The New Way to Listen to the Radio
by Brian Underdahl
Every now and then something comes along that really changes how people do something. One of those changes is happening right now in the form of Internet radio. Why is this such a big change? It’s simple, really. Internet radio lets you listen to what you want–not what your local radio station manager (or more likely, the program pusher at some big media conglomerate) wants to throw your way.
Let’s be clear about Internet radio. It’s nothing more than a streaming audio signal that’s being broadcast out over the Internet. Instead of using the airways, Internet radio uses your Internet connection. The result is that distance is no longer an issue so if you want to listen to that classical station in New York or that trance station in Berlin, the choice is yours.
Internet radio isn’t exactly new. Many stations have been broadcasting for several years. What is new in that you no longer have to listen to those stations on your PC. Units like the Phoenix Wi-Fi Radio look and act more like a real radio. This sweet little unit even has a rotary volume knob which functions exactly the way you’d expect (an uncommon trait with a lot of products these days).
The Phoenix Wi-Fi Radio connects to your wireless network (hence the “Wi-Fi” in the name) so you can listen to it anywhere that’s in range of your wireless signal. You might even forget that it is getting the signals from the Internet because it seems so normal (non-geeky). The unit comes with rechargable batteries already installed so you can even carry it from room to room or even out on the patio.
It’s true that the current version has a few things I’d like to see improved. I wasn’t able to add some of my favorite stations, for example. But it turns out that this is another place where an Internet radio has it all over a traditional radio. Com One, the manufacturer of the Phoenix Wi-Fi Radio, regularly updates the unit over that same wireless Internet connection. As a result, I fully expect that the improvements I’d like to see will be implemented in the near future–try that with your old radio!
The bottom line is that we’ve been having a lot of fun with this unit. It’s one piece of tech gear that looks good and works so well that even the person who thinks there’s too much “stuff” around actually likes it when I bring it into the kitchen. Consumer products designers, take note–this is a winner!