality from the onboard speakers is excellent. I have my unit connected to my home stereo system via the Grace IR's Headphone output into L-R inputs on my receiver. This is an excellent, excellent buy! I am considering purchasing a second unit for my bedroom. I highly recommend this unit. Grace Digital GDI-IR1000 Wi-Fi Internet Radio Featuring Pandora and NPR On-Demand
I have owned this GRACE GDI-IR1000 radio for a little over a week. When it works, it works well. It appears that almost ALL music, regardless of its source on the Internet, is funneled through the Reciva servers The problem that I have found is that the Reciva servers intermittently have bandwidth problems. I have not experienced any bandwidth problems sourcing music from Pandora. The issue manifests itself with the music stopping while the queue buffers in more of the song. While this is occurring I can switch to Pandora and there is no problem - switch back to Reciva and the problem is back. At times Reciva works without problem so, as I said, the problem is intermittent but present more than absent.
When it works (which is 100% of the time with Pandora) I LIKE it!
I just got it to work serving music from my desktop computer. I shared my music folder but the Grace radio would abort while scanning the files. I figured out that the problem was the length of the filename. Reciva expects the short filenames of Windows (real not pseudo) and my desktop is Linux, which supports long (real) filenames. I truncated the filenames to eight characters and the Grace radio accepted and played my MP3 songs without problem.
Having lived in large cities much of my life, I missed the variety of music programing in the mid-sized city we chose for retirement. This was a compromise we willingly accepted because the overall quality of life was much improved. Time-Warner broadband and the Grace GDI IR1000 has now given me the equivalent of a larger media market plus the rest of the world: symphonic music direct from London, Vienna, Moscow, etc. Gaelic And other Celtic music from the British Isles, authentic Chinese works from Beijing. It is all free and available 24/7. This little radio produces strong and steady sound even without a stereo hook-up which is available with RCA adapter included. The radio is a compact and attractive table model which is very easy to set up with your existing wireless router. Overall you can expect to spend 2+ hours exploring the choice of stations using the accompanying software to seek the music genres you prefer. Once setup with your selections, you have a lifetime to simply enjoy the music. I love to read another Hamish McBeth mystery book while listening to Celtic music from Radio Scotland. This one of the best purchases I have ever made from Amazon. While this is not a high end 7.1 sound system, it does produce excellent enjoyable sound. With new stations coming on line weekly, you can always add new music sources.
Just got this today and couldn't be happier!!!
I am a radio ADDICT, listening to both over the air and internet radio all day long. We just moved to a fairly rural area and I couldn't get any of my favorite over the air radio. I was miserable. I decided to try one of these WiFi radios and am so glad I chose this Grace model. I set it up, connected to my WiFi, and easily found some of my radio stations in under 10 minutes. I was so happy to find some of the small obscure internet stations, too. No problem. Doesn't sound like a Bose, but hey it was just over a 100 bucks and it does sound very good nonetheless.
I will not be using this with Sirius, so I can't comment on that feature.
I bought this radio after having a Logitech was not able to get it installed. The Grace radio came right out of the box, I entered my security code, and it connected right up. So easy. So many stations to enjoy. I am a Pandora fan. The ability to thumbs up and down directly off the radio is sick! These guys have a great radio.
The speaker out of the front has wonderful fidelity. I have it hooked up to my stereo to push the music throught the house.
Overall, I think that this radio is a good investment if you listen to internet radio, used to subscribe to satellite radio and want an endless supply of radio stations that circle the world for no subscription fee. For years now I have listened to radio over the internet bookmarking an endless list of URLs to the stations that I listened too. But to listen them I had to have access to my computer which wasn't always convenient. And before XM and Sirius merged I was an XM sub for four years. I loved the service because of all of the variety of music that it supplied.
The Grace Internet Radio is a great alternative to having to sit in front of your computer to get access to internet radio. And the endless supply of news, sports, music and what ever else you want to listen to on radio. Listen to radio all over the world, for free with the Grace Wireless Internet Radio. Its great not having to deal with my computer and listening to radio at the same time.
Positives -
Great sound quality from such a little device
Very easy to understand and connect to your network out of the box
Has an alarm clock and sleep timer
Can connect to Pandora, talk about endless music and you will actually want to hear
A ton of radio stations from all over the world, it is really amazing
Light, easy to move around
Best of all, no subscription fees
Negatives -
The menu on the radio is hard to figure out
The directions need to be more clearly written, they are difficult to understand
Cannot operate on batteries
The intergradation of Sirius needs to be more clearly written both by Grace and Sirius. Trying to be figure out how it works is painful
I wish there was a display button that could scroll through the stations by city, state, genre, station number and letters, and even show that is currently on. Instead you have to wait for the screen to scroll to the call letters and city.
This radio is a good investment because after the up-front cost of buying the radio you get and endless assortment of radio variety. And if you want a louder sound this model has the audio output in the back so that you can hook it up to your larger stereo. The sound is crystal clear and you and even play your MP3 selections from your computer to the Grace Internet Radio if you would like. I just wish the interface was better and more people would be tuned into buying this radio. - Wireless Music - Radios - Network Audio - Wifi Radio'
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