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 With some, you can play a CD, just as CDs are being superseded by other digital music.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. Aluratek AIRMM01 Internet Radio Alarm Clock with built-in WiFi (Black)
***EDIT*** Yes, the web site now lets you add your own URLs to this radio. I prefer the Logitech Squeezebox now, however.
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.
[EDIT: Yes, this problem has been mitigated, but I am leaving it in for posterity.] 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 their web site 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 Aluratek 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.
***EDIT*** I have replaced this with the similarly-sized Logitech Squeezebox which has built-in support for paid-subscription audio sites like Digitally Imported and Sirius Satellite Radio.
Well built, outstanding feature set, works well, extremely easy setup, easy to use, this baby is the "swiss army knife" of internet radios!
Yes the display is bright and not the best I've ever seen - but who cares? For the price paid it is more than sufficient. The alarm clock feature is nice but no one is buying this solely for that reason.
What other internet radio works this well, is this easy to setup, and has a comparable feature set? Let's see, it plays 13,000+ internet radio stations. Check. You can add new stations via (...) web site (and also easily browse and create your own named "favorites" categories that will then be added to your list on the radio), you can easily add or remove stations to/from your "Favorites" list on the radio itself, speaker is OK (like a radio) but you also have analog stereo outputs you can connect to powered speakers or stereo or whatever (and sound is good, no noise or hiss), it has an FM radio that will display HD info if stations transmit it, it will play your MP3's from your USB key or hard drive, it will play media for any PC or laptop on your network via WMP 11, MusicMatch Jukebox, or many other media servers (like twonky), comes with a decent remote, and it cost about as much as a good MP3 player?
I can't believe how tough some people here are with their ratings. I gave it 5 stars just to compensate for them. I would have given it 4 because there is room for improvement, but then, for this price, and with this feature set, 5 stars is warranted. Plus - and it's a big plus! Everything works as advertised without any frustrating setup gymnastics. I took this thing out of the box, set the manual aside (yes, it actually has a printed manual!), put the quick start guide aside, screwed on the Wifi antenna in the back, plugged in the FM antenna in the back, put batteries in the remote, plugged the power supply into the radio (always connect to the device first!), plugged the power supply into the wall and turned it on. Walked through the brief wifi setup accepting all the defaults and started listening to internet radio. Truly that easy.
Went into Windows Media Player 11 on my laptop and brought up the new device dialog and click to allow the aluratek to connect. Went back to the aluratek and selected the media player option on the remote, waited for it to connect and display a list, did search by artist and played some songs. (You do have to enable access via your firewall if you have one running on your laptop or PC.) Pretty easy.
Plugged in a USB key and played some MP3's - pretty easy.
So...out of the box and with little fuss, I can listen to internet radio, play mp3's off my home network PC's or laptops, play mp3's off my mp3 player or USB key (also USB hard drive but I have not tested that yet), local FM radio stations, oh, and yeah, it also has an alarm clock built in that can wake you to any of these as well. Like I will ever use that! ;) (Yes, I know some will, and I may one day, it's just that it is the least important feature, to my mind. Go price internet radios -- most have nowhere near the feature set of this unit. Oh, did I mention it can also serve as a wireless access point on your network?)
The remote it comes with is decent and works fairly well. It has buttons for all the functions and a nice layout. It has a pretty good written manual and a CD with more info that I have not even looked at yet. It is well built and well designed. The menus are easy enough to use. And the device works well. The display is legible. It could be better, but look at what you paid for the device and lighten up! ;)
I run the audio through various external speakers and devices and it all sounds good. It actually looks better than the picture, I think. It is a bit unique and may not thrill everyone, but I like it fine, and again, look at the price. It is decent quality and that's what counts. (Actually, it's kind of 40-50's retro if you're into that.)
This has to be the best value in internet radio devices to date. I have three Soundbridge units and I love them to death - they are superb, but they cost substantially more (they're really a different type of device, IMHO). Most other inet radios are more expensive and have fewer features.
I'm not even going to bother with nit picking. Others here have done that well. There are no significant cons, in my opinion, when you consider the price, performance, and features.
If you are looking for a relatively low cost, easy to setup and use internet radio and audio media player, you can't go wrong with this unit. It's an outstanding value and works well. Thumbs up!
2010-02-20 Update: If you have a problem with the FM Radio turning off intermittently on this unit, there is a fix. Go to the Aluratek web site and download the latest firmware, put it on a USB drive (in the root directory, drive must be FAT32 not NTFS), go to set-up, advanced, firmware update and it will load the new software. Voila, problem solved. This is the only serious issue I have had with this unit. Thanks to another reviewer here for posting this fix, it worked!
Also, if your WiFI occasionally says it failed when getting the IP address (when you turn power on), I've found that you can just go ahead and navigate to your internet radio station and it will usually connect fine. Weird, but once connected it never drops the signal (for me, anyway). Use this device a lot and it works well.
2010-11-30 Update: Still using mine and it works as well as ever. It started acting a big sluggish recently, but when I unplugged it and then plugged it back in, it came up and is back to its snappy self again. Prices have dropped a little bit making these an even better value. There's a lot more competition now, but this little device is a classic and still has one of the best feature sets around. - Wifi Radio - Alarm Clock - Aluratek - Clock Radio'
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