Online radio, which can pick up thousands of stations from around the world, is one of the wonders of the Internet.
Except that it isn't very convenient, mostly because it's generally
tied to a computer. That means listening in the same room as the
computer, unless you have some kind of audio network in the house.
The dream of an online radio that works sans computer goes back at
least as far as the snazzy-looking Kerbango, a free-standing unit that
caused a stir at electronics trade shows in 2000. But that also was the
year the tech bubble burst, and Kerbango went kaput before it made it
to market.
Numerous online radios did make it onto retail shelves in the years
that followed, but they tended to be complicated to use and clunky, and
some were crazy expensive.
Now comes the latest, from SANYO, a company that hasn't produced
anything very snazzy in consumer products of late, at least for the
U.S. market.
But its R227 online radio -- complete with alarm clock for bedside use -- is quite impressive.
As I wrote this, it was bringing in Bartok Radio, a mostly classical
station based in Budapest that segued from an operatic aria (I can't
tell you which one because the announcements were in Hungarian) to a
lovely a cappella rendition of the Beatles' "Blackbird" sung by the
King's Singers.
SANYO, which announced last month that it was being acquired by
Panasonic, has the right heritage for this sort of product. Founded in
1947, it brought some of the early pocket-sized transistor radios into
the United States, often under the Channel Master name.
The R227 -- with its black plastic case reminiscent of the Bakelite
used to make classic radios from the 1930s to '50s -- has a bit of a
retro look without being cute about it.
Its one large dial is used to scroll among digital choices that appear
in a tastefully sized window. Small buttons are included for various
functions, but it's usually easier to use the remote control that comes
with the radio.
Speakers on the left and right side panels provide stereo sound that
isn't going to bowl over an audiophile but is quite good coming from a
unit about the size of half a loaf of bread.
When I first plugged in the R227, it found my home Wi-Fi signal and
tuned into the network in less than a minute. (It also features an
ethernet jack.)
After that, every time I turned on the radio, it took only about five
seconds for it to get on the home network and be ready for online radio
surfing.
The R227 came preloaded with several thousand stations that could be searched by location or genre.
There are 2,163 stations on the U.S. roster alone. Also, 1,246 in
Britain, 123 in Japan, 103 in China, 33 in India and two in Kazakhstan,
one of which was inexplicably playing "Santa Baby" (and not by Eartha
Kitt) when I tuned in Wednesday afternoon.
The genre list was extensive, including news, kids, public, oldies, hip hop, pop, Bollywood, gospel and ambient.
I looked for one of my favorite classical stations, BBC 3. Not only did
the R227 have it available, but it also allowed me to tune into
archived shows on the channel. The NPR channel likewise allowed for
archive listening.
The choices included the ultra-niche. There was "Psychic on Air," the
"Saturday Night Knife and Gun Show" (a QVC-type program selling
weapons) and a police-band radio scanner in Las Vegas. But that's part
of what online radio is about.
Although numerous public stations were listed, including many in
Southern California that one of the best known -- KCRW-FM (89.9) -- was
left out. I fixed that by signing on to a programming site that Sanyo
uses. Registering this particular unit's serial and Media Access
Control numbers, I was able to wirelessly add a listing for KCRW to the
radio.
The R227 also could pick up regular local FM stations, with outstanding
sound quality, and it was possible to add links to music stored on a
computer media player (PC only).
Because it's a clock radio, it could be set to wake up the user from any of these sound sources, or a built-in buzzer.
The R227 is scheduled to become available in the U.S. this month.
Online retailers taking pre-orders have priced it at about $150.
That is a lot pricier than most run-of-the-mill clock radios. But they can't find Radio Bartok.