Online Music Without a PC

Wi-Fi Internet Radios Offer Thousands of Free Stations But Some Trade-Offs

November 2008 By Rebecca Day

multipage

When Internet radio first hit the scene, I loved the idea of being able to tune into a cool San Francisco radio station whenever I wanted or to listen for the local news in Spain before traveling there for vacation. The appeal was limited by having to listen at the computer or by stringing an Ethernet cable from a radio to a router. Now a number of Wi-Fi options have sprouted up, enabling consumers to tap into the latest tunes from Latvia from the comfort of their living rooms over their wireless home networks.

The target listeners for Wi-Fi radios are people who want free access to an immense variety of stations; immigrants and expats who want to plug into their homelands for news and cultural programs; people who live in areas poorly covered by AM and FM broadcasts and those who want to diversify their cultural knowledge. Internet radio offers a great opportunity to eavesdrop on talk radio in Qatar or check out the music scene in Paris, but radios have to be simple to set up and use for the concept to work. Internet radio stations can also be a bit unreliable. A favorite station may be available one day, and disappear the next. The low bit-rate of Internet music prevents any Internet radio from being a true high fidelity component, but some come much closer than others. Wi-Fi does add a layer of complexity to the picture, but adds much needed flexibility to where you place the radio. We rounded up five Wi-Fi Internet radios, and here’s what we found.

Logitech Squeezebox Boom ($299)

www.logitech.com

Logitech offers the most comprehensive music library of the bunch, linking the Boom network music system to other Logitech networked music players in the house, to music from a PC, and to half a dozen Internet radio services (Shoutcast, Sirius, Live365 and more) broken up into dozens of genres with seemingly endless station options. Logitech’s Squeeze Network also integrates with six online music services including Rhapsody, Pandora and Slacker. Add podcasts, RSS feeds and special effects and you’ve got way more than you’ll ever use. With natural sounds like crickets, ocean surf, babbling brook and rain, you’ve got a sleep machine, too, along with sleep timer and alarm.

The Boom is shaped like a scaled-down boom box—with a big dial and six presets (again, not enough presets). Despite the look and name, it’s not portable. Its small remote has raised buttons and is comfortable to use, and you can navigate easily via the front panel buttons as well.