Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In mid 2008, I purchased another Reciva-based product that was more expensive. I still like that one very much, but it has some glitches that are more or less permanent. Some of them are due to the design, and some are due to a lack of support from the brand. I was expecting rough edges from this radio, but my experience with it has been smoother. In short, it has the tried and true feature set common to Recivas, without the glitches of my old unit.
Positives:
Streams, Podcasts, UPNP/DLNA.
MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, Real.
Customizable menu entries via Reciva website.
Differences:
Missing from this is a wired Ethernet jack and a USB port for Mass Storage Compliant devices, but the MSC feature on the other radio was half-implemented anyway. The old unit couldn't run on batteries. The wi-fi bars on the old unit's playback screen have been replaced by a clock.
Knocks Cured:
More robust power cord from "brick" to radio.
Mute works with headphones.
Hardware power switch on back of radio.
More responsive menus.
Wider field of regard for remote control sensor.
More robust remote control.
Remote control takes AA batteries.
Fewer, but easier-to-use presets.
Display backlight can turn off.
Redundant entries removed from station listings.
Station listings have subcategories.


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Crystal Clear Streaming Wherever you Are AM and FM radio stations all over the world stream their audio content over the Internet. Grace Digital Audio's Allegro Wi-Fi radio allows you take advantage of this massive amount of free content, as well as a variety of subscription Internet radio services conveniently and efficiently wherever you are. Setup is simple, all you need is access to a broadband Internet connection via a wireless router. Acting like any wireless device, once configured to the Wi-Fi signal(s) available and its security, if any, the Allegro provides quick access to literally thousand of Internet radio stations and podcasts without having to fire up a computer. Users can listen to the hottest premium online music services like Pandora, Live365 and Sirius* utilizing either standard AC power or via battery power in the form of either 6 AA batteries or a rechargeable NiMH battery. In addition, the Allegro facilitates even further audio functionality by allowing you to stream audio files directly from your PC or Mac to the device's speaker. Supported formats include: audio - AIFF, AIFC, WAVE, CAF, Next, ADTS, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WMA; playlist - ASX, M3U, PLS; streaming protocols - HTTP, HTTPS, RTSP, WSMP, Shoutcast. Users can also utilize either the full function remote control included, with its 10 presets, search and song skip functionality, or control the unit via iPhone / iPod Touch. Totally portable yet easy access to thousands of free and premium Internet radio content streams. View larger.

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Grace Digital GDI-IRA500 Wireless Internet Radio Adapter Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Grace Solo internet radio does a great job connecting the world of internet radio to my home stereo.
The Solo is good looking and connects simply out of the box. Plug in the power, connect the standard rca cable to your stereo, turn it on, choose your home network and within 5 minutes you are listening to Pandora or one of the 17,000 radio stations. While Grace has many models of standalone table top radios, I like the Solo because it connects directly to my home stereo (or even powered speakers). The solo even has a headset jack.
When you first take the Solo out of the box, you see the Solo internet radio tuner, a power cable, manual, remote and rca cable to connect to your stereo. It uses WiFi to access the internet. Make sure you have Wi-Fi in your home, and that it is strong in the area you put the solo. The Solo does have a built in Wi-Fi signal meter to see how strong your Wi-Fi is. So if you put it on the bottom shelf of your stereo system and notice a weak signal you may want to put it on a middle or top shelf. The Solo works with any 802.11b,g or n router and has a built in 802.11g receiver.
After you connect to your wireless network (you will need your wireless WEP or WPA password to do this) and set the time zone on the clock, the Solo remembers everything (including station presets) when you unplug it. That is nice because no one wants to type their wireless password in more than once.
Once you are set up you can start searching for stations by genre or location or type the call sign of the station directly into the radio. You can do this via the remote control or directly on the unit itself. I like Pandora. In order to listen to Pandora you have to register your radio at Grace's web site [...] . After you create a Grace account you enter in your Pandora user name and password on the Grace site and the radio is linked to your Pandora stations. Within a minute your Pandora stations are on the Grace radio in the `personal radio' folder. Pretty cool. You can create stations on the Grace Solo, although I prefer to do that on the Pandora web site. Grace plays SIRIUS and Live365 as well but I do not have SIRIUS or Live365 VIP accounts so I can't comment on that.

I really love the Grace unit. I get all my local radio stations #my FM reception is bad at my house but my favorite FM stations - most do these days - broadcast over the internet .. so I get those, Pandora, NPR and I even started listening to the BBC 4 which is kind of cool#.
Obviously I give this a 5 star. The only negative I would say is that on a few random stations they do not show the song metadata (they all show the station metadata). I'm not sure if that is because the station is not sending it or what. You get the station and song metadata for Pandora which is the most important for me. Oh - you can even thumbs up or down Pandora songs .. very of cool.

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Convenient Access to Online Music in Your Home AM and FM radio stations all over the world stream their audio content over the Internet. Grace Digital Audio's "Solo" product line of Wi-Fi Receiver and Media Streamers allow you link this massive amount of free content, as well as a variety of pay Internet radio services, conveniently and efficiently to your stereo or home entertainment system. Setup is simple, all you need is access to a broadband Internet connection and a wireless router. Acting like any wireless device, once configured to the Wi-Fi signal(s) available and its security, if any, the Solo Wi-Fi Receiver provides quick access to literally thousand of Internet radio stations and podcasts from your home stereo without having to fire up a computer. In addition, users can listen to the hottest premium online music services like Pandora, Live365 and Sirius*. Easy access to thousands of free and premium Internet radio content streams without using a computer. View larger.

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