| Electronics - Home Audio & Theater - Multiroom Digital Music Systems |
| 1-20 of 40 1 2 Next 20 |
|
|
click price to see details click image to enlarge click link to go to the store
| 1. Logitech Squeezebox Radio Music Player with Color Screen (Black) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $179.99 -- our price: $164.65 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B002LARRDK Manufacturer: Logitech, Inc Sales Rank: 313 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) The Squeezebox Radio is a first class, excellent Internet radio with clock/alarm functions. With the Flickr app installed, it will display photos stored under user's Flickr account. Other capabilities which are nice to have but not likely to be widely used include its ability to stream audio from a computer or double up as an iPod speaker.
PACKAGING, CONTENTS As it's the case with most Logitech products, the Squeezebox Radio comes inside a box where everything is packed nicely and securely, with enough padding to ensure that rough treatment won't damage it. All shiny surfaces are protected by plastic film sheets. I experienced no problems or frustrations taking components out of the box. The box contents include: - the Radio - power adapter with the US-standard 110V removable plug - 3.5mm audio cord for iPod or other MP3 players - folded poster with setup guide/manual/warranty statement Logitech's warranty is for 2 years from date of purchase and they would expect you to have the purchase receipt and to pay for shipping unless local laws prohibit that. INITIAL SETUP The physical setup is as easy as attaching the removable plug to the power adapter, plugging the adapter into a power outlet and connecting it to the radio and turning the on the radio. An Ethernet port (cable not included) is available for wired connections. I did not attempt to perform a wired network setup. Once the radio is on for the first time, a language is selected from those displayed on the screen and then the radio will attempt to find a wireless access point. In my case, it immediately found my Linksys router and connected to it. The initial setup completed with me creating a Logitech account by providing an email address and a password. At that point it's possible to listen to the radio. OPERATION Radio ----- Starting with 'radio', the array of options is almost overwhelming. The least intimidating way to get to listen to a station is by selecting 'Internet Radio'. This will open a multi-layered menu with everything from Staff Picks, Local, Music, Sports, Talk, World and Search. If you pick World, the next layer would include Find a City, Featured Cities, National Networks, World Music. Find a City would open a listing of continents. If you pick Antarctica, believe it or not, you can select between All Stations or By Genre. It turns out that the only genre in that continent was Folk and there was actually a Folk station broadcasting off Antarctica. This was just an example to show the breadth and depth of the Internet Radio menu option. Once you like a station, it can be easily assigned to one of the 6 preset buttons that flank the radio's color display. Another way to get music off the Internet is through Apps. These are dowloadable setups that would let your radio channel some services, some of them free. There are 29 such Apps that Logitech allows you to download and use at the time this review was written, not all of them free and not all of them 'music'. Staying with the music, the easiest way you can get an App to work on your radio is from Logitech's site you access with your Logitech account - Logitech promises not to Spam you and so far I didn't get any Spam from them. My favorite FREE music App/service so far is Pandora. It lets me, among other things, create my own 'radio stations' by simply entering one or more artists and songs names. Then, Pandora will play music that is compatible with my input. For example, I entered Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix for one of my 'stations' and I get to listen to, besides theses three, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, some Cream. The Settings menu is equally rich in options. It's another multi-layered menu tree that controls just about every aspect of your Squeeze and I'm not going to go into details because it may take several pages. The good news is that the options are pretty well organized and it shouldn't be difficult to customize the aspects of your Squeezebox behavior that you would like to modify. Thankfully, the 'Restore Factory Defaults' option exists, buried somewhere, 3 or 4 levels deep under Advanced. Clock and Alarm --------------- By default, the Squeezebox will display the date and time when turned off. There's no need to do anything to set date/time since it seems to 'get' the correct location for the time zone off your IP address. It's possible to select a different zone through the Settings menu, of course. The Alarm function is surprisingly rich. Any number of separate alarms can be set - don't know if there is a limit. You can set the time, whether it's a one-time or reoccurring and if it's a repeat alarm, the day of the week it will play. The volume can be selected and then you can dive into another one of Logitech's overwhelming menu trees that allows you to sound your alarm from the current playlist or play one of many Musical Sounds, Natural Sounds, or Sound Effects. Not much to complain other than you can't hear a sample of the sound you selected or maybe I didn't know how to play it. Other Internet Apps ------------------- Normally, the Squeezebox will display the logo of the station you are playing or, if you are listening to a service such as Pandora, you will see the album cover the song came from. But if you install the Flickr App, you can display your Flickr pics instead. It's pretty cool but it wears off quite quickly. The color screen is nice and bright but it's also small and I get a radio because I want to listen to it, not to stare at a 2-inch screen. Again, it's nice but I wouldn't miss this capability if it wasn't available. There are other innovative apps that may have some limited use. The Amazon app for example, will allow you to buy your favorite music directly from the Squeezebox (wow!!!). The Facebook app will, according to the Logitech site, allow you to share your favorite music with family and friends, discover new friends with similar music interests or communicate with friends away from your computer. I didn't try it yet. More Features ------------- As if this wasn't enough, the Squeezebox also allows you to stream music off your home computers after you install the Squeezebox Server on it - supports Windows (Vista/XP/2000), Mac, Ubuntu, Linux. Again, a nice thing to have but I simply can't see why I would want to stream music to a device equipped with a small, mono speaker. I'd rather listen to music off my laptop since it comes out in stereo there. I suspect it works well but I didn't think it was worth trying. The Squeezebox also allows to connect and play an iPod or some other MP3 player - cable provided. And, again, it's good to have this but piping iPod music through a little mono speaker... not worth it. Finally, you can listen to the Squeezebox with headphones. It's nice you can but I don't think too many users would care about this capability. MY EXPERIENCE I find the Squeezebox to be an extraordinarily great Internet Radio device. Or rather, an Alarm Clock/Internet Radio. While limited by the small, single speaker to 'mono' sound, the quality of the output is quite impressive. I suspect there's a large cache built in because, when listening to the same Pandora output on my computer and on the Squeeze, the Squeeze came pretty close to crystal-clear while my computer's output was below par. It's impossible to say how many stations can be tuned to but the number should be in the thousands. It's not always easy to find what you are looking for but quick and dirty searches are possible by simply entering the station's call letters or you can go geographically by continent/country/city/genre. Some of the available Apps are fun to use - something like Pandora's customized radio stations should be close to one's dream of music listening. Other apps can go in the 'wow' category as in "I can't believe they can do this" but aren't likely to be used much. The beauty of the Apps concept is that the Squeezebox is infinitely expandable as more Apps doing things we can't imagine today can be added when available. What impressed most about the Squeezebox were: - extraordinary easy and quick setup on a Wi-Fi network - the sheer volume of Internet radio stations available - the availability of great Apps such as Pandora - the Alarm/Clock function - the color screen that displays interesting information such as album covers or stations logos and the name of the artists playing - infinite expandability through new Apps Some of the shortcomings include: - ONLY 6 preset station buttons - mono sound - a simple remote control would make operation easier - there's no information in the broadcast quality (kbps) displayed anywhere or rating the station based on the quality of their broadcast - it's possible to get lost into some of the enormous menu trees - completely dependent on Logitech for service - nothing other than maybe streaming music from one's own computer would work if Logitech went out of business or stopped supporting the Squeezebox. MY RATING I really, really love this device and Amazon's rating for "I love it" is 5 stars. Clearly, it's not perfect but, for the price, this is close to the best one can get when it comes to the ability to listen to distant radio stations without involving a computer. All we hear is Radio Ga Ga Radio Blah Blah Radio what's new? Someone still loves you! _______________________________________ Note: Please see the first comment to this review on the ability to expand the sound quality to 'stereo' and 'amplified'. I am not likely to try that because I have other options for listening to hi-fi, loud music but it's nice to know that it can be done.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I am the owner of A Logitech Squeezebox Boom and I simply love it, so when this product became available I grabbed it up. The Squeezebox Radio is somewhat smaller than the Squeezebox Boom, the main difference in size being that this unit has one speaker area on the front as opposed to two on the larger Boom.
Like its big brother, the Radio is black and sleek looking and will work with just about any d�cor. It is small enough to fit nicely on any counter, table, etc. As of the time of this review, the Radio is also available with a red body and same black face. The only things the Radio lacks that the Boom has are a two-speaker configuration and a remote control. But what the Radio has is a nice little color display. A few weeks back, my Boom got a firmware upgrade pushed to it, which loaded a Facebook option. I thought this odd, as I couldn't see using Facebook on the Boom, as it is a one color (blue) display and doesn't load photos, etc. It's somewhat useful because you can read posting, and you can even scroll your Facebook wall, etc. across the display, even when not listening to music. Well, after getting the Radio, I now understand why they added a facebook app! The Radio displays your Facebook Wall, Photos, etc. The Squeezebox Radio rocks!! I use my primary Squeezebox in our kitchen, where it provides exceptional sound which fills the whole room (28' x 21' with a 14' ceiling) and flows into adjacent rooms. I have set up the Radio in our Family Room. The Squeezebox radio is well designed and simple to use, plus multiple Squeezeboxes will synchronize, so you can have your favorite stations and settings update on both devices without doing any reprogramming. You can also shut off synchronization if you want to keep separate settings for stations and so on. Sound quality is excellent, with strong bass and clean highs. For a small radio, this packs a punch. Here's what was in the box: * Squeezebox, approximately 9" long by 5" high and deep. * AC Adapter (Squeezebox does not accept batteries) * Quickstart Guide Set up: Setting up the Squeezebox is fairly simple. Take it out of the box, plug it in, and begin configuring it. This should take less than 15 minutes, depending on your computer literacy. It is a wireless device and also has an Ethernet jack just in case you want to hard-wire it to your router, cable-modem, etc. IMPORTANT: the Squeezebox is an IP-addressable device, so if you have a secure home network (WEP, etc.), you will need to configure the device and/or your router by inputting your network password, security key and/or the Squeezebox's MAC address, using the same address as you would to add a wireless laptop or printer to your home network. Keep in mind if you are behind a firewall at work or internet filtering is in place, you may or may not be able to use Squeezebox there. A simple test is to try to visit some internet radio websites or music service websites from your office. If they are blocked, you will probably have limited use of Squeezebox at work. So, where does the music come from? The Squeezebox can use numerous sources....internet radio, free music services like Pandora and Slacker, and subscription services like Rhapsody. Keep in mind whatever you need to typically access these services (accounts, passwords, payment plans) will apply for your Squeezebox. You can create favorite "stations" either on the Squeezebox, in Pandora, etc, or on the Squeezebox website. You can also control the Radio from your PC using the website. About the only con for the Squeezebox (and it's a very small one) is you need to input data, such as account names, etc. via the main rotary control knob. Logitech has made the interface extremely simple to use, but its still a 1 character at a time "scroll and press" sort of thing, so it takes a few minutes. And if the myriad of internet stations, local stations, and services aren't enough, the Radio also comes with sound effects (want a babbling brook as your alarm?), and you can plug in your iPod to it. It does not have an iPod cradle, just an RCA-style cable. The Radio can also search other devices on your network for music (your iTunes folder on your PC, etc.). There is also a headphone jack. The Squeezebox is an incredible product. If you want nice sound and fantastic features, try the Radio. If you want really powerful sound and volume, go for the Boom. I suggest both, in different places in your home and/or office. ... Read more | |
| 2. Logitech Squeezebox Boom All-in-One Network Music Player / Wi-Fi Internet Radio | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $249.99 -- our price: $199.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B001DJ64D4 Manufacturer: Logitech Sales Rank: 274 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 3. Logitech Squeezebox Touch | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $299.99 -- our price: $288.26 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B002LARRDA Manufacturer: Logitech, Inc Sales Rank: 547 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 4. Grace Digital GDI-IR1000 Wi-Fi Internet Radio Featuring Pandora and NPR On-Demand | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $129.99 Asin: B001OQP90A Manufacturer: Grace Digital Sales Rank: 26354 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 5. Grace Digital Wireless Internet Radio featuring Pandora and NPR (GDI-IR2000) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $243.18 -- our price: $129.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B001DL8OV2 Manufacturer: Grace Digital Sales Rank: 1522 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 6. Logitech Squeezebox Radio Music Player with Color Screen (Red) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $179.99 -- our price: $152.96 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B002LARRDU Manufacturer: Logitech, Inc Sales Rank: 408 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) The Squeezebox Radio is a first class, excellent Internet radio with clock/alarm functions. With the Flickr app installed, it will display photos stored under user's Flickr account. Other capabilities which are nice to have but not likely to be widely used include its ability to stream audio from a computer or double up as an iPod speaker.
PACKAGING, CONTENTS As it's the case with most Logitech products, the Squeezebox Radio comes inside a box where everything is packed nicely and securely, with enough padding to ensure that rough treatment won't damage it. All shiny surfaces are protected by plastic film sheets. I experienced no problems or frustrations taking components out of the box. The box contents include: - the Radio - power adapter with the US-standard 110V removable plug - 3.5mm audio cord for iPod or other MP3 players - folded poster with setup guide/manual/warranty statement Logitech's warranty is for 2 years from date of purchase and they would expect you to have the purchase receipt and to pay for shipping unless local laws prohibit that. INITIAL SETUP The physical setup is as easy as attaching the removable plug to the power adapter, plugging the adapter into a power outlet and connecting it to the radio and turning the on the radio. An Ethernet port (cable not included) is available for wired connections. I did not attempt to perform a wired network setup. Once the radio is on for the first time, a language is selected from those displayed on the screen and then the radio will attempt to find a wireless access point. In my case, it immediately found my Linksys router and connected to it. The initial setup completed with me creating a Logitech account by providing an email address and a password. At that point it's possible to listen to the radio. OPERATION Radio ----- Starting with 'radio', the array of options is almost overwhelming. The least intimidating way to get to listen to a station is by selecting 'Internet Radio'. This will open a multi-layered menu with everything from Staff Picks, Local, Music, Sports, Talk, World and Search. If you pick World, the next layer would include Find a City, Featured Cities, National Networks, World Music. Find a City would open a listing of continents. If you pick Antarctica, believe it or not, you can select between All Stations or By Genre. It turns out that the only genre in that continent was Folk and there was actually a Folk station broadcasting off Antarctica. This was just an example to show the breadth and depth of the Internet Radio menu option. Once you like a station, it can be easily assigned to one of the 6 preset buttons that flank the radio's color display. Another way to get music off the Internet is through Apps. These are dowloadable setups that would let your radio channel some services, some of them free. There are 29 such Apps that Logitech allows you to download and use at the time this review was written, not all of them free and not all of them 'music'. Staying with the music, the easiest way you can get an App to work on your radio is from Logitech's site you access with your Logitech account - Logitech promises not to Spam you and so far I didn't get any Spam from them. My favorite FREE music App/service so far is Pandora. It lets me, among other things, create my own 'radio stations' by simply entering one or more artists and songs names. Then, Pandora will play music that is compatible with my input. For example, I entered Pink Floyd, the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix for one of my 'stations' and I get to listen to, besides theses three, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, some Cream. The Settings menu is equally rich in options. It's another multi-layered menu tree that controls just about every aspect of your Squeeze and I'm not going to go into details because it may take several pages. The good news is that the options are pretty well organized and it shouldn't be difficult to customize the aspects of your Squeezebox behavior that you would like to modify. Thankfully, the 'Restore Factory Defaults' option exists, buried somewhere, 3 or 4 levels deep under Advanced. Clock and Alarm --------------- By default, the Squeezebox will display the date and time when turned off. There's no need to do anything to set date/time since it seems to 'get' the correct location for the time zone off your IP address. It's possible to select a different zone through the Settings menu, of course. The Alarm function is surprisingly rich. Any number of separate alarms can be set - don't know if there is a limit. You can set the time, whether it's a one-time or reoccurring and if it's a repeat alarm, the day of the week it will play. The volume can be selected and then you can dive into another one of Logitech's overwhelming menu trees that allows you to sound your alarm from the current playlist or play one of many Musical Sounds, Natural Sounds, or Sound Effects. Not much to complain other than you can't hear a sample of the sound you selected or maybe I didn't know how to play it. Other Internet Apps ------------------- Normally, the Squeezebox will display the logo of the station you are playing or, if you are listening to a service such as Pandora, you will see the album cover the song came from. But if you install the Flickr App, you can display your Flickr pics instead. It's pretty cool but it wears off quite quickly. The color screen is nice and bright but it's also small and I get a radio because I want to listen to it, not to stare at a 2-inch screen. Again, it's nice but I wouldn't miss this capability if it wasn't available. There are other innovative apps that may have some limited use. The Amazon app for example, will allow you to buy your favorite music directly from the Squeezebox (wow!!!). The Facebook app will, according to the Logitech site, allow you to share your favorite music with family and friends, discover new friends with similar music interests or communicate with friends away from your computer. I didn't try it yet. More Features ------------- As if this wasn't enough, the Squeezebox also allows you to stream music off your home computers after you install the Squeezebox Server on it - supports Windows (Vista/XP/2000), Mac, Ubuntu, Linux. Again, a nice thing to have but I simply can't see why I would want to stream music to a device equipped with a small, mono speaker. I'd rather listen to music off my laptop since it comes out in stereo there. I suspect it works well but I didn't think it was worth trying. The Squeezebox also allows to connect and play an iPod or some other MP3 player - cable provided. And, again, it's good to have this but piping iPod music through a little mono speaker... not worth it. Finally, you can listen to the Squeezebox with headphones. It's nice you can but I don't think too many users would care about this capability. MY EXPERIENCE I find the Squeezebox to be an extraordinarily great Internet Radio device. Or rather, an Alarm Clock/Internet Radio. While limited by the small, single speaker to 'mono' sound, the quality of the output is quite impressive. I suspect there's a large cache built in because, when listening to the same Pandora output on my computer and on the Squeeze, the Squeeze came pretty close to crystal-clear while my computer's output was below par. It's impossible to say how many stations can be tuned to but the number should be in the thousands. It's not always easy to find what you are looking for but quick and dirty searches are possible by simply entering the station's call letters or you can go geographically by continent/country/city/genre. Some of the available Apps are fun to use - something like Pandora's customized radio stations should be close to one's dream of music listening. Other apps can go in the 'wow' category as in "I can't believe they can do this" but aren't likely to be used much. The beauty of the Apps concept is that the Squeezebox is infinitely expandable as more Apps doing things we can't imagine today can be added when available. What impressed most about the Squeezebox were: - extraordinary easy and quick setup on a Wi-Fi network - the sheer volume of Internet radio stations available - the availability of great Apps such as Pandora - the Alarm/Clock function - the color screen that displays interesting information such as album covers or stations logos and the name of the artists playing - infinite expandability through new Apps Some of the shortcomings include: - ONLY 6 preset station buttons - mono sound - a simple remote control would make operation easier - there's no information in the broadcast quality (kbps) displayed anywhere or rating the station based on the quality of their broadcast - it's possible to get lost into some of the enormous menu trees - completely dependent on Logitech for service - nothing other than maybe streaming music from one's own computer would work if Logitech went out of business or stopped supporting the Squeezebox. MY RATING I really, really love this device and Amazon's rating for "I love it" is 5 stars. Clearly, it's not perfect but, for the price, this is close to the best one can get when it comes to the ability to listen to distant radio stations without involving a computer. All we hear is Radio Ga Ga Radio Blah Blah Radio what's new? Someone still loves you! _______________________________________ Note: Please see the first comment to this review on the ability to expand the sound quality to 'stereo' and 'amplified'. I am not likely to try that because I have other options for listening to hi-fi, loud music but it's nice to know that it can be done.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I am the owner of A Logitech Squeezebox Boom and I simply love it, so when this product became available I grabbed it up. The Squeezebox Radio is somewhat smaller than the Squeezebox Boom, the main difference in size being that this unit has one speaker area on the front as opposed to two on the larger Boom.
Like its big brother, the Radio is black and sleek looking and will work with just about any d�cor. It is small enough to fit nicely on any counter, table, etc. As of the time of this review, the Radio is also available with a red body and same black face. The only things the Radio lacks that the Boom has are a two-speaker configuration and a remote control. But what the Radio has is a nice little color display. A few weeks back, my Boom got a firmware upgrade pushed to it, which loaded a Facebook option. I thought this odd, as I couldn't see using Facebook on the Boom, as it is a one color (blue) display and doesn't load photos, etc. It's somewhat useful because you can read posting, and you can even scroll your Facebook wall, etc. across the display, even when not listening to music. Well, after getting the Radio, I now understand why they added a facebook app! The Radio displays your Facebook Wall, Photos, etc. The Squeezebox Radio rocks!! I use my primary Squeezebox in our kitchen, where it provides exceptional sound which fills the whole room (28' x 21' with a 14' ceiling) and flows into adjacent rooms. I have set up the Radio in our Family Room. The Squeezebox radio is well designed and simple to use, plus multiple Squeezeboxes will synchronize, so you can have your favorite stations and settings update on both devices without doing any reprogramming. You can also shut off synchronization if you want to keep separate settings for stations and so on. Sound quality is excellent, with strong bass and clean highs. For a small radio, this packs a punch. Here's what was in the box: * Squeezebox, approximately 9" long by 5" high and deep. * AC Adapter (Squeezebox does not accept batteries) * Quickstart Guide Set up: Setting up the Squeezebox is fairly simple. Take it out of the box, plug it in, and begin configuring it. This should take less than 15 minutes, depending on your computer literacy. It is a wireless device and also has an Ethernet jack just in case you want to hard-wire it to your router, cable-modem, etc. IMPORTANT: the Squeezebox is an IP-addressable device, so if you have a secure home network (WEP, etc.), you will need to configure the device and/or your router by inputting your network password, security key and/or the Squeezebox's MAC address, using the same address as you would to add a wireless laptop or printer to your home network. Keep in mind if you are behind a firewall at work or internet filtering is in place, you may or may not be able to use Squeezebox there. A simple test is to try to visit some internet radio websites or music service websites from your office. If they are blocked, you will probably have limited use of Squeezebox at work. So, where does the music come from? The Squeezebox can use numerous sources....internet radio, free music services like Pandora and Slacker, and subscription services like Rhapsody. Keep in mind whatever you need to typically access these services (accounts, passwords, payment plans) will apply for your Squeezebox. You can create favorite "stations" either on the Squeezebox, in Pandora, etc, or on the Squeezebox website. You can also control the Radio from your PC using the website. About the only con for the Squeezebox (and it's a very small one) is you need to input data, such as account names, etc. via the main rotary control knob. Logitech has made the interface extremely simple to use, but its still a 1 character at a time "scroll and press" sort of thing, so it takes a few minutes. And if the myriad of internet stations, local stations, and services aren't enough, the Radio also comes with sound effects (want a babbling brook as your alarm?), and you can plug in your iPod to it. It does not have an iPod cradle, just an RCA-style cable. The Radio can also search other devices on your network for music (your iTunes folder on your PC, etc.). There is also a headphone jack. The Squeezebox is an incredible product. If you want nice sound and fantastic features, try the Radio. If you want really powerful sound and volume, go for the Boom. I suggest both, in different places in your home and/or office. ... Read more | |
| 7. Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $399.99 -- our price: $299.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B0013IWYHU Manufacturer: Logitech Sales Rank: 1152 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 8. Sonos S5 Zone Player and BR100 ZoneBridge Bundle (Black) | |||||||||||||||||||||
![]() | Electronics
list price: $498.00 -- our price: $448.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B0049Z2MNA Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 819 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
Editorial Review
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| 9. Creative Labs Sound Blaster Wireless Audio Transmitter and Receiver Bundle | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $149.99 -- our price: $72.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B002BDU95A Manufacturer: Creative Labs Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Having used a myriad of devices from the squeezboox boom and the squeezebox duet system -- as well as a few other devices that are not worth mentioning, I'll say that this is by far the easiest to use, install and operate. Let me walk you through my set-up ... which took about 10 minutes ... 1. Unpacked the box and did away with all the plastic detritus. 2. Installed and registered the software on my laptop. 3. Plugged in the transmitter to a USB port in the back. 4. Rebooted my laptop, turned on iTunes and played a U2 album. 5. Plugged in the receiver (using a nicer set of cables) to my Sony Stereo Receiver on Aux 3. Was tempted to go optical. 6. Hit the find button on the underside of the little device and walked away. 7. 15 seconds later -- music played. 8. Stuck the batteries in the remote and turned it up. That simple and absolutely no stumbling blocks to speak of. Sound Quality? -- Better than I expected for this, but I wasn't looking for Mark Levinson to come out of my office and sit down on the couch with a glass of wine. The sound quality is more than adequate for casual home listening and the better your system is, the better the device will sound to you. Responsiveness? -- I'm constantly unplugging the transmitter from my laptop and taking off somewhere, only to come back replug it back in, and find it working almost instantly and flawlessly. Windows and iTunes are not always asking questions or looking for drivers. It seems that whatever iTunes needed to do to make this thing be compatible with itself, was worked out ahead of time by Creative Labs and Apple. That's a first. The Software -- is quite good and quite simple. You can customize it to play in zones, if that's your thing or adjust the quality of the sound and other minor changes. The software, from what I saw, doesn't appear to be a resource hog, nor has it been the culprit of crashes or bluescreens. If you don't use iTunes , you don't like to, or don't want to, this may be the only *real* problem one could face. The good thing is that it doesn't require you to depend on it as a player like other companies, or other devices do. I can find no fault with this and I'm happy with the success of this device. I use it everyday now and I'm thoroughly pleased. Well done ... a great idea to give as a gift for young or old as the ease of use with this is simple and the learning curve low. How about that for innovation? ...
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Creative's Sound Blaster is an easy enough concept to grasp. However, simple set-up is not always guaranteed. Simply plug the transmitter into a USB port in your laptop, plug the receiver into your stereo inputs (or wireless speakers), plug that in and you should be on your way. Nope. Not my experience. I fussed with this for two weeks before I got it to work and that included three Emails to support and a phone call. I even contacted TOP Reviewer Kristen (Modern Blue Argonaut) for help!
You really do need to install the software, even though Creative says you don't need to. This sets up an icon box on your desktop. You also need to open iTunes to select songs. `Pairing' the transmitter and receiver was simple enough after a few tries. Make sure to do them in order. But even after I had all the connections working and `talking' to one another, there was no sound. I had my receiver set to CD input where my L/R cables were plugged in and the RCA jack plugged into the receiver. This is very misleading in the instructions, where it shows the L/R cables plugged into the receiver and the RCA jack plugged into the stereo. However, THAT might be appropriate IF you are only using self-powered speakers. Anyway, after several deep breathes, I tried again by selecting songs from my laptop and `voila!', it worked. I used the Sound Blaster Jukebox on my desktop to work iTunes. Then the real test. I took my laptop to the far end of my condo and it still played cleanly and crisply through three walls (kitchen included). So I am very happy at this point, even though my sub-woofer is not playing. All these electronic devices lately are getting smaller and smaller and you are treated to a tiny remote measuring 5-1/2" by 1-1/2". It was clearly `talking' to my receiver, as the light flashed red, then white when buttons were pushed, but it only worked with sound volume. None of the other buttons worked at all. So here is where I called support. They supplied me with the number after three Emails. I went through two support people with the remote control issues when I was told this. "Creative's product is still new and we are working out some of the issues with the remote control, so at this moment we cannot give you information". How's that for support? At least I could understand the people I was talking to. The Creative Sound Blaster does work, however it is for designed for a smaller sound system. It would be great in a dorm room or in small apartment, but as a wireless remote sound system, it is limited. One nice thing is that you can watch YOUTUBE while listening to it on your sound system. I would recommend the Logitech Squeezebox Duet WiFi Internet Radio, but I also had trouble with that as I had to install a DSL/phone jack in my stereo room (oddly it had none). One reviewer referred to this as the "poor man's squeezebox" and that's fair enough, but I'm not at all happy with the setup time, support or ease factor.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I was very excited to test out this product. I have several iPods and Touches in the house. I used to use Apple Universal Dock for iPod (White) to listen to music through my stereo and watch videos when needed. I paid about $100 for the Apple Dock (at the time) and must admit did not like all the wires and the fact I had to have the iPod (s) in the dock. I then bought several iPod docking stations so I had them for each room of the house. I use one in the bathroom for when I shower and get ready, Homedics SS-6510 SoundSpa Fusion AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio with iPOD Docking Station, 6 Natural Sounds and LCD Display. I also use a docking station on my nightstand to play white noise through my iPods at night. I had a docking station in the kitchen which is next to the living room but this unit has since replaced the use of the old Apple Dock I used and also the dock in the kitchen.
When I opened the box I immediately installed the software on my laptop. I work on my laptop all day in the living room which has my home stereo system. I then hooked up the unit to the Line in on my stereo. Then I plugged in the little USB/wifi device and it is all set! I LOVE this unit! I can now play my itunes library from my laptop and listen to it through my home stereo system! I don't have to have my iPods tied up to any docking devices to hear my music now. I love the fact that it has a little windows sidebar on the right of my desktop which is the control center. I can pick my play list and also play the videos and TV shows I have in iTunes through this unit to my stereo. I can read the headlines through gadgets I add through RSS feeds. This unit has come in so handy! When I am done I just unplug the USB part, put the cap on it and place it in my coffee table until I am ready to use it again. What is not good about the unit is the remote control. I did not deduct any stars due to it because I don't need the remote if I have access to the play lists and buttons in front of me. For some reason the only thing that seems to work on the remote is to power on the unit and to power it off. Every button besides that does nothing! I think Creative Labs needs to work on that. I know it works since it powers on the unit but not having full function might be a deal breaker for some but not for me. I am very happy with this unit and use it everyday. I did not think I would use it as much as I do but if I am doing to dishes are making dinner it is nice to have my iTunes library playing on my home stereo. I really enjoy this unit!
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I am spoiled owning and loving the Logitech Squeezebox Duet and Boom systems. Love them. But, they are not so portable.
This little thing comes in handy if you don't want to dedicate a system to a unit. You don't want to install software. You have no idea what a WEP key is. etc. etc. If you know what a USB slot looks like on your computer, and know where to hookup your speakers on your stereo or other music unit, you are good to go. It's a set of mini electronic fun with a big party sound of music. Whatever system your digital music is stored, and if you have iTunes, even better, just put the USB antenna thingy into an open slot. Then take the little hub and stick your speakers in, and you are done. Whatever source of sound broadcasting device you can stick in, it will play whatever is on your host system. Use the handy remote to click around, and you're done. The remote is small, but I would not want it bigger because the main appeal here is the portability. If you have wireless speakers or headphones, that's even better. Anyone in the house or backyard etc. can tap into the music filling your place with sound. I tested this on my iMac, my PC laptop and a PC desktop. I have Snow Leopard on my Mac, and it did it's own configuration process, and I was ready to go. I did not need to use the software. It's not the most perfect sounding experience, and may take a little tweaking of certain things that you might want to connect to it. But I love the fact that I can easily bring this to any computer and not have to setup a network or enter codes etc. The list price point for this brand and genre of electronics is about 33% too high. The competition may push this unit aside if the price does not come down to the double digits soon. It also would have been nice to have a case included since there is initially 3 items, and possible cords etc. Not a bad item, but it's about 3.5 stars based on the competition.
| |
| 10. Sonos S5 Wireless Internet Music Player (Black) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $399.00 -- our price: $399.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B003CP0FUU Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 1099 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 11. Grace Digital GDI-IRA500 Wireless Internet Radio Adapter Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $184.38 -- our price: $92.83 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B003FBQKZ0 Manufacturer: Grace Digital Sales Rank: 1467 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 12. Sonos ZonePlayer 90 Wireless Multi-Room Music System for Home Theater or Stereo | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $349.00 -- our price: $349.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B001CROHX6 Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 1081 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 13. Sonos S5 Wireless Internet Music Player (White) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $399.00 -- our price: $399.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B002S53LJ2 Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 898 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 14. Sonos S5 Zone Player and BR100 ZoneBridge Bundle (White) | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $498.00 -- our price: $448.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B004A7G58K Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 1419 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 15. Sonos ZoneBridge BR100 Instant wireless setup for a Sonos system | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $99.00 -- our price: Too low to display (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B000X1TS54 Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 1672 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 16. Sonos Single Room Bundle- ZP90 Zone Player and CR200 Controller | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $599.00 -- our price: $481.22 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B003CP0FUK Manufacturer: Sonos Sales Rank: 2055 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 17. Bose Wave Radio II - Platinum White | |
![]() | list price: $349.00 -- our price: $349.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B0009I94LE Manufacturer: BOSE Sales Rank: 1674 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
| |
| 18. Grace Digital GDI-IR2500 Wi-Fi Internet radio Featuring Pandora, NPR On-Demand, Sirius and iheartradio | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $169.99 -- our price: $127.94 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B003FXGZS0 Manufacturer: Grace Digital Sales Rank: 2099 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review | |
| 19. Grace Digital GDI-IR2550P Pandora Wi-Fi Internet Radio | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $169.99 -- our price: $99.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B0040NPHMO Manufacturer: Grace Digital Sales Rank: 1065 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
| |
| 20. Myine Electronics IR001 WiFi Internet Radio Adaptor | |
![]() | Electronics
list price: $149.99 -- our price: $129.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B001SEQSDK Manufacturer: Myine Sales Rank: 3842 Average Customer Review: US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
|
Editorial Review Reviews
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) This little internet radio device is jumping-up-and-down cool! Five minutes after opening the box I was listening to a newscast from France (in French, course) then jazz from Australia, rock from Iceland and later opera and classical music from Italy. How cool is that?
The device doesn't have any speakers of it's own, but comes with and RCA jack that you connect to your receiver, TV, boom box or even a little clock radio. There's an adapter included with a smaller plug for the later. There's a little LCD screen that you operate with a small remote control that's also included. The first thing I did after I connected it to my receiver was to turn it on and go through the menu and set the date and time and hook up to my home WiFi network. It came with a manual which is very well written and understandable, but I didn't even need it. When I clicked on "Network" the name of my WiFi network popped up, I selected it in the menu, entered the password, and it connected in about 15 seconds and it was ready to go. It was super easy. And since it uses Wi-Fi to connect, you don't need a computer. This goes directly to your receiver. The IRA is classy looking, even though it's made of plastic. I posted some photos of it. I set mine of top of the Blu-ray player in my stereo cabinet. The display screen is easy to read and the menus easy to navigate. You can search by country, genre of music, stations, or new or popular stations. There is an automatic software update feature through the Wi-Fi network or you can check yourself to see if there are any updates available. It also has volume control on the remote. The sound is crystal clear and since I connected it to our home theater system, I could hear the bass booming out through the subwoofer and music through all the speakers. I also tried it with the adapter, plugged into a little clock radio and that worked fine too. Connected to the receiver the stations I've listened to so far were CD quality. I could imagine this at a Caribbean themed party, playing reggae music directly from that part of the world, or a romantic French dinner with music from France. No matter what your taste in music, there is something here for everyone. And if you're learning a foreign language, what better way than to listen to a newscast from that country? I love this thing! It's a great addition to our home entertainment system.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) I setup the unit and connected it to my stereo. Now it was time to connect it to my wireless network. Wait, the remote doesn't seem to be working. Wonder if its DOA or battery not connected. Fast forward several minutes later and I notice that something seems backwards on the remote. With the remote in my hand I press the menu buttons to try and navigate the menu system but no response. Then I realize that the buttons seem backwards as the infrared window is pointing back to me when I have the remote correctly in my hand. Now I'm wondering if the top of the remote was installed backwards. I take a gamble and start pealing back the top of the remote (basically a sticky top with metal connectors that connect to the board to engage the buttons.) Thats when I realize that yes, the top of the remote was put on backwards and once I pealed it off and turned it around and got it to stick back on correctly the remote now works. Just a quality control issue at the factory so hopefully not something many will see but the Myine company should make note in case its happening to others.
Once I got the remote working all was well, i could navigate the unit and set it up on my wireless network. It found the different radio stations and it played over my stereo. Easy to setup if you are familiar with your typical wireless network setup. One thing I think they should change is that when you want to manually enter in IP address information etc you have to hit the button on the remote once for each ip number you want to move up or down. When you are in the 192.168 range this can get old. They need to change it so when you hold down the up or down button on the remote it scrolls through the numbers rather than having to hit it each time you want to move up and down. One other item of note that I haven't figured out yet. I have a number of wireless and wired devices on my home network. I notice that once I turn on the Myine radio I see activity on all my wired adaptors, as if the Myine is broadcasting something across all IP's on the network. I thought it might be my router so I hooked up another router and still see activity on other network adaptors when I turn the Myine on. Will have to do some research to see what its broadcasting and why. No reason for it to broadcast something out to all devices as it just pulls a stream from the internet to the device. For these reasons I can only give it a 3. Granted its a first version and it can be updated via the internet so maybe the vendor will resolve some of these issues. As for the device itself, it does what its intended for and it allows me to cancel my XM Radio that I had at home as this device offers the same quality and variety in music in my mind.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) To me, "Internet Radio" implies that this unit would have a built in speaker. This is really an "Internet Radio Adapter" which is what the initials IRA stands for. You will need a stereo system in order to hear anything. There is no headphone jack either.
Compared to the Grace WiFi radio that I bought for my parents, this has improvements and drawbacks. It is easier to setup (good for older parents) but it doesn't have access to the Pandora network which gave me more stations. In addition, the Grace WiFi radio lets you set up a channel that plays music from 1 artist... so I was able to set up a "John Denver" station for my parents. You don't have that flexibility with the IR001 IRA. CONTROLS -------- The IR001 IRA does not have any buttons on it at all. So don't lose the included infrared remote (there is no cradle or anything on the unit to store the remote). The remote does feel a bit cheap considering this is the only means of controlling the IRA. The buttons are dome-shaped bubbles and don't have the smooth rubbery feel of most remotes. The buttons are also identically shaped meaning it is easy to press the wrong one. The current price of the IR001 IRA is $150 and it seems like the remote could not have made up more than $5 of that retail price. Even though the Grace WiFi radio that I bought doesn't have a remote, I prefer its use of a dial for scrolling/selecting instead of the up-down-left-right arrows on the IRA remote. SIZE ----- The face of the IRA is smaller than an old VHS video tape. So it won't take up much space on your stereo system. SETUP ----- This unit was very easy to set up. It immediately found my wireless network (which uses the older Apple airport for WiFi). All I needed to do was input my password since my network is secure. STATIONS -------- It has thousands of built in stations and you can mark off your favorites with the remote. As noted at the start of this review, there isn't access to the Pandora network, so there are fewer stations. This probably isn't an issue if you're listening in the US. But if your stations are international, that may be a different story. I noted that I only had access to one Hong Kong radio station compared to the 12+ stations I could access with the Grace WiFi radio. SOUND QUALITY ------------- Music is CD quality. But this will also depend on your stereo system as well. Again, there is no headphone jack or built-in speakers. CONCLUSION ----------- This is a decent WiFi Radio adapter if you have a stereo system handy. It is easy to set up. But if you want more stations, a built-in speaker, headphone jack, and buttons/knobs on the unit instead of a cheap remote, then I would recommend the Grace WiFi radio for $30 more.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) When I was a kid I used to play with the dial on my radio at night to see which clear channel stations I could bring in, and I was so pleased when I'd find one a few hundred miles away. Now I have easy access to radio from around the world. Myine Ira makes it simple to select a region (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, or South America); then you can select a country and view all its available stations, or select by genre. The variety is amazing and the sound is crystal clear.
Naturally you can listen to internet radio on your PC. There are sites that try to consolidate various stations, from a few to a few thousand. The Ira device claims to offer over 11,000 choices, and I have no reason to doubt the claim. There was nothing I could think of that I couldn't find easily. Within minutes I was listening to a tango station in Argentina, a classical music station in Austria, and a big band station in the USA. The choices aren't limited to music. There are also a staggering number of podcasts, which can also be selected by genre or location. So why use an external device? I like internet radio, but my PC has limited resources. Now I can work on things that require a lot of CPU power and continue to enjoy internet radio on the side. A second advantage for me has been not having to turn on the PC at times when I just feel like having the music. There are no subscription or additional fees for these stations. The Ira itself isn't a radio. It's a receiver for internet radio. I'm using the included RCA connectors to hook it into my home stereo system. There's also an RCA to 1/8 (3.5 mm) adapter included if you want to use the aux jack on a smaller boom box or portable speakers. Ira is a compact, elegant looking device - a high gloss black, plastic case with a small screen. Although the screen is small, it displays plenty of easily readable information. Depending on the angle you're viewing from, information appears in either white font on a blue background, or black font on a very light background. There are no controls on the receiver itself. All functions are handled via a very small, thin remote control. The command keys are not actual buttons, but more like raised bubbles. The remote feels a bit flimsy, but it does the job. Just don't lose it - it's the only way to access the Ira's functions. Highly recommended!
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Spent all day testing this and my conclusion is that it is an excellent value for the money. I have several other internet radios and this one by far was the easiest to setup. Entering the wireless code was so much easier than the Denon S-52 I have which costs four times more. I was up and running in under 5 minutes without ever referring to the well written manual. The menu design of the Myine Ira is excellent and very easy to get used to. This unit provides an excellent relatively low cost solution for adding internet radio capability to an existing audio system. It includes all cables needed.
So what are the "problems" found? The Power Adapter because of its design takes up 2 outlet positions on most power strips. Had its prong orientation been rotated 90 degrees it could have been built to take up less space. The other thing I noticed was the included stereo connector cable(3 ft) is too short for some installations where the unit as in my case must be connected to a set of rack mount equipment. If it was only a foot longer it would have worked perfectly. In conclusion though this is nitpicking. This is an outstanding unit and highly recommended. By the way the unit includes provision for firmware updates via the internet and it would not be hard for its maker to add even more features in the future.
| |
| 1-20 of 40 1 2 Next 20 |