Very nice Internet radio
929056
I love radio, especially NPR.  I've sampled Internet audio streams.
However my computer is old and slow but I'm not ready to upgrade.
I do prefer purpose-built devices.  I had been curious about Internet radios for some time.
The NPR Radio by Livio seemed like it was made just for me.
So I bought one as a birthday present to myself.

Within minutes I established the wireless connection to my router.
I haven't tried it but I'm glad it also has a jack for wired connection.

Searching, selecting and saving NPR stations from all over couldn't be easier.
Or I can easily search NPR by program content or name.
I haven't searched any commercial or international streams yet, but I'm sure it's just as easy.

Operation is relatively straightforward.  After 5 minutes I got the hang of it.
I really like the clean, simple display and controls.  Seems well-made, too.

Sound quality is on par with a decent table radio, i.e. very good for voice, good for music.
When connected to an external amp via the rear stereo jack the sound is excellent.

I haven't encountered any of the problems reported by some other reviewers.
So far my experience with this device has been very good to excellent.
I would definitely recommend The NPR Radio by Livio to others.
649494
This radio is better than I expected. I have it connected via wifi and I have not experienced any drops or disconnects from my router. The radio streams continuously without having to buffer every other minute. just for reference my internet provider is att uverse 30mb down. For such a small radio the sound quality is really good, loud enough to fill a room with good sound.setting up a mysqueezebox.com account is very easy, take less than a minute. installing apps is also easy through mysqueezebox takes seconds. The only down side with this radio is it does not have a remote. To input your information into the radio or search for specific radio stations you have to turn the knob to select letters/symbols this is very annoying. it would have been quicker and easier if it had a remote with a keypad. The other issue is the radio takes like 30 seconds to boot-up this seems like ages when all you want to do is listen to music. After taking time to boot up you still have to press play because the radio does not automatically play the last radio station you were listening to.  Even with these annoyances I really like the radio and I give it 5 stars.
3456996
I've only had this radio for a couple weeks so far. Using alkaline batteries as well as just using the internal batteries, charged from the included AC adapter, I've been pretty impressed with the reception I get listening to this radio inside my home. Operation on AM and FM bands is pretty easy, with shortwave listening requiring a delicate touch to really fine tune a station using the one knob. I was able to listen to a number of foreign broadcasts using the included wire antenna. The hand crank dynamo in this radio feels pretty sturdy, but I think it would take quite a while to really charge the radio using just that. I used the crank for about 2 minutes when I first took this radio out of the packaging and I only got a couple minutes of radio at low volume from that. The instructions even say that using the crank to charge fully depleted internal batteries will take a significant amount of time. It will work though. The one thing I haven't really experimented with has been the solar panel. If I get the opportunity to give the panel a decent test I'll update this review.

I only give this 4 out of 5 stars because even at this price point it would have been nice to have some better feeling switches and knobs on this radio. I recommend this radio if you're a casual listener, want a radio that doesn't break the bank, offers the ability to be used even though you're out of batteries and is simple to operate.

You shouldn't consider this radio if you're serious about DX'ing. You also shouldn't consider this radio if you want to use it as an alarm clock, as the clock resets when you change power sources, and there's no buzzer setting, which means you have to leave the radio volume at a high enough to wake you. In my case that would preclude any bedtime listening to get me to sleep.
3037160
I have been listening to various radio stations on my laptop but this has become a drag lately as it slows down some of my other programs and is a pain in the neck to change stations quickly. I have Sirius radios in 2 of my cars and was thinking about getting a home Sirius radio, but when I saw the Grace radio on line at Amazon I decided to give it a try.

Best part- no additional subscriptions- I can now get thousands of stations at the twist of the easy to use master control knob.  I am a public radio junkie and they even have a public radio filter so I can browse among all of those stations in the US.  This thing gets so many worldwide stations that I never knew existed....in many different genres.....amazing. I have it set up in my kitchen with a set of computer speakers and subwoofer- sound quality is pretty much determined by the sampling rate of the station.....pretty much identical to my laptop but this thing is much easier to use (turning dials rather than opening web pages and typing in passwords). I especially appreciate the analog volume control, too. Now my computer runs a lot faster since it's not having to process my radio feed as well. The Grace radio was pretty simple to set up. The directions are kind of sparse but it's pretty intuitive. I kind of wish it would take a standard ethernet connection instead of only offering a wifi connection...but for $160 I suppose I can't expect miracles. If you like to listen to radio and really enjoy jazz, classical and interesting stuff instead of the pop drivel on most stations from FM then you will love this radio
217249
The radio has excellent reception. Better than my old one. Easy setup when you follow the prompts.
3234389
Internet radios have become more common and less costly.

 The Grace Digital Innovator III (GD-IR2500) is a nice compromise between price and functionality.

 The unit is delightfully small (6.3 x 9.4 x 4.9 inches) and reasonably light and will fit into cramped situations like an office, kitchen counter, night table and so on.

 The design is starkly functional and reminiscent of the "Danish Modern" movement of some decades back. I find the concept of a simple box with a display panel and a few buttons on the front to be appealing and easy to use.

 Like all internet radios, the Innovator III will receive all stations openly broadcasting on the internet. Usually that translates to about 16 - 17,000 stations at any given time. Many commercial stations around the world are represented.

 There are also specialized services. The innovator III is compatible with several of these services such as the excellent Pandora and the awful Sirius.

 The Innovator III is compatible with more of these specialized services than other internet radios I have examined. This could be because manufacturers are recognizing that trying to restrict user choice is also a way to restrict sales of their products or simple foresight on the part of Grace Audio's marketers. Whatever is, I like the ability to receive Pandora and Live365. In fact, I wish they would make arrangements with more of these specialized service.

 You can also us specialized podcast and steaming features.

 Basic setup of the radio with your WiFi server is simple. Select the Access Point, enter your WEP or WPA key and you are off and running . . . almost.

 It is highly advisable that you register your unit. To do this, you have to visit a website. The registration process is simple . . . sort of.

 Obviously I have a reservation or two here.

 The problem is that once you enter your registration information, it appears that you are ready to go. I wanted to access my Pandora account, tried to follow the instructions in the manual and failed. I then spent the better part of an hour searching through Grace Digital Audio's support materials.

 I just couldn't find the "Extra Features" button they promised me would be there.

 I finally bumbled into logging out and logging back in and, lo and behold, there it was. Grace Digital should tell new registrants to log out and then back in if they want to activate their special features. By the way, during this process, I e-mailed Grace's tech support. Though I had already resolved the issue, Grace tech support responded very quickly.

 Sound quality is mediocre, neither unusually bad nor unusually good. Bass is not adequate and treble doesn't really accentuate the high notes. In short, it sounds like a run of the mill table radio. As background sound, it is fine. If you are a true audiophile, you will want to pipe the audio into more competent equipment.

 The 4-line LCD display is low-quality and very slow scrolling. Watching a title tag for a selection scroll across the screen is painful. Oddly, they display only time and not date on the display. An odd omission in my eyes.

 The controls, two knobs and 9 buttons, are responsive and well placed.

 You will want to read the manual. You can get by without it, but reading the manual once or twice will unveil a number of features that you might miss.

 The Innovator is a UPnP device and be handily used with streaming sources.

 Overall, this is a nice package. It's biggest deficiency is the sound quality of the box itself. Beyond that, everything else I've found is small and can be overlooked.

 This is a nice little package for home or office. Not the very, very best, but it will do.

Jerry
1568056
We live in an area with very marginal AM reception.  This radio receives stations here as well as any radio I've tried, and better than most.  It has all the features I can use, it is very easy to use (I especially like the presets), and it even looks good.
2850891
I tested and  sound great, ready to be on air, for our Internet radio, this is awesome
3063444
This is a very nice radio. Its reception is good and I like the separate on off switch. I use this as a portable and have never plugged the 110 cord in and the batterise seem to last quite well. It is exactly what I wanted.
2341425
Radio sounds very good. It is easy to scan to a local weather band when traveling down the Intracoastal Waterway. The aux input allows me to plug the laptop into the radio and play tunes from Youtube whenever I have access to WiFi. This radio is a real bargain for its price.
2636495
radio is pretty good.

only downside is the menu, but not terrible once you figure it out.
1587781
Hello folks interested in the Squeezebox Boom. I've had mine now for a week or so and wanted to offer up a current review. I own both the Squeezebox Boom and the Logitech Internet Radio so I am offering a bit of a comparison, if you will, of both products. I received the Internet Radio first and had about a month to use it and play around with it while waiting on the price of the Squeezebox Boom to come down to $169 when I ordered it. I found the Logitech Internet Radio to be a real delight. Very easy and intuitive to set up with the Quick Startup instructions included in the box. For more detailed user instructions, Logitech offers a PDF file on their site that you can download regarding the radio. For something quite modest in size, it can crank out the sound and it will easily fill a room with no problem. I found the controls easy to use and have run into very, very, few glitches with the Internet Radio. It has a beautiful color screen and I find that sometimes, while listening to NPR for example, the screen will not be showing the current offering that you are listening to. Hitting the button where you have saved the station will generally solve the problem. I have had maybe one or two issues where the radio might pause to re-acquire the wi-fi signal but that is it as far as issues that I have found. It is generally rock solid and sounds beautiful. I do sort of wish that Logitech might think about using a different finish on the radio. It is shiny black in most areas and shows every little fingerprint and smudge. I don't want to be nit-picken here, just brutally honest--lol. My advice about the radio is to buy it, you will like it. All firmware is updated from time to time over the internet. It can only get better and it's pretty good now!
  Regarding the Squeezebox Boom, I like it too. Mine, however, if more quirky than the Internet Radio, and I'm not sure why that is. It seems to stem from the fact that controlling most functions from the remote seem to take longer in some respects. I have noticed a lag between pushing buttons on the remote and seeing the results on the screen of the Squeezebox Boom. Activities like lowering volume, changing stations, etc. can all take considerably more time if the radio decides to sit and ponder your instructions. It is frustrating to have to wait for the radio to catch up with your key strokes on the remote. No such issues on the Internet Radio as no remote is required or included. The sound is good but I really question their claim of 30 watts of output. I have a 16 watt Marantz receiver that can blow the doors off of this device hands down. I think the Internet Radio will play nearly as loudly as the Squeezebox when you get right down to it. The SB Boom does offer the advantage of STEREO sound through the integrated speakers which is great. All in all, the upside here is considerably better than any major concerns I have and I will be hanging onto both radios. I am hoping any issues I am having with the remote control will be addressed over time with firmware updates. They are not deal breakers, just annoying from time to time. Logitech offers a PDF file on their site containing complete instructions for this radio as well.
1042391
Hard to find a simple but high quality radio these days.  This unit is very sensitive even without an add on antenna.  It is also highly selective and does not drift when tuning in weak stations.  I use it next so computer gear and don't notice any spurious EMF noise.  Sound is about as close to audiophile quality as you can get in a single speaker radio
3945863
This is a great little portable radio I can bring with me from room to room while listening to the ballgame, news, or talk radio at home. It's much more convenient than lugging the old GE Superadio around the house and trying to find a place to plug it in.

The tuning scale is quite small so you need to tune slowly and carefully, however, the tuning wheel operates very smoothly and with no freeplay or kickback so I have no complaints. The dial pointer is quite accurate on the scale. The on/off/volume wheel and band selector switch also have a solid feel to them.

Reception is very good for a radio of this size. I haven't tried out the FM much as I intend to use this radio primarily for AM listening, but I can get all my usual AM stations very clearly.

It does have an earphone jack but it's mono only. If you're going to use stereo headphones with it, you'll only hear sound from the left side. That's not a problem for me since I'll only be listening thru the speaker. The audio tone from the speaker is very pleasant, not too low and not tinny at all, for voice anyway. It may leave something to be desired for music.
3148659
I recently purchased the Kaito KA500L and am pleasantly surprised; it is quite a nice radio. My wife already has the top-line Kaito Voyager Pro KA600 but the new KA500L is a noticeably better sounding radio. In a side-by-side test, on the same station at the same volume., the audio difference was obvious.  This was an important spec for me. Although smaller than the KA600, the KA500L has a larger speaker and does deliver a bigger, more classic portable radio sound that I prefer. My wife even commented that the KA600 sounded "tinny" in comparison. However, the KA600 does offer many additional features that make it very attractive: AA alkaline battery power option,  multiple memories, a clock, thermometer, hygrometer, etc and its high quality was the main reason I decided to purchase another Kaito.

The KA500L's upgraded Lithium-ion battery is also a very welcome feature, easily holding it's initial charge over two weeks now. It sees near daily use.  It does not accept AA batteries so the longer charge hold is great.  The FM and AM reception is better than I expected.  The radio grabs the stations well, especially for a manual dial.  A red LED lights up when at optimum reception. I had only briefly tried the shortwave bands and was able to bring in one foreign language station adequately. SW is not a mandatory requirement here but I do plan to test those two bands more thoroughly some evening. The NOAA weather band reception and access is very good. Far easier to get to than on the KA600.

The supplied USB cable is barely 2' long, but I had another longer Amazon Basics cable that fortunately fit perfectly. The rotary switches are quite small but with careful use, they will hopefully last a long time. The hazard, reading, and combined dial/flashlight lights also work as they should. However, I would prefer to be able to use the radio dial light without the 1-LED flashlight being on simultaneously. I haven't had the opportunity (or need) to really try out either the hand-crank or solar-panel charging and cannot report on their performance. However, the solar-panel is somewhat larger than the KA500's panel so it may well charge more efficiently as they claim. The battery door also stays attached when opened (unlike the Pro model) so it won't inadvertently get lost.

Overall, the KA500L is a good quality, easy to use radio. And even with its noticeably improved audio, Li-Ion battery performance, and claimed solar charging improvements, it is still much more affordable than the Pro models.  I did buy the green.  The KA500L suits my needs well; I am glad I purchased it.
1448887
Great lil radio so far, been talking to people on different frequencies and it's been all good!!!!
3464923
I bought this on an impulse after being intrigued by the technology.

If you have a good wi-fi signal in your house or office, this is extremely easy to set up and use. I am not computer savvy by any means, but the display is very user friendly. I haven't read the instructions yet even.

You can select radio stations from anywhere in the world either by music type (genre) or country. Excellent selection!! Your favorite local station may not be on internet radio, you might want to check if that is really important to you.

The Pandora option is so easy to use, and it works great! I just listened to several hours of Christmas music after spending just a couple of minutes syncing the radio to my existing Pandora account. It is simple to set a new Pandora account up just for this radio too.

Overall I would recommend this radio. It is a neat gadget for sure. The sound quality from the on-board speaker is poor, like other reviews have said. It is sort of a muddy sound, not very crisp. I personally think that the other pros outweigh this (pretty big) con though. It might sound better if a couple of small speakers were hooked up to it... I haven't tried that yet.