NewsDude
07-11-2008, 04:10 PM
What are you going to listen to? Norway's 24-hour folk music channel Allttid Folkemusikk? The public hearings of the California Integrated Waste Management Board? Radio Banadir -- the Most Trusted News in Somalia?
It's a big world out there, and radios that grab their sound from the Internet rather than the airwaves can bring it home.
Wi-Fi Internet radio sets have been around for a while without getting much attention, but they're worth a look: Prices have come down, and features are up.
I tested four models, and found the best of them a great addition to the kitchen, the breakfast table, or maybe the patio.
The features vary quite a bit -- this isn't a category where any manufacturer has had a breakout and created a de facto standard for others to copy.
What unites the units I tested is that they all have Wi-Fi, so they can connect to the Internet via your home hot spot and broadband connection. They also have built-in speakers, unlike the devices known as "media bridges" and Apple Inc.'s Airport Express, which can play music through a stereo or a set of powered speakers.
With the exception of the Aluratek model, all the radios in the test can be programmed through a PC, though you don't have to keep the computer on for the radios to play music. Register your unit at a Web site, and you can find your favorite stations (and, in a few cases, podcasts) and add them to your "Favorite Stations" list or assign them to the preset buttons on the unit.
None of these radios are dead easy to use. People who don't program speed dials on their phones or set the VCR clock will be daunted by an Internet radio. It's probably inevitable that a device that vastly expands the usefulness of the radio...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60714)
It's a big world out there, and radios that grab their sound from the Internet rather than the airwaves can bring it home.
Wi-Fi Internet radio sets have been around for a while without getting much attention, but they're worth a look: Prices have come down, and features are up.
I tested four models, and found the best of them a great addition to the kitchen, the breakfast table, or maybe the patio.
The features vary quite a bit -- this isn't a category where any manufacturer has had a breakout and created a de facto standard for others to copy.
What unites the units I tested is that they all have Wi-Fi, so they can connect to the Internet via your home hot spot and broadband connection. They also have built-in speakers, unlike the devices known as "media bridges" and Apple Inc.'s Airport Express, which can play music through a stereo or a set of powered speakers.
With the exception of the Aluratek model, all the radios in the test can be programmed through a PC, though you don't have to keep the computer on for the radios to play music. Register your unit at a Web site, and you can find your favorite stations (and, in a few cases, podcasts) and add them to your "Favorite Stations" list or assign them to the preset buttons on the unit.
None of these radios are dead easy to use. People who don't program speed dials on their phones or set the VCR clock will be daunted by an Internet radio. It's probably inevitable that a device that vastly expands the usefulness of the radio...
More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60714)