Screw HD, every radio nerd needs one of THESE!

[jeffryan]

A WiFi internet radio! I just bought the one below and I can't stop playing with it.

http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-audio-receivers-dars/grace-itc-ir1000b-wireless/4505-6470_7-32788167.html

This is such a cool concept. It's a table-top radio that recieves internet audio streams. There are (no word of a lie) over 10,000 stations in this puppy... terrestrial and internet stations from around the globe. You can also add stations in. It's so easy to use and surprisingly, the audio quality is exceptional!

Essentially, it's internet radio on an actual radio. No computer necessary! I can't believe I didn't get one of these sooner.

 

[Skynet74]

I've been hearing about these and I always put the thought of getting one on the back burner. But I love technology and I can guarantee you that it's only a matter of time before one or two of these are in my house.

 

[Runrigger]

I said I'd never switch from cassettes to CDs. That ended.
I said I'd never upgrade from VHS to DVD. That went too.
I said I'd never pay for radio. After a 3 month XM trial I'm paying for it.
I see where this is going. I can use the money I save by still refusing to buy bottled water.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Essentially, it's internet radio on an actual radio. No computer necessary! I can't believe I didn't get one of these sooner.

Umm, isn't the claim of "no computer necessary" a gross overstatement? Wouldn't I need to add a WiFi AP (access point) to my PC and have the PC powered up and operating so that it could connect the AP to the signal from the PC's DSL modem before the AP would broadcast the Internet Radio signals to the Grace "radio?" I think so, but I could be wrong. If I am wrong, can you tell me how you get the broadband Internet signal to the Grace "radio?" I think that without such a signal the "radio" is nothing but a very expensive (and rather large) shiny, black paperweight. Thanks.

 

[jeffryan]

Umm, isn't the claim of "no computer necessary" a gross overstatement?

Not at all! All you need is a wireless router, which just about everyone reading this board should have. You DO NOT need to connect a computer or even boot one up for this to work. The signal goes right from your router directly to this radio. It's all wireless, just like an actual radio.

When you power up the radio, it searches for available WiFi signals and prompts you to select one to connect to. It's as simple as that. I can't put into words how incredibly simple this is to setup and use.

I think that without such a signal the "radio" is nothing but a very expensive (and rather large) shiny, black paperweight. Thanks.

This is FAR from a paperweight. Once WiFi is available in the car, and a receiver like this is available in-dash, it will be the ultimate checkmate to traditional radio.

Seriously, you guys have to check this out. In the meantime, enjoy the station I'm currently listening to on my WiFi radio, Hy Lit Radio: http://www.hylitradio.com/asx/hylit-radio.asx.php - the best oldies station available from the thousands I have to choose from... with a unique Philadelphia touch.

 

[Skynet74]

This is the sort of thing that will change radio advertising as we know it. How do you sell ad time on your station to local businesses when a good deal of the listeners don't even live in the area. I don't know how stations are going to handle this one. But this is just yet another road block to come along that will make it even tougher to sell local ad time. Bill's Honda in Johnston isn't going to benefit much by all the people listening to WPRO on their Wifi Radio who happen to live hundreds of miles away. The more Wifi radios in circulation, the less people who are going to be tuned into their local station. This is like 10,000 New stations entering into your market on the same day!!! This may change the face of radio even more than CD's, IPOD's and Satellite Radio combined. Very very interesting times ahead.

 

[DanStrassberg]

Umm, isn't the claim of "no computer necessary" a gross overstatement?

Not at all! All you need is a wireless router, which just about everyone reading this board should have. You DO NOT need to connect a computer or even boot one up for this to work. The signal goes right from your router directly to this radio. It's all wireless, just like an actual radio.

Sorry, you are still confusing me! I am an EE with an MS in EE from MIT. If this were as straightforward as you claim, I would not be confused. How does the router get the broadband digital signal that it converts to a 2.4-GHz WiFi signal that it transmits over the air so that the radio can receive and demodulate it into audio? In my case, the broadband digital signal is DSL, which is received from the copper telephone line by a DSL modem that has to handshake with the network before it can receive much of anything worth receiving. The PC controls my end of the handshaking process. Does the router contain a DSL modem? From my study of DSL modems, I don't think so. Does the router contain all of the smarts that the PC uses to cause the handshake to occur. That's possible, I guess. Can you connect a DSL modem to a wireless router over the same kind of RJ-45 cable that the modem uses to communicate with the PC? Maybe so, but I've never heard of that!

 

[jeffryan]

Sorry, you are still confusing me! I am an EE with an MS in EE from MIT.

Then you must not have graduated in the last 20 years or so. You don't have to overcomplicate this. The bottom line is if you have wireless internet access in your home, all you have to do is plug the radio in and turn it on. It's really that simple.

If you're still confused, ask your kids. Tomorrow's media consumer... who incidentially will eat up a product like this.

 

[DanStrassberg]

You don't have to overcomplicate this. The bottom line is if you have wireless internet access in your home, all you have to do is plug the radio in and turn it on. It's really that simple.

How many people have wireless Internet service? It is NOT common! High-speed Internet service is mostly delivered by cable or DSL. In both cases, the connection is over copper (coax for cable; twisted pair for DSL). A much smaller percentage of the public has fiber to the curb (FIOS if your service provider is Verizon). Satellite-delivered TV sometimes includes high-speed Internet, but generally does not because you need two-way communication to access the Internet even though broadband digital content, such as Internet radio doesn't really need the uploading capability once the stream has been selected and the connection has been established. However, since most Internet radio requires some level of interaction (even if the listener isn't aware of it), it seems unlikely that Internet radio would function without bidirectional communication. Who is YOUR wireless Internet service provider and what is YOUR connection speed, typically?

 

[jeffryan]

You seem really hung up on the technical aspect, which I don't understand any more than the technical aspect of regular radio. All I can tell you is that I have bare bones DSL. But who cares how it works as long as it DOES work? And boy, does it work! This is the best $175 I've ever spent.

But beyond that, my WiFi radio is so easy to use. You turn it on and you're ready to go. How much less complicated can you get?

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

If the HD Radio Alliance / Ibiquity isn't worried over WiFi......they ought to be!

Even the most casual cost-benefit analysis would prove this out. True enough, you don't have to pay anything to recieve an HD broadcast......except for the HD radio itself. But......for the money spent, the benefits in the form of additonal programming are marginal at best.

On the other hand, although there is a monthly fee for WiFi service, and the cost of purchase for a WiFi radio......The benefit is in the form of literally THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS of channels of programming of all stripes......literally something for everyone.

Once WiFi or WiMax becomes more commonly available......and when people get more accustomed to paying a monthly fee fpr radio......this will be the ultimate no-brainer!

 

[chriscoxradio]

You're kidding, right?
You don't know what Wireless Internet is?
You don't need a monthly fee for Wifi "Service". All you need is a pre-existing connection, through your current ISP, which goes into a broadband router (all of ~$50). From that, you can plug it into your computer, and the wifi radio will pick the signal up as well. You don't need to have your computer on. Honestly, it's quite simple.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

You're kidding, right?
You don't know what Wireless Internet is?
You don't need a monthly fee for Wifi "Service". All you need is a pre-existing connection, through your current ISP, which goes into a broadband router (all of ~$50). From that, you can plug it into your computer, and the wifi radio will pick the signal up as well. You don't need to have your computer on. Honestly, it's quite simple.

For the people out there who don't have any ISP service at all......there certainly WILL be a monthly fee.

Let's not forget......though many of us are part of the wired or wireless world, as the case may be......many millions are not, are not likely to be for quite some time.

 

[jeffryan]

For the people out there who don't have any ISP service......or even a computer, for that matter, there certainly WILL be a monthly fee.

I think chriscoxradio is referring to a monthy fee for the radio, of which there is none. Of course you have to pay for an internet service, which most people already do. Unless you're lifting your neighbor's wireless internet.

 

[NHRadio]

With all due respect Mr. Strassberg, it may be more common than you realize. Many families have wireless Internet so the kids can use their laptops while someone else may be surfing or even (gasp) working. The equipment can be bought at Walmart for less than $100. I have a 3Mbps ADSL connection into a combination modem/access point (the Verizon One) and the Wi-fi radio being discussed. It works beautifully, and I don't have to run Ethernet cable through my house for my office and the kids room. Some use Wi-Fi networks to stream audio and/or video to a home theatre using the Windows XP Media Center Edition or whatver the Vista equivalent is.

[/quote]
How many people have wireless Internet service? It is NOT common!
[/quote]

 

[1900radio]

Strassburg doesn't get that you can have WiFi without a PC?? LOL. For Cable... co-ax cable connects to the router... bam!

And who doesn't have a computer now anyways?

 

[Skynet74]

My Internet Provider provided me with a free Wireless router back in 2005 when I signed up for service. It has worked like a charm ever since. I've got four computers in my house and they all have no problem picking up a signal. On those rare occasions when there is a glitch (very rare) it's still not a problem for me because I happen to pick up my neighbors unsecured wireless signal. He should really do something about that. lol

But I think the issue here is getting a wifi Radio to work in your car while driving. Sure it's not a problem at home when you've got a wireless modem like many of us do. Then these types of Radios are great to listen to in the house! But how about the car? Once a wifi signal gets the same coverage as cell phones have, that is when the industry will be totally turned upside down. From the little I know so far..... it's not easy to get a constant reliable internet signal when you are just driving across this great land of ours. However if there is something that I don't know about this than I would be more than happy for someone to fill me in.

 

[DanStrassberg]

You seem really hung up on the technical aspect, which I don't understand any more than the technical aspect of regular radio. All I can tell you is that I have bare bones DSL. But who cares how it works as long as it DOES work? And boy, does it work! This is the best $175 I've ever spent.

But beyond that, my WiFi radio is so easy to use. You turn it on and you're ready to go. How much less complicated can you get?

Well, you've admitted what I suspected after I read your first post in this thread--that you don't really know what you are talking about. According to a Web search that I did last night, Comcast is the only provider of Wireless broadband service in my (close-in) suburban Boston community. OK, at least there is ONE! The maximum advertised speed is 384 kbps--1/4 the speed of my (wired) AT&T DSL service. (Verizon's lowest-tier of wired DSL service runs at 768 kbps, so Comcast's wireless broadband is 1/2 as fast as that.)

I am unclear about the means that Comcast uses to implement its WiFi service. WiFi, which operates in the unlicensed 2.4-GHz band, is a very short-range technology. Ranges are typically measured in tens of feet. If you have DSL service as you say, I presume that you have installed a WiFi router or access point in your house. It is the signal from that access point that your WiFi radio receives. Unless you have a very large house, the signal from your access point probably covers your whole house and a small piece of the street in front. Maybe the signal reaches next door. Comcast might be mounting access points on the utility poles in front of the houses of its wireless broadband customers.

Since you presumably have your own access point, you must be using it for your computers as well as your WiFi radio. If you are using the WiFi signal for your computers, you need to worry about security--so passers by won't steal your credit card numbers when you make on-line purchases, for example. Now, don't those security provisions affect the ability of your WiFi radio to decode the signals that your access point transmits? Or are you just ignoring security?

My point is that, although you seem to think that WiFi radios are the wave of the future, the technology is anything but trivial and there are aspects of it that you not only haven't thought about but that you apparently are completely unaware of. And those aspects could turn your experience with the technology from a blast into a disaster.

 

[DanStrassberg]

With all due respect Mr. Strassberg, it may be more common than you realize. Many families have wireless Internet so the kids can use their laptops while someone else may be surfing or even (gasp) working. The equipment can be bought at Walmart for less than $100.

Yes, but in the case you are describing, the wired-broadband customer is setting up his/her own access point. Unless she or he does that (or unless the WiFi "radio" can accept a wired-broadband signal in place of the wireless WiFi signal), the "radio" won't function. Well, OK, it will also function if a neighbor has installed an unsecured access point. As I've learned, you can buy wireless-broadband service (in my town, Comcast offers it. The maximum advertised speed is 384 kbps.) But generally speaking, WiFi access points in residential neighborhoods are owned by the residents, not by service providers. So for many wired-broadband customers (me, for instance) there is another step and another piece of equipment required. AND, AFAIK, the wired access point won't work unless the PC is powered up and running and I am logged into the DSL network. That is NOT what was stated in the original posting in this thread.

 

[Skynet74]

It's not all that complicated Dan.

Step 1. Connect wireless Modem to cable or phone line
Step 2. Turn on Wifi radio
Step 3. Listen to It.

Anybody can over complicate ANYTHING. Your TV won't work unless you plug it into the wall, then you have to make sure you are close enough to an outlet. If not than you will need to purchase an extension cord. Better make sure the remote is properly functioning too. Then you have to deal with having the right size batteries. Thus another step. Also.... how will you be receiving your channels? Will you supply your own Coaxial cable and then connect it into the wall and call the cable company to turn on service? How about a cable box? Do you want a DVR box to record your favorite programs? You may need the cable company to come to your house and connect everything. Thus another step to complicate things. Oh Noooo... more wires!!!!

I think people are wondering why you are over complicating such a simple process Dan. I'll repeat what I said when I began this post.

Step 1. Connect wireless Modem to cable or phone line
Step 2. Turn on Wifi radio
Step 3. Listen to It.



It's really that simple. If your only concern is whether or not the Radio can be setup to receive a secured wireless signal from your access point, than it probably would have been easier to have just said that.