Product ReviewsMultimedia hardware
This wifi radio from Roberts is every bit as good as you would expect of this prestigious radio manufacturer. The large slab of black plastic connects to your network wirelessly or using an Ethernet cable and, as well as functioning as an Internet radio, can also be used to play music from your iPod or other audio source, by plugging it into an auxiliary 3.5mm jack on the back of the radio. It can also stream music from a UPnP server and has a clock and four alarms. We found set-up to be a breeze. The radio automatically detected the wifi access points within range and, after selecting the one we wanted to connect to, we were able to input the network password. This was the only fiddly part of the process because
After connecting to our network we were able to scroll through the list of available stations by either location or genre. In common with some other Internet radios, the Roberts uses the Reciva (reciva.com) service to provide lists of stations. This means that you can create an account on Reciva and set-up your own preferred list and download it to the radio. The other way to select stations is to scroll through the lists by genre or location, select the one you want and save it as a preset, using either the dial or the credit card-sized remote control. Unlike other Internet radios, you can also access on demand content from services such as the BBC's Listen Again - when you select a station with available on demand content, you're asked whether you want to listen live or whether you want to choose from a list of on demand programmes. Audio quality from the two 5W speakers is obviously largely dependent on the quality of the encoding from the station you're listening to. But the tone from the radio itself is beautifully rich and warm. It may be expensive, but the Roberts Wifi Internet radio is nothing short of superb. By Kenny Hemphill
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