Hewlett Packard Digital Audio Recorder (DE100C)

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Experience a new world of digital music. HPM-^Rs digital audio recorder works with your stereo, TV, and Internet* connection to store and play your favorite music. The 40GB hard drive will store/sort up to 750 CDs. Create playlists, transfer tracks to an MP3 player/PDA, or burn music to a CD in the built-in CD-RW tray. Tune in to Internet radio stations worldwide; play videos or movie trailers on your TV. *Connect to your dial-up or broadband provider via phone line. Router required for broadband.
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 "What can I say - I love mine so much I bought one for my Dad" 2008-05-29
By Alpha (Lake Monticello, VA)
I personally have not had one moment of trouble with my DE100C - nor the one I bought for my father. It's a tremendous convenience having my entire music library (over 400 CDs) in one location and searchable.



There are some great web sites with information for upgrading and enhancing this unit. It's a breeze to upgrade and improve. Mine now has a 1 ghz processor, 256 mb of RAM and a 160 GB drive (all very inexpensive upgrades). My fathers just has the memory upgraded - but both work great.



There is a good Yahoo group that supports these and you can find a lot of helpful and knowledgeable people there. I try to offer my .02 as well...



If you're looking for a nice digital entertainment center without breaking the bank, you'll like the DE100C (or it's sister the DE200C). Fun, easy to use and it's a wonderful convenience. Sound quality is great. The menus attractive. Overall I couldn't be more satisfied.

 "Not Recommended" 2002-09-21
By
This product is not worth the cost. It does not connect to the internet efficiently. Wireless is not available. Keyboard doesn't connect which makes editing playlist painful. Although there are 3 USB ports, they don't seem to work. Networking doesn't seem to work behind a firewall. You can't add drivers via the CD because it doesn't understand a data CD.

HP Support is unhelpful. I sent e-mail asking about attaching a Lynksys Wireless Ethernet. The response was - we can't help you on third party wireless solutions - just HP. So I responded - what is HP's solution. Answer - "We don't have one"!

I recommend you buy a dedicated PC - it functions better and more reliable.

 "Wish I could recommend this more..." 2002-02-24
By J. Ogle (Knoxville, TN USA)
I've had my HPDEC since Christmas. At first it worked great, but about a month later it really started to have problems. It started locking up during its nightly updates and requiring cold boots to recover. Then one day it quit coming up altogether. It would sit at the "Starting Up" screen and go no further. :( I scoured the HP Technical Support site but they had no information on how to fix it so I called HP Tech Support. They put me on hold for almost an hour (at my expense, they don't have an 800 number), and finally got to talk to a technician who told me these "secret" way to reset it:

1) During a cold startup, hold down the 'CD' button to reset to try to reinstall the last patch.

2) If that doesn't work, hold down the 'CD' button to get to the '5 seconds' screen, then press and hold 'CD','Library',and 'Record' until a screen comes up saying restoring to Failsafe version. This restores the OS and software to the original factory-installed version. You'll have to go through audio/network setup again, but it DOES NOT erase your saved music, as that is stored safely on a different disk partition.

I had to perform Step 2 about twice a week for the next three weeks till I got fed up and unplugged my network cable (which is the only way to stop the nightly updates). That seemed to work until the power went out last week and I had to do it yet again. Ugh. Can't say I'd call this this thing STABLE by any means... I really like it otherwise, about the only other really annoying thing is it should allow you to hook up a keyboard since entry of song/cd info through the remote control is PAINFUL.

 "DE100C not ready for prime-time." 2002-02-13
By P. Grace (Belmont, CA USA)
Wow--I bought one, and it has been the WORST consumer electronics experience of my lifetime.

The device does not read CD's when you plug it in and start it up. You have to reset it, but the instructions on how to do so are wrong.

Although you can put in on a local area network, and download music to it, you cannot upload music from it.

Even when downloading it takes from minutes to hours to "post" the downloaded music in your library. (No, you can't find them in your "Recent Downloads" file either.)

When you shut it off, the hard drive continues running 24x7 unless you really shut it down (hold the power switch for 5 seconds) If you have an energy star monitor attached to the unit (it's internal display is really not usable) the monitor will not go to sleep.

When ripping CD's to the hard disk, the machine plays out of the hard disk, but you can't play anything except the tracks being ripped. (unlike a Tivo or ReplayTV where recording and playback are understanbly not tied together)

Every morning the unit powers itself up to check for updates, but it never powers down.

Downloading to a Compact Flash card (by the approved SanDisk SDDR-31) just does not work. "No portable device found".

The unit requires Audio CD-R or CD-RW royalty-paid media, but only low-speed media is writable.

I burned an Audio CD-RW sucessfully, but the unit refused to erase it afterwards. "CD is not writable".

Calls and EMails to HP support are the most ridiculous thing imaginable (I saved them) Support does not read the question, they merely supply an answer that has some of the same keywords as your question--Like the answer to my question about erasing CD-RWs was two-fold: A: "You can't use data CD-RW, you have to use Audio CD-RW" (Since I burned it, they should have known it was Audio media--I told them it was. B: The DE100C does not Erase media (then what does the "Erase CD-RW" function do?)

Anyway, I strongly urge people NOT to buy this. For its incredible lack of functionality, it's WAY overpriced. I'm taking mine back shortly. I'll just buy a dedicated laptop for less.

 "Pretty good first try...." 2002-01-13
By Allan Gobin
The good stuff:

1. Very intuitive on-screen menu system. Simple and effective.
2. Built in modem for Internet access. No need for network connection.
3. Built in Internet radio...if you listen to radio.
4. Built in Ethernet network. Allows MP3 uploads but no downloads.
5. Large hard-drive: 40G
6. CD writer. Allow you to create CDs of MP3 selections.
7. Fast MP3 ripping to hard disk.
8. Very stable software.

The negative stuff:

1. Offers ONLY MP3 compression format with the best MP3 quality of 256bps. While this quality level will be adequate for most people. Audiophiles (like myself) should expect to lose about 10-15% of CD quality. (Because MP3 compression is similar to JPEG compression, expect the lost to be overall detail, especially in the high-end.) The new Compaq unit offers the max MP3 quality of 320bps but falls short in other areas. I have already requested of HP to offer an uncompressed format or at least the higher 320bps option. Since they are using Real Network jukebox software, which already offers this, it should be easy.
2. No backup option. BEWARE, if that hard-drive crashes you will lose everything on it. I am planning on figuring out a way to backup the drive. It took a lot of work to get all my music into it in the first place.
3. Only able to download music to a very limited number of MP3 portable players e.g. RIO.

Actually, besides the sound quality, which I have already admit would be more than satisfactory for most people. I have no complaints about the unit. I actually bought a Krell DAC to use with the unit, which helps a lot. The onboard DAC is standard fare...but plug it into a good DAC via the coaxial out digital port and it will become much easier to live with if you are an audiophile.

FYI: this unit is feeding a Krell DAC and power amp connected to B&Ws.


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CTA DIGITAL MI-IRP1 Portable Internet Radio with 1GB Memory

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CTA DIGITAL MI-IRP1 Portable Internet Radio with 1GB Memory. The MI-IRP1 Portable Internet Radio from CTA Digital can replace all of your portable media devices. This slim stylish device weighs only 2 oz yet has 1GB of flash memory, plays audio files, FM radio, video files, picture files, Internet radio and even streams music from your computers media library. Add more media to your device with the Micro SD/MMC card slot. The mini USB port allows for data transfer and charges your portable radio while connected. The FM radio has presets, auto scan and the ability to instantly record WAV files of whatever you are tuned into.
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Technical Details

- 1GB Portable Internet Radio
- Supports MP3, WMA, Secure WMA, AAC, OGG, WAV, AIFF
- Streams Music from Windows Media Player
- FM Radio and Recorder with Presets and Autoscan
- Earphones/ USB Cable/ CD with MediaCoder SE/ Warranty Card
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 "Dont buy this product." 2009-03-13
By M. Johannessen
First radio broken glass and didn't start up. Second radio is connected to internet but cannot search for radio stations. Tried to get hold of support in NYC but noone available. A bad product even if the idea is good.



Where they have hidden the MMC card reader I don't know. Have sent several mails so CTA but no answer.

 "Great but no support" 2009-02-13
By Jon A. Hupp (Annapolis, MD USA)
This device is a fantastic, tiny, Wifi Internet Radio. It uses the vTuner database for stations. Unlike larger radios, you cannot add stations or streams online and have them uploaded to the radio. You can add stations, but via a very cumbersome process since the radio does not have a keyboard. There is no MicroSD card (as sometimes advertised). A German version of this radio is identical with the MicroSD card. Sound quality and Wifi strength are great. It does support WEP but not WPA. It isn't great for MP3s, Movies, or Photos but then there are better and cheaper devices for these. There is absolutely NO support from what I can tell. Websites referenced in the manual don't exist and CTA's site has very little information. Still, it is very small, good battery life and works well as an Internet Radio. BTW, you can charge it with most MiniUSB chargers (such as for a Blackberry).

 "Great product!" 2008-09-15
By Reporter (New York)
I'm giving this a 5 because it's the only one of its kind: very small and very light, with excellent sound through speakers or headphones. I'm listening to 24/7 comedy, opera from Rome, folk songs from Shanghai -- plus my local S.F. stations, which I could never get clearly because of poor reception in the neighborhood where I live. Thumbs up!

 "DOES NOT HAVE MICRO SD SLOT!!!" 2008-08-14
By W. H. Hoyt IV (rural missouri)
I'm not sure how this product is listed as having a micro SD slot. If it has one, it is very well hidden and is not mentioned in the instruction manual. Also, I haven't been able to figure out the recording function (I don't think it exists either). Further, the support website listed on the device is not functional (just a random South Korean public relations site...zero support). It does have a seemingly endless list of internet radio stations and the interface is relatively intuitive. I can't think of much more nice to say. In short, I wouldn't buy this again. If they made it with a real record function, external memory support, and with a TIVO like program, it would be what I actually had hoped for (and wouldn't stink).

 "Capable Internet Radio and Really Small" 2008-08-01
By Phillip Wheeler (Los Angeles area)
This radio works well as an internet radio. Manual says 10 hrs on battery when in internet radio mode and I have no reason to question that (but no life tests as yet). And, if you have a USB AC supply (as from an iPhone or iPod) you can power it from that. It is also an FM radio, but I've yet to try that mode.



Construction is fine for the purpose and size (it is really tiny -- thinner than my iPhone, a bit narrower and about 2/3 as big in the longest dimension).



However the description is a bit misleading. It says "Add more media to your device with the Micro SD/MMC card slot". I can find no such slot in the unit (it's so small it would be hard to hide such a slot); nor is one mentioned in the manual. You can load MP3s, images and video into the 1 GB internal memory, but it will not accommodate a Micro SD card as I had hoped. This is why I gave it 4 stars instead of five.



The lack of the promised slot is a bit disappointing. But my reason for buying this unit was to have a small internet radio for travel (already have a large one next the bed) and it is that. And I have several other MP3 players.



Phil


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NETGEAR Wireless Digital Music Player

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NETGEAR's Wireless Digital Music Player lets you enjoy your digital music files stored on your computers and unlimited, worldwide Internet radio with your friends and family throughout your home. It connects your existing home stereo to your home computer network so you can listen to the digital music collection from any PC on your home stereo system. You can also listen to music directly from a 30,000 track digital jukebox using the RHPSODY¿ service (only available in U.S.) or hear thousands of Internet radio stations even when your PCs are turned off. Easy-to-install software on one PC automatically finds all your music files on any networked PC and collects them into one complete database. The remote control and stylish user interface let you sit on the couch and wirelessly stream MP3s or Windows Media format files from any PC on your home network straight to your stereo! The MP101 supports many PC operating systems, not just Windows XP, and the LCD display means you don't need to turn on your TV when you want to listen to music.
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Technical Details

- Streams and plays MP3s and Windows Media format digital files from all of your networked PCs and Internet radio directly to your home stereo
- Compatible with your existing 802.11b or 802.11g wireless home network
- Remote control and vivid LCD interface for easy browsing of music collection
- Listen through your stereo, boom box, headphones, or powered speakers
- Compatible with Windows 98, 98SE, Me, 2000 or XP
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 "Great Purchase" 2008-06-23
By Milo (Eastern Canada)
I picked one of these up at a local computer store last week for $39.00 and love it. Took a little while to get onto my wireless network, but now streams music into my hifi system flawlessly, giving me essentially a 200GB MP3 player. User interface a bit primitive compared to latest colour screen portables, but it gets the job done and seems to have picked up the other playlists and favorite categories from my other media software. Output seems a little low compared to the line out on my portable, but that can easily be adjusted by volume. One of the big advantages is the ability to use higher bitrates for ripping music to maintain optimal quality. Not sure if they still make them but recommended if you can find one. Use the latest software which apparently fixed many earlier issues that put people off. Since I did this original review I have picked up a second one off ebay and discovered some features I didn't know were there. For example you can do a search within each music category using the remote keys to type in a name. You can also, by holding down the arrow buttons, fast forward through your music database. Overall a great cheap way to enjoy your music collection straight from your PC to your home stereo.

 "terrible product" 2008-02-23
By lw (cerritos usa)
Just a terribly designed product and it wastes your time,freezes up all the time, and you lose all your playlistS and songs and have to reload,their outsourced c/s dept is a joke and give out erroneous info,save your money and avoid this netgear product.

 "Falls short on many fronts" 2007-07-14
By E. Barnes (Solana Beach, CA)
About the only thing this media player was good for was connecting to Internet radio. It failed at streaming more than one song in a row from my PC. It also doesn't have WPA security for the 802.11b so you're best to hard wire it.



Since I don't think you can buy it anymore, I'm not sure what good this review is, but if you're thinking of getting a used one from somebody, I'd recommend you steer clear of the MP101. There are other alternatives that I'm told work much better.



Oh yeah, I spent about 3 hours on the phone with Netgear tech support (sure sounded to me like everyone I spoke with was in India) and they were unable to solve the problem.

 "Decent nont wireless though" 2007-02-08
By Jose Borrego (McAllen, TX)
So I ordered this and surprisingly found this 250 dollar product for 30 dollars , i got standard shipping came in about 5 days, installed the cd to my desktop in my living room, which is where i have my roadrunner Cable modem, and my netgear Super g 108mbps wireless router, sothat all goes good, than i connect the player and i put the red and white audio cables in my reciever and i turn on the netgear, and it says found wireless network, it found it but when i tried to log on , nothing just this network not available, after finding it and putting the name of my network right there, so than i connect the short ole ethernet cable to the 2nd port on my router , and i connected the green audio cable that was going from my speakers to my computer , to the player. i turn it on, it says wired network found, bam it has my netowkrs name, and sure enough all the songs i uploaded onto the program they gave me, were there. i was so releived thihnking i had wasted 37 dollars. so i go online find the firmware 3.7 ithink and i do all taht jazz than when i turn it on it finds my laptop and all my music i have there. i was like whoa amazing, i forgot to include taht i had installed the program in my laptop as well. so i had songs there on my laptop, and my moms songs on the desktop. now i just need to buy a 50 foot ethernet cable to run along the wall to my receiver than i can put the player on top of my audio reciever and plug in the redwhite to redwhite and bam 5.1 surround. lcd screen is bright and easy to see, control is very handy, no buttons on player, so my suggestikon do not lose the remote.all in all worth 37 dollars.

 "Works perfectly with other server software" 2007-02-01
By Efthymios Kallos (Los Angeles, CA USA)
Many of the problems that are being mentioned have to do with the server that netgear provides with the package. Don't bother to use the CD. Don't even bother to download the new version from the netgear website because it has issues.



The MP101 is a client that supports the UPNP protocol for streaming music. You can use any other software that can be installed as a server as long as it supports the UPNP. Two good examples are TwonkyMedia and Windows Media Player 11.



Specifically, windows media player 11 (that comes with Vista) has a built-in UPNP server. So when you have both the MP101 and the Windows Media Player (WMP) 11 on, the WMP will recognize the client and start streaming music to it. Then you go to the MP101 and acccept the WMP11 as a server. The interface is much better that the default server that netgear provides, since you can instantly see now whatever you have imported in the WMP library, including the fact that you can browse the music directories directly!



Users with Windows XP can also download WMP11 to enjoy these features.



Given this setup, I connected the MP101 wired to my router and using WMP11 I never had any problems browsing and playing my music. It also worked perfectly with my Rhapsody account.






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Cta Digital Global Net Internet Radio Alarm Clock

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DESKTOP STYLE INTERNET RADIO
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Technical Details

- Accesses The Variety Of Internet Radio Programming Available
- Wi-Fi Or Wired Ethernet Connections
- Plays Mp3S Via Usb Port
- 3 Preset Keys For Frequently Listened To Stations
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 "cross between computer and radio" 2009-02-09
By listener (Lafayette, CA)
This radio works great at times, but just like a computer it will lock up and have trouble getting the feed. I would definately recommend not trying to use it wireless - a wired connection will give far fewer problems. Sometimes it works great and sometimes it does not work at all. Reminds me of computers, frustrating at times, great other times.

It has trouble connecting to the network at times. Large selection of stations. I live in an area of poor radio reception - everything is much clearer of this radio.

 "CTA Digital Global Net Internet Radio Alarm Clock..." 2008-08-05
By 1goodengineer
I had made this purchase not having any great expectations; this approach may have contributed to my overall favorable impressions of this item.

I am not an audiophile and do nto pretend to be one - this radio does not compare with the sound quality of comparatively similar items offered by Bose and B&O; however, for the price and considering what the radio is intended to do, I do not foresee that anyone will be dissappointed with purchasing it.

The sound quality is excellent (although not "outstanding"); thae packaging was high-quality and the radio with the remote function flawlessly. The photos of this item do not represent the amount of light emitted by the LCD display...it is not an unpleasant blue-coloured hue; however, it would be nice if this had a variation of a rheostat to control it, because if you have the radio in a darkened room, and, if you are bothered by any sort of brightly illuminated display, then I sense that you will want to rely on the remote and keep the radio at some other location so that this will not bother you...of course, relocating the radio subsequently compromises on the audio quality as you will have probably also moved the speaker away from a favorable listening location. Other than this, I think that you can purchase this product and become, as I was, pleasantly surprised. It is certainly not a "rip-off" and I have enjoyed listening to all varities of music from literally all parts of the globe...have fun with it!

 "Internet Radio in a relatively simple box" 2008-08-02
By David C. Mcnabb
Though the software+PC solution is more coherent than it used to be, I feel that it's simpler to use dedicated devices like those that make use of Reciva and vTuner solutions. Radios like this one, the ASUS and the Grace are all under $200, making them much less expensive than the previous generation of Wi-Fi radios.



I've had this device for about 3 days. The radio works fine with MP3, Real, OGG, AAC and WMA streams. I haven't tried UPNP yet. Playing files from a USB Mass Storage device works, but pulling the power plug seems to be the only way to force it to re-scan UMS devices. The same goes for updating the radio after making first entries in My Streams, My Podcasts etc. at the Reciva website. Subsequent entries don't require any plug-pulling.



Podcast listening is easy, though there's no way to pause, rewind or fast forward. Having a remote is nice. Using the Reciva website is also nice, especially since I prefer to do text entry with a keyboard instead of using the knob and buttons on the radio. Entering a key for a Wi-Fi network still requires that. Some categories with hundreds of entries should be broken into subcategories.



The are so many different streams and podcasts out there that anybody looking for alternatives should have a ball with this radio.



EDIT:



UPNP works. It can pause and stop, but doesn't fast forward or rewind. FLAC files will play, too.

 "A Great Global Adventure at an Attractive Price" 2008-04-27
By Douglas C. Rennie (Portland, OR)
This is my first Internet radio, and I seem to have made a good choice----very nice sound at a reasonable price, and a handsome little unit to boot. I have an iMac G5 and a Linksys WRT54G wifi router and the radio pulls in all the stations both upstairs in my study (where the router sits) and downstairs and around several corners in the master bedroom. This is a compact little unit with a single speaker, and the sound is, to me, impressive. Not base heavy at all, so voices come through cleanly, but music also has a rich, full sound to it. Most impressive for such a small speaker, and the sound through headphones is excellent.



This is a reciva-based unit, so you can save any station not already programmed into the radio (damn few, I'd say, since something like 10,000 are already on board when you do your initial turn-on) by using the My Stuff link on the reciva site. Just click "Save this Station" and in a few minutes it's right there on your radio and ready to use. Within 15 minutes after setting it up I was listening to live evening prayers from some huge mosque in Tehran via Radio Iran International, half a dozen stations in Ireland broadcasting Irish/Celtic music, about 95% of which I had never heard before, audiobooks (a reading of a Robert Frost poem), 3 SUPERB classical music stations (you have about 200 to choose from!), the oddball Whole Wheat Radio from somewhere in Alaska, Radio Netherlands, Radio Prague, Beach Radio (Spain), and on and on. The list is virtually endless (nearly 2,000 choices in the UK alone). Even Papua New Guinea and the Maldives are here. There are only 3 preset buttons on the face plate, but using the remote you can add 96 more (99 total), which should do the job.



The manual is NOT very clear about how to do the programming and later recalling of the stations that you program with the remote. Once you get into double digits, you need to hit the Store key, then hold down the "-/--" key for about 3 or 4 seconds until a horizontal line appears at which point you hold down (again for a good 3 or so seconds) the first number, then the second and the station is stored as 10, 11, 78, whatever. When you want to play these stations, same thing, only using the Recall button but still holding for 3 seconds. With single digits, you skip the "-/--" key and just hit Store or Recall and then 4, 6, etc. This took me about half a day to figure out, so you don't have to. This radio is just flat out amazing. 10,000 stations with ZERO static and good to excellent clarity/sound. You can also use a USB stick to listen to your own music, but I've not done this and don't intend to so you're on your own here.



BTW, this radio is EXACTLY the same as the Intempo GX-01 sold in the UK and Europe, so if you want more info (there is next to nothing on the CTA via Google), use GX-01 for your search; a ton of stuff on it, including a good 2 minute demo video (by Shiny Shiny) on YouTube. It does cut out from time to time and has to rebuffer, but I think this inevitable whe you are streaming audio. So what you get here is the cool retro look of a 1950s tabletop radio but with access to the entire planet. It's quite an adventure.


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Grace Digital GDI-IRP600 Wi-Fi Internet Radio with FM Tuner

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Wi-Fi Internet radio with FM tuner wirelessly broadcasts over 15,000 radio stations directly from your Wi-Fi router features Pandora and Sirius.
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Technical Details

- Wirelessly broadcasts over 10,000 radio stations directly for Wi-Fi router
- Features both Pandora and SIRIUS
- 802.11B/802.11G and WEP- and WAP-compatible
- Connects to existing stero system via audio jack
- Displays song and artist information while song is playing
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 "Grace Internet Radio" 2009-07-09
By Janis Groth
We had some problems at first, but email correspondence cleared it up mostly. Their response was prompt, tactful, and helpful.

We still have occasional interruptions in our service, but it is now much better.

 "quick comparison with Grace IR1000" 2009-05-04
By JB in Oregon (Lincoln City, OR USA)
In comparison to the Grace IR1000 (the first generation Grace internet radio I believe):

Range is poor...fine I suppose if you are using in the same room as your wifi access point

Sound quality went downhill considerably...smaller speaker in a smaller box

Quite small

Uses V-Tuner not Reciva portal

Could not get it to connect to my wifi range extender which works fine for several laptops and my Grace IR1000



I just can't recommend this one (though there is something to be said for the battery backup which maintains the connection while moving it about the house).

 "DisGrace GDI-IRP600" 2009-04-22
By B. Pollock (Hermosa Beach, CA)
If you've been waiting a long time for a portable WiFi Internet radio, wait a while longer and don't be tempted by this one. This is a pitiful product from an irresponsible company. It doesn't connect to my Apple AirPort Extreme network, which may have something to do with Apple's latest firmware v.7.4.1, although my Roku Internet radio and other equipment continue to work just fine with my AirPort network. The DisGrace initially functioned with the AirPort network but was prone to constant re-buffering, especially when receiving streams with high bit rates. For portable Internet radio, I've gone back to cellular, using a Verizon Palm Treo 700p with Altec Lansing inMotion portable speakers. I have another router, a Kyocera KR2 EVDO WiFi unit, and the DisGrace still works with that, though with the same dropouts and rebuffering. Expect to have to put the radio directly next to the router since that's about the limit of its range. I recently discussed the problems with the manufacturer, which had ignored my initial E-mail. They authorized a repair or exchange. I sent the radio in and got the same radio back, with no improvement in performance and no explanation as to the nature of the service they provided. The fact that they added settings for a different WiFi network and left their Costco batteries inside suggests that they did try to get it working but they didn't feel the need to comment on their experience. Just send the piece of trash back to the customer and move on. That's the spirit! I'm very happy with Amazon but completely disgusted with this product. If your Internet radio doesn't have to be portable, go with a Roku SoundBridge. That's a class act.

 "Battery powered internet radio" 2009-04-21
By Gregory Fadul (San diego,ca)
This is a nice little radio if you need:

- Over 10,000 internet radio stations

- Also includes FM reciever

- AC or Battery powered

- remote control



The key feature of this radio is the fact that it can work on batteries for over 14 hours. If you do not need that feature I would suggest either the GDI-IR1000 or GDI-IR2000. All 3 products sound very nice but the GDI-IR1000 and GDI-IR2000 have a larger speaker and hence more bass performance and volume output.



The GDI-IR1000 and GDI-IR2000 are basically the same. The only difference is the GDI-IR2000 adds aux in jack and remote control to the GDI-IR1000 feature set.



Also please note that the GDI-1000 and GDI-IR2000 both can play Pandora and Sirius ( if you have Sirius premium internet radio service). The GDI-p600 does not support those additional services.



The GDI-IRP600 has been tested and verified to work with hundreeds of routers. However, please note it does not currently work with the Apple extreme wireless router.



[...]

 "Internet Radio not working" 2009-04-14
By Thomas Land (New York, NY USA)
This would be a nice radio, but it is not working for me. After setting up the connection to my wireless router, it displays 'Connecting' for a while and then shows: 'Server is not available'. Tech support is not answering my emails. The only thing that works right now is the FM radio. I may have to return this product.


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Escient FireBall SE-80 Digital Music Manager

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The award winning Escient FireBall Digital Music Manager is now available at a more affordable price! You get the same great features as the current FireBall Music Managers, including extremely easy to use on-screen interface, 80GB of music storage, automatic disc recognition, built-in CD-RW drive, free Internet Radio, network file sharing, web browser control and streaming, multi-zone support and several new features such as a PDA web interface, WMA audio, Shoutcast Internet Radio, gapless song playback, enhanced widescreen user interface, and the ability to "skin" the interface for the ultimate customization for your customers - all at a new low price. The FireBall SE-80 is the perfect solution for entry-level single room and IR based multi-room distributed music installations.
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Technical Details

- 80GB hard drive--enough storage for large music collections
- Built-in CD Player – play any standard CD and get the cover art, artist, title and song list on-screen
- CD Burner – create the perfect mix CD to play in your car, office, or portable CD player
- Fast CD Ripper – copy a CD to the internal hard drive in MP3 format in less than 5 minutes
- Multi-Zone Support – Connect one FireBall to another FireBall to share the music, double the storage capacity, and create a second music zone or add FireBall Network Players for music in every room
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 "Not what I expected" 2009-10-05
By Herbert H. Newton (Florida)
Liked the features of the unit so tried it out. Loaded 220 Cd's and the red light goes a flashing. Reboot etc to no avail. Returned to Escient. My UPS ticket said it arrived on a Monday. The repaired unit was on my doorstep Wednesday PM !! Escient said they replaced the HD and upgraded my power supply.( apparently the one whose fan runs every half hour even when it was off,,annoying feature)Saved all my previous loaded music tho.

Good news so far...Then started to load my remaining 100 or so CD's. Program locks up.Cant get out of the one window,,, would continue to load music but loading progress would indicate 32 minutes to load a 48 minute CD !!

That was it for me.Returned for a refund.

 "nice product, expensive to repair !!" 2008-03-25
By Robert Mcneil (philadelphia, pa United States)
I bought this a little over a year ago, the mother board just died -- out of the blue, no warning. The escient customer service is very very good (they dont out source to india, ireland etc). It cost me almost $300 to have it repaired !!. So, like i said, its an excellent product, but for almost $1000 I think they might be able to cut someone a break.

 "Essential Component for Your Stereo" 2007-07-20
By Electronic Gadgetphile (St. Paul, MN)
I bought a new house and first became aware of the SE-80 when the Home Theater installer recommended it. I was initally skeptical and not too willing to pay close to $1,000 for what I considered an iPod on steroids. Ultimately, I relented and went with the installer's advice and included it in the system. I am really glad that I did because the SE-80 does everything I hoped for and more. In my installation the unit is hooked up to the home network, Sony XBR LCD and stereo system. I have numerous albums loaded on the 80 GB hard drive and was able to do it wirelessly from the iTunes application on my laptop. You just network into the SE-80, open the folder for adding music and drag and drop the mp3 albums out of iTunes into the folder. You can then call up the albums on the TV and select the ones you want and you're good to go. Another feature I really like is the Internet Radio which brings in numerous stations from across the net including several choices of NPR which is difficult to receive OTA where I live. All in all I really like the unit, the documentation is great, it is simple to use - only wish it was a bit less expensive. Having said all of that, I would buy it again.


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Sony VAIO VGF-WA1/W Wireless Digital Music Streamer (White)

Buy Cheap Sony VAIO VGF-WA1/W Wireless Digital Music Streamer (White)

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VAIO Wireless Digital Music Streamer opens the door to a new world of audio entertainment with wireless playback of your PC music library. You can play back files recorded on SonicStage CP, iTunes, Windows Media Player and other applications. So you are ready for seamless playback of your favorites regardless of the type of music software.
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Technical Details

- Sold Individually
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 "Hard to Find" 2009-09-21
By Frank S. Osborne (Milford, MA)
Very good device for it's price. It's not a Bose, but it sounds very good, and it's wireless. I know that Sony has discontinued this item, but when people see and hear mine, they want one, so this is the third one I've bought.I wish you could use both the speakers and the RCA outputs but it's one or the other. The first one I bought direct from Sony and the price was much higher, so if you come across this item on Amazon for $130 buy it before they are all gone.

 "Extremely annoying to setup....but worth the hassle" 2009-09-09
By Joseph Walsh
Do yourself a favor and READ ALL OF THE REVIEWS including mine. I am pretty computer savy and this beast had me pulling my hair out for days. I have 3 computers in my house (Laptop/Vista, Desktop/XP3 and a Sony VAIO Desktop/XP3) running thru a Linksys Wireless Router. It WILL NOT WORK on my Gateway running XP3 which is my main computer even though I can see my entire library and even select songs....it just won't play them. It does however work on my laptop and my VAIO machine quite well. I did download the Japanese update (previous post) and searched Sony's site for other updates as well and installed them all. There is a patch for Sony VAIO computers that lets it work with XP3. With all that being said...THIS IS AN AMAZING PRODUCT. I have not fooled around with everything but the internet radio works great and it has no problem playing my 7000 song collection. The sound is really solid as well. Some have compared it to a Bose. I would suggest this if you are comfortable playing around with your system to get it running but it is well worth it in my opinion.

 "Light at the end of the tunnel?" 2009-07-26
By looking around (Centennial, Colorado)
I give this item 2 stars only because it was a NIGHTMARE to set it up. When I bought it...3 years ago, it sounded very promising, I set it up using Windows XP and it worked fine. A few months later I decided to switch OS's (and life's at that) by going the Mac OS way - thank God and the heavens for that very wise decision! Not surprising and very unfortunately, this device became absolutely USELESS with my switch to Mac OS - thank God for the engineers and their clever ways, Mac can run Windows (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your view.). So... I installed an old copy of Windows XP (V.2 - not 3) and downloaded the aforementioned file available in the Japanese Sony site (see other reviews)- after the download - everything looked to be working much nicer - the Mac could send files to the WA-1, the WA-1 could play the files, but when it came to the part of reading the web radios, I got the ubiquitous "Can't play radio station" message (or something along those lines...) so after much research and fidgeting I wrote down all settings and noticed that the "Default Gateway" value was missing (it was all 0's i.e. zeroes) - so, after more research I found a reasonable value (gateway) and tried it - to my surprise, it worked, so now I have some nice Classical music pipping down in my kitchen.



The reason I gave it 2 stars is that it should not take this much effort to set a simple wifi radio on. By the way, I'm a network administrator for an Air Force base, and it took me 3-4 days of research and downloading files, comparing notes, etc, to make this ting work! but, work it did!



Tenacity pays, I guess!

 "Amazing gadget" 2009-06-29
By Karim Benabbas (USA texas)
I call gadget coz it has a lot of features, very beautiful and excellent sound quality, i recommend this item for all sound lovers.

 "Shiny but pain in the ..." 2009-06-26
By Dschaerie (Edgeworth, PA)
Just spent more than 3 hours trying to connect my PC with the shiny white music streamer. No chance at all because I'm running XP with SP3. Well equipped hardware but software is a catastrophy.



Save your time and look for something else if your computer is running XP and SP3.


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