|
|
Portable Internet radio |
|
|
A portable internet radio!
As I write this article in Barcelona, the radio is blasting out music in the background. Not Spanish radio, but Capital FM, live from Leicester square in London. So what, I hear you thinking? That old chestnut. Internet radio on your PC right?
Wrong. Well sort of wrong. It’s Internet radio, but not on my PC.
It’s a radio called The AE Wi-Fi Internet Radio! Catchy name I hear you thinking? That's the short version! The full name is Acoustic Energy Wi-Fi Internet Radio.
Despite the long technical name it is truly a wonderful product and I am not getting paid to say it. It's a stand-alone portable internet radio, which can access over 99% of the world's Internet radio stations – from London’s BBC Radio1 to Sao Paolo’s Radio Calypso.
At 300 euros it’s not exactly a steal, so what’s the deal? Convenience! For convenience, portability and sheer entertainment value, it’s probably the best thing I have bought in my life, that didn't come come out of a machine on the wall of the men’s room in a dimly lit night club!
To listen to overseas radio stations, I don’t have to go through the steps of finding the stations on the Internet, opening the websites, loading players, finding the programmes I want and clicking on play buttons.
The radio operates independently of a PC and connects directly to my Wi-Fi network at home.
I press one button. It takes a few seconds to buffer and load the Internet radio stream, like on a PC, but then it’s on and the music is playing. One button One finger! If I want music in the kitchen or bedroom, balcony, I just move my radio, not my PC.
I can choose from over 5000 free streamed overseas stations that are available online. The display has 10 pre-programmed buttons to store my favourites radio stations.
I have stored BBC radio 7 for comedy, BBC radio 4 for intelligent talk radio. Then Capital FM in London for silly banter, celebrity gossip and chart music. (The boy band Take That were number 1 for 4 weeks with their comeback single.. ! – Be honest.. did you know that?)
Then because I have Scandinavian roots, I also have a couple of Danish radio stations stored – usually I just hit the Danish radio button at the top of the hour to get the news from Copenhagen.
 And then I have a German flat mate and she has graciously been allotted a couple of German stations. Sehr gut nicht? So I get Einslive from Koln sometimes, which keeps me informed about German motorway Staus.. !
When I feel like a change from German traffic news, I browse the stations available. Hmm? Maybe Radio Europe Plus 105 from Kazakhstan? I just choose the country Kazakhstan and store the station. Simple.
There are thousands of stations world-wide to choose from , only 1 in Kazakhstan admittedly, but 508 in the UK, 2285 in the US and even 4 in Iran, if one wants a more balanced view of the world music scene, that is if you can call 2285-4 more balanced than 2285-0.
I can also search by category. For example a quick turn on the dial reveals 37 blues stations, 12 Bollywood, 31 comedy stations.. jazz, religious, smooth, news. Is everyone in the world making radio?
The radio is also compatible with popular "Listen Again" features, such as those found on the BBC radio website. So if I missed Jonathan Ross on Sunday mornings ,then like many popular BBC radio shows, this show has a ” listen again” feature, so I can listen to it, when I want.
Another nifty option is that from my WIFI radio, I can listen to my downloaded digital music, which is on the hard drive of my PC, assuming I have not switched the PC off. Again easier than moving my PC to the bedroom everytime, I want to relax to the sound of the soothing meditational sounds of dolphins sounds in the wild. (It is soothing but I sometimes where the dolphins are not just whinging to each other about the number of tourists these days!)
 I like the design of this radio. Rather funky and it sort of reminds me of the desk speaker thingy in the old Charlie’s Angels TV show.
The sound quality is good, but it is a small radio, so it is not hi-fi. For hi-fi, however, I can connect to my hi-fi system with the jack provided. Or I can give the neighbours a rest from the Capital breakfast show and plug in headphones.
But it is still Internet radio, so the quality will only be as good as the feed from the station and the reliability and range of your wireless network - there is no provision for connecting an Ethernet connection. It only works on Wi-Fi.
The final useful feature is a clock and alarm clock, so that I can be woken up by Wogan (a BBC Radio 2 DJ) or by the breakfast show on CapitalFM or which ever station I like.
But I must admit I had to cover up the blue display at night, because it lit up the whole room and I felt like I was sleeping on a sunbed.
The AE radio is made by hi-fi speaker company Acoustic Energy Ltd.
 Their website is http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/Product_range/WiFi_radio/
You can read a review of the product here:
I bought my radio from the Spanish agent Pro-Tech, who are based in Madrid. I ordered online and received my radio within days. No problems at all and I have been listening daily for over a year now.
Since the AE radio was announced as the first Internet radio in the world in late 2005, several other models have arrived on the market with more of less the same features and some of them cheaper. You can find links to them and to all the internet radio stations on www.reciva.com but I do not know if they are available in Spain at the time of writing this article.
One final word. This is not DAB. DAB is also a digital radio, DAB is broadcast on terrestrial networks, so you can not hear English radio stations a DAB radio in Spain. Only Spanish radio station that broadast a digital signal. You can find information about DAB techonology and radios on http://www.worlddab.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
Barcelona, Spain
|
|
|
|
Temp:
|
15°C
|
|
Wind Chill:
|
15°C
|
|
Humidity:
|
82%
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Arrival: |
|
|
Depart: |
|
|
Type: |
|
|
Zone: |
|
| Adults >17: |
|
|
|
| Children: |
|
|
|
| Infants <2: |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|