Livio broke onto the Wi-Fi radio scene with the Livio Radio, featuring a "less is more" design philosophy that focused on Pandora's streaming music service. Today the company has announced a new Wi-Fi radio in the same vein, The NPR Radio ($200), which puts the focus on easily finding NPR content.
The backbone of The NPR Radio is the NPR menu, which is programmed by NPR and aggregates all of the company's content into a single menu, so you can easily find the NPR station you're looking for without having to know the station's call letters. Bringing up the menu is as easy as hitting the NPR button on the front panel and your saved stations pop up when you hit My NPR. You'll also have the ability to stream NPR podcasts, which is nice if you prefer on-demand listening rather than tuning in at a specific time.
Aside from NPR programming, The NPR Radio is still capable of accessing the thousands of other Internet radio stations freely available. The design and feature set of The NPR Radio is nearly identical to the Livio Radio; a remote is included, and there's an auxiliary input on the back. Livio told us that the company intends to add Pandora streaming functionality to The NPR Radio (and, conversely, add the NPR menu to the original Livio Radio), but it couldn't give us a specific date of when that functionality is expected.
If you're a techie, it's easy to be cynical about The NPR Radio; you can get all the same streams on better-featured products like the Grace GDI-IR2000 and Logitech Squeezebox Radio. Still, we can't deny that The NPR Radio's straightforward/simple approach has appeal, especially for those who love NPR's content, but are less comfortable with technology.
The NPR Radio is currently available for preorder on NPR Shop and is expected ship in November.
Wi-Fi radios would seem to be a perfect bedside companion, but surprisingly few of them are designed to work as an alarm clock.
The Acoustic Research ARIR200 is one of few that is designed to (at least try to) wake you up in the morning, with a big snooze button on top and easy access to the alarm via buttons on the top. In addition, the ARIR200 is packed with many features not seen even on more expensive radios, including the ability to record stations to its internal memory, Slacker streaming, and weather updates--all for a very reasonable street price of about $100.
So why the half-hearted praise? Unfortunately we ran into some connectivity problems (although only at the office) and the ARIR200 tends to emit a hissing sound that's annoying even at this price. We were also disappointed that Acoustic Research didn't throw in dual alarm functionality, especially because it's available on the competing Aluratek Internet Radio.
The Acoustic Research ARIR200 doesn't have any deal-breaking flaws and the price is right, but a few critical improvements would have made us like it a lot more.
On Sale Now: $95.51 - $129.99
View the latest prices for Acoustic Research ARIR200 Internet Radio
Consider the i765 a pint-sized home theater system
(Credit: Cambridge SoundWorks)When we first saw the Polk Audio I-Sonic, we dubbed it a "home theater in a shoebox." But now the all-in-one I-Sonic finally looks to have some competition in the form of the Cambridge SoundWorks i765. At first glance, the product looks like a doppelganger of the company's Radio CD 745i, but adds DVD playback and a top-mounted iPod dock to the AM/FM radio, CD player, and dual-alarm system found on that earlier model. The price is a hefty $500, but that's $100 less than that of the I-Sonic, which lacks the iPod dock but includes digital HD Radio and support (with an add-on antenna dongle and monthly subscription) for XM satellite radio.
... Read moreOn Sale Now: $249.99 - $314.99
View the latest prices for Cambridge SoundWorks i765
Polk Audio has taken the wraps off the I-Sonic Entertainment System 2, the follow-up to the company's impressive 2006 tabletop AV system. The new ES2 model gets the iPod dock that was missing from the original I-Sonic, but it loses the Swiss-Army-knife luster of that all-in-one model: gone are CD/DVD player and XM satellite radio support (though an auxiliary line-in port lets you connect any external device of your choosing). Video output (for the increasingly burgeoning number of video-capable iPods) remains, as does the dual alarm clock and HD Radio tuner. And it's the interaction between the HD Radio and the iPod where the new I-Sonic debuts a first-of-its-kind feature called iTunes Tagging.
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The Chestnut Hill George: now cheaper (thanks to a price drop) and better (via firmware upgrades)
(Credit: Chestnut Hill Sound)Remember George? The iPod-friendly tabletop radio from audio start-up Chestnut Hill Sound garnered mostly positive reviews when it debuted earlier this year, thanks largely to its unique wireless remote control, but the $550 sticker price limited its appeal. Well, as of today, it's a decidedly better deal. Chestnut Hill has lowered the price to $500 and will bundle in the outboard remote charging stand--pretty much a must-have accessory--at no extra cost for units sold through the end of the year. To date, the charging stand cost an extra $50 as well, so the net savings on the new deal is a cool $100. Still pricey, to be sure, but right in line with plenty of other luxury label tabletop offerings from Bose, Tivoli Audio, and Boston Acoustics--none of which offer the George's cool remote.
In addition to the price drop, there's more good news for current and prospective George owners. The long-promised "skins" (side panels and speaker grilles available in different colors, as seen on Chestnut Hill's website) are now on track for October availability; they're expected to retail for $100 apiece. And the company has continued to make good on its pledge to keep updating the product, with the latest of several free firmware upgrades adding a variety of tweaks and improvements to the product. Meanwhile, the company is still planning to deliver the promised HD Radio add-on before the end of the year.
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