First look: Roberts Stream 202

Monday, July 7th, 2008

With 75 years of experience and a brand almost synonomous with the word ‘radio’, I dare say Roberts knows more about radio design than I do.

Yet, if I asked you – without looking at the labels – to guess what that big shiny button slap bang in the middle of the picture above did, I bet the vast majority of you would plump for the volume knob. Maybe it’s just me, but every time I go to turn the volume up on the Stream 202, I end up scrolling from BBC Radio 2 to Jerusalem FM, or some other remarkably obscure net radio station.

In addition to internet radio, the Stream 202 spits out Dab, FM and streams music from other PCs in your house, making it a versatile beast. And while I’m still struggling to get to grips with the volume controls, the sound it produces is simply sparkling, with every rolled R of the Stephen Fry podcasts, and every thumping beat from 6 Music faithfully reproduced, without the slightest hint of rattle or distortion.

Check out our full review later this week.

Just in: Noxon iRadio for iPod

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

Terratec’s Noxon iRadio for iPod – which has just dropped into the PC Pro office for review – is a veritable Swiss Army Knife of digital audio. In addition to the standard internet radio functions, it boasts an FM tuner, iPod dock and can stream music from other PCs in the house. If it could make a decent cup of tea, too, it would make the perfect replacement for our news reporter.

Within five minutes of taking the bread-loaf sized device out of the box, we had it connected to our Wi-Fi network, thanks to a commendably simple set-up wizard, although entering our router’s WPA key with the Noxon’s quirky remote control was akin to trying to spell egalitarianism. Backwards.

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The future’s bright, the future’s Babasonicos* straight to your mobile

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Internet radios are nothing new, but here’s one that promises something a bit different.

Not content with merely letting you listen to the latest hit singles from around the world (and several hundred stations intent on playing nothing but Wham! till the world ends), this new entry from Orange brings something new, and somewhat inevitable, to the table.

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