[Music Fanatic]

There is one component missing from our audio systems, and I don't fully understand why. I am referring to Internet radio tuners.

A long time ago, Kerbango planned to make an Internet radio tune that was a standalone unit. Unfortunately, the project was terminated before any product came to market.

Turtlebeach markets the Audiotron, which includes reasonable Internet radio features for MP3 and WMA streaming stations, although not for real audio (reportedly because Real Audio's licensing terms are famously unreasonable.) When possible Turtlebeach outputs a digital stream for use in an A/V receiver.

Other digital clients (such as Squeezebox) generally support MP3-based radio stations or rebroadcast of audio from a notebook. However, the latter choice is usually unsatisfactory, since it requires getting up and going to another room to tune the desired radio station.

Why not just use a computer to tune internet radio? A couple of reasons come to mind:

1. computers are noisy with fans;
2. computers are expensive, whereas an Internet radio tuner really should be in the $100-$200 range;
3. computers are difficult to tune, whereas an Internet radio tuner should support a simple menu or jog-wheel based system to choose a radio station; and
4. computers have big displays that are hard to put in a stereo rack.

Reportedly, satellite radio tunes are forthcoming soon which are standard form-sized and rack-based; why not an Internet radio tuner? And when will a stand-alone client manufacturer finally arrange a reasonable license deal with Real Audio to unlock the huge universe of Real Audio radio stations?

 

[Hydrac7]

Not to troll, but all the reasons you listed can be fixed.

You can quiet a system down, either by using better fans, water cooling, etc.

You already own a computer, just make a couple of adjustments.

Use Winamp and bookmark your favorite stations. When you want to listen to one, click on it. If you want, you could spend a few bucks on a remote for the PC, where you can customize the buttons to your needs.

You can also set small LCD displays, assuming you know what you're doing.

If you look in the right places, you can do all these under 200 bucks.

 

[eyeteeth]

Arcam has a 'DAB' digital audio tuner. here

And Cambridge Audio in addition to two DAB units has a new DAB/FM tuner products I don't know the price. I would actually like to have this hybrid tuner.

There may be more out there?

 

[Welly Wu]

I don't know about you but don't the majority of Internet streams from traditional radio stations actually sound worse than AM/FM broadcasts?

 

[eyeteeth]

you were refering to internet broadcasts right? Not digital over the air broadcasts. OOPS, my mistake.

 

[Badger]

I'm not sure whether this is what you're looking for, but...

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=...&class=Nettune

 

[Edwood]

Two words:

3Com Audrey




She put the final nail in the coffin of dedicated internet appliances.

I love to hear her giggle now and then. But computers are cheaper, more versatile, and the vast majority of people will pay hundreds more for the perceived added value of having a full fledged computer.

It's not too difficult to make a nearly silent, fanless PC that can do all of the audio and video stuff of your dreams.

lots of silent freaks at www.silentpcreview.com forums.

-Ed

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood Two words: 3Com Audrey She put the final nail in the coffin of dedicated internet appliances.

I still want to believe that dedicated internet appliances will somehow come back. Sometimes one doesn't want a computer form factor and the complexity of dealing with a full computer.

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by Welly Wu I don't know about you but don't the majority of Internet streams from traditional radio stations actually sound worse than AM/FM broadcasts?

Oh yes, absolutely (well, worse than FM broadcasts). But if you live in a radio-dead area, or you enjoy listening to stuff that is only available elsewhere (e.g., the news from country X), Internet radio is the way to go.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by Music Fanatic I still want to believe that dedicated internet appliances will somehow come back. Sometimes one doesn't want a computer form factor and the complexity of dealing with a full computer.

I still want to believe that the mainstream will want and demand high res audio because they realize that MP3 is actually inferior to CD in sound quality.

I have a dream......

-Ed

 

[Music Fanatic]

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood I have a dream......

That's 'cuz you are so busy this week and have no time to sleep! When you finally can catch up on your zzz's, your dreams will nicely resume residence in your slumber.

 

[Edwood]

I got a whole 4.5 hours of sleep today.

You can roll your own appliance. They usually work better as a client server setup. Where the appliance is a client, and you have it linked to the server which is hidden away somewhere, or is simply just your PC networked to it.

There is that pretty snazzy Roku which is a player that networks to a host PC. No APE support, though.

Don't know about streaming internet radio, though.

-Ed