Cheap Wireless Internet Radio

[rhod]

Got one of these from Pc World recently for £50, and it's the mutt's nuts!

It's a Logik IR100 wireless internet radio - hooks up to your wireless network and lets you stream internet radio without a pc.

Has come in for a bit of stick due to a couple of design niggles - mainly a slight hum caused by the internal transformer being a bit close to the speaker, but it's not really a big deal and can be rectified if you don't mind a fiddle around. The overall sound quality is great for a device at this price.

The main thing is that it's so easy to tune into stations - it FEELS like a radio - unlike using your computer to stream radio which has always seemed artificial and something of a distraction. You just have to turn this thing on, turn the dial a bit or press a preset button & away you go. Hight bitrate stations sound crisp - low bitrate stations just sound like a nice old AM radio (I can hardly bear to listen to them on my computer, for some reason) It's even capable of playing the "listen again" stuff off the BBC radio sites, and you can also use it to play music files from a shared folder on your network.

Not perfect - but a fun gizmo & I think all radios will eventually have this sort of capability (making DAB somewhat redundant, maybe)

 

[WWWeed]

DABs been shit from day one and isn't a good replacement to FM let alone the internet.

I might be interested in one of those wifi radios if they have an output of some kind, so I can hook it up to a amp.....

 

[Xanadu]

DABs been shit from day one and isn't a good replacement to FM let alone the internet.

I might be interested in one of those wifi radios if they have an output of some kind, so I can hook it up to a amp.....

You should get a squeezebox then.

 

[rhod]

Yeah - it's got a standard headphone stereo mini-jack at the back

(and it's about a third of the price of a squeezebox)

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Never used a dab raido, why are they shit? It seemed like a good idea, just way to expensive. If they had been half the price, i think they would have sold a lot more.

 

[Xanadu]

Never used a dab raido, why are they shit? It seemed like a good idea, just way to expensive. If they had been half the price, i think they would have sold a lot more.

Poor audio quality on some stations.

 

[Sunray]

Poor audio quality on some stations.

Like BBC 7 going to mono at certain times due to limited bandwidth!

 

[rhod]

The beauty of this beastie is that you can access all the "listen again" stuff on Radio 7 and Radio 4 (and all the other BBC stations) with just a few twists of the dial. You can also fast forward, rewind and resume from the same place if you put the unit on standby. Whilst the unit has 5 preset buttons you can store more via the manufacturer's website when you register your box, and it downloads those to you automatically. There is also the facility to store podcast links so you can listen to those as well - although I haven't tested this feature yet.

I understand Currys are doing this for £40 - I think I might get one these for the kitchen, as well!

 

[Sunray]

Looks like a great little device, its actually quite tempting for the kitchen.

 

[salem]

How does it work then? On a regular FM radio you have a fairly limited range of stations between set frequencies. There a thousands if not millions of net radio station.

How does it categorise the stations, a limited range from a few websites?

 

[untethered]

Interesting.

Where does it get its list of stations from? Can you add your own ones if they're not pre-programmed or otherwise supported by the manufacturer?

 

[rhod]

There are 3 main categories you can search by:

1. Location > Continent > Country (a further subcategory of state/region would be nice, but not presently available)
2. Genre > 70s/Bluegrass/Hardcore/Talk etc etc
3. My Stuff > My Stations / My Streams / My Podcasts

The radio can be operated totally independently of a pc, but to add your own station presets above the 5 buttons on the box you can add them via the Manufacturer's website. The serial number of your box is paired with your user details so whatever you add on the website gets added to your box when you next reboot which refreshes the station list.

You can either add existing stations from their database, or copy & paste the url of the webstream into your "my streams" page & it downloads this when you next reboot. Recognises mp3, Real and WMA streaming formats. (Not all internet radios recognise all 3, apparently)

 

[hendo]

I bore everyone senseless by going on and on about this wifi radio which Miss T gave me for xmas last year. It's lovely. I can't sing its praises loudly enough.

 

[rhod]

Getting evil looks from my partner as I keep flicking the channel every couple of minutes (well, you have to when there's thousands there, don't you )?

 

[han]

I bore everyone senseless by going on and on about this wifi radio which Miss T gave me for xmas last year. It's lovely. I can't sing its praises loudly enough.

I want to get my mum one of those for Xmas. I like.

 

[YoursTruly]

I want to get my mum one of those for Xmas. I like.

I was just about to post the exact same thing. Obviously I would be getting one for my mum and not yours!

e2a - Gwan admit it. Your mum hates the internet and like me, you want to prove that the internet isn't all about computers!

 

[yardbird]

Thanks for this.
I've just returned home following a bit of retail therapy.

 

[skyscraper101]

Bump. Back at 50 quid. in Dixons, PC World, Currys in the sales

 

[kropotkin]

How good are they, really?

Should I get one? It is between this [cheap end] and the Revo Blic Radiostation and Roberts one [expensive end]

More than the internet radio (I only listen to Radio 4 anyway), it is the access to my music collection from anywhere in the flat that grabs me. What is the sound quality like?

 

[skyscraper101]

I haven't got one yet but by all accounts they're great. Just be aware that you should look out for the latest batch of radios as the earlier ones suffered from a bit of earth hum which annoyed many who were using it as a bedroom radio.

Check this page for the latest info on which serial numbers to avoid.

http://logikir100.tripod.com/Logik.htm

Generaly speaking though. They sound great if you're into geeky radio surfing all over the world online stations - I'm not sure how well they stream your own MP3 music all over the house though, it's not what I'm interested in really - bear in mine they are powered by mains only if you were thinking of carrying it in the bath/garden etc.

 

[hendo]

There are models of wifi radio that use batteries now.

I'm so addicted to mine it's untrue.

But if there were a few more presets I'd be a tad happier; there are fifty thousand radio stations out there so you really need more than 10 programmable stations.

There's a new Roberts one out. Anyone had a look? At £199 its a bit top edge though.

 

[cyberfairy]

Just to say a big thumbs up to people who made me aware of this-read thread and went and got one-best thing ever ever ever-listening to Armenian folk station right now
It was marked at over sixty quid in Currys sale but if you print out online price they have to honour it.

 

[cyberfairy]

Oh and feel free to post up your favourite stations-I was listening to Australian 3RRR a lot yesterday-random playlist-Stereolab, Tuung, Electrelane...

 

[skyscraper101]

I'm still waiting to get mine as all my local stores are out of stock!!

 

[cyberfairy]

I'm still waiting to get mine as all my local stores are out of stock!!

Where did you look? Dixons was out of stock where I am but can order online for a fiver more-but I guess you prob already know that. Good luck-some at Currys in Lancaster if you want to travel!

 

[rhod]

best thing ever ever ever-listening to Armenian folk station right now
It was marked at over sixty quid in Currys sale but if you print out online price they have to honour it.

Unlike so many hyped-up gadgets, this one does not disappoint, does it ?

If I had to make a wishlist for a MK2 version - hope they would include a remote control & beefed up alarm clock functionality. Maybe a USB socket for recording output as mp3 onto a flash or hard drive. FM reception would be nice. As would internal rechargeable battery.

Hehe - I know this would bump the price up, but I still think they'd be onto a winner as long as they came in under £100.

Thanks for the Currys online price tip - didn't know that.

 

[cyberfairy]

The one thing I could change would be more pre-set stations-am writing down good ones on scraps of paper to lose at mo.

 

[rhod]

Remember, if you register your set at Reciva you can add extra favourites when you log onto your account via the web. These will then show up as "my streams" in the channel menu after your set next does a station update.

 

[cyberfairy]

Remember, if you register your set at Reciva you can add extra favourites when you log onto your account via the web. These will then show up as "my streams" in the channel menu after your set next does a station update.

Cheers for that

 

[High Voltage]

Me and Mrs Voltage live in a radio AND TV shadow. When we had TV the signal even with a set top box was poor. We only get 2 radio stations AT ALL. I've tried a digital adaptor type thingy and that was worse than useless.

Then I got one of these WiFi Radio things (one that connects to Reciva) and it is truly amazing. The only limiting factor is my broad band connection, sometimes it runs painfully slowly and the radio has to buffer, this can become really annoying.

Worth it though, and the listen again feature is excellent.