Grace Wifi Radio (ITC-IR1000B)
by Grace Digital
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Our Price: $199.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $74.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Grace Wifi Radio (ITC-IR1000B)
Customer Review: I WAS SCARED!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I never would have purchased a WiFi radio because I had heard how much trouble others have had programming these things. I was scared. But my children liked their Grace WiFi Radio so much that they gave one to me at Christmas time. I was amazed to find out how easy it was to set it up. The trick is to first buy a wireless router (If you don't already have one.) and then set it up to match your system. I believe that this is where many go astray. I bought a Linksys WRT54-GL because the user reviews on Amazon showed it to be very popular. I had to call the Tech Help number (1-800-326-7114) to set it up but a very nice young lady led me through it so cheerfully that it was as if she was holding my hand. I secured the special ID codes from my radio (One has seven digits and the other has eight.) by following the instructions in the Grace operator's manual. Then I went to the Reciva.com website and signed up my radio using these codes. It is called an "account" but it does not cost anything. I also had to make up my own personal network name. (If you already have a router then you probably already have a network name.) Pick any name you like. (I.e. RABBIT, BUMPKIN, HILLBILLY, ROCKSTAR, etc) I suggest that you use all capitol letters; they are easier to see when they show up on your radio's small display. Also choose a password; used to prove that it is YOU when you access the Reciva.com web site. Then from the Reciva.com website you can search for stations of your choice, listen to(sample) them if you wish, and save them to you're MY STATIONS list if you like them. Add more station anytime you want; they will show up on your radio's MY STATIONS list alphabetically. Then go to your Grace radio and do a set up where you will put in the Network Name that you have chosen (It is upper/lower case sensitive) and make up a password (so strangers cannot access your system). The operator's manual will help you here. This does not have to be the same password that you used at the Reciva.com website, but your Network Name will be the same. Maybe this sounds like a lot but it really is quite easy. The most time consuming part is deciding which of the thousands of available stations you want to save to you're MY STATIONS list. I saved 55 stations. I noticed that several reviewers complained that the radio's black buttons were hard to see in low light. I bought some white reflector tape in the automotive section at Wal Mart for $2.50 and with a paper punch (the kind that kids use to punch out little round holes.) I punched out small circles of reflector tape. I put one circle of tape on the STANDBY/ON/OFF button, and one on the BACK button. This helped a lot to make them visible. I do this with various other electronics and it is very helpful. Oh, I forgot to mention, I like my Grace radio a lot.Customer Review: Bottom Line: Aesthetically and Functionally, a Great Radio!
Summary: 5 Stars
Other than the absence of a remote (to me, a non-issue), there is nothing to criticize about this radio. Everything about it reflects quality: Visually handsome in its high-gloss piano black case, and featuring 2 dedicated controls: a small volume knob, and larger knob for selecting functions and perusing the long lists of global stations. There are also 5 pre-set buttons for instant access to your favorites, along with the ability to store up to 99 favorites in the My Stuff section that will appear automatically on your screen once you register with reciva (www.reciva.com). Register asap once you have the Grace up and running, and within a day, you can compile a personal listening library of dozens of stations. And did I mention how EASY it is to do on this radio?
The build quallity is outstanding: The radio has a substantial, solid feel to it. The single 5w speaker (supplemented by a rear base port) is a real powerhouse that produces rich, room-filling sound with a more-than-decent base and strong, clear midrange and highs. Music, especially on the higher (128 kbps and above) has a near-CD level sound, and human voices have a real-person-in-the-room quality.
Know this, too: I am a near cyber-cretin, someone for whom anything related to the Internet is intimidating. But setting up and using this radio is as straightforward and simple as it gets. Plug it in, then just follow the commands that appear on the bright, easy-to-read LCD screen. Within seconds, you are connected. From there, just go to either Location (stations by country) or Genre (type of music, talk, news, etc.) and start exploring the Wide World of Internet Radio: 12,000+ stations to choose from, each coming through clearly, cleanly and static-free.
Within 5 minutes after my initial start-up, I was listening to classical music stations in the UK, France, Switzerland, even China; Old Time radio serials and mystery programs from the 1930s and 1940s; exotic music from India's Sikh Radio International; Irish and Celtic music from stations in Dublin, Glasgow, and Ballyshannon, some of it live; international news on the acclaimed Radio Netherlands; Radio Newfoundland ("Our Music, Our Heritage"); live broadcasts from American Samoa, South Africa, Russia, Whole Wheat Radio in Alaska, even Papua New Guinea. The Grace radio is, literally, an audio passport to the world.
I love the look of this radio which evokes the old classic tabletop radios of the 1950s, albeit with 21st century innards that allow you to vicariously travel in ways not possible with conventional radio.
Moreover, Grace's customer service is excellent. My emails were answered promptly, and with all the information I requested.
Customer Review: Great wifi radio at first, falls apart after few months.
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had this for a little over a week now and I'm impressed. Setup was a breeze - I had it connected to my router (WEP encrypted) and playing music through my home stereo in less than 15 minutes. That included a firmware update downloaded from the website. Setup may get a bit tedious here and there as you work through the directions (which are very easy to follow) but it's quite simple. Sound through the radio itself is reasonably good but since I run the sound through my home stereo it's a non-issue and I'm just not that big an audiophile anyway.
Registering with the Reciva website (required to use the radio) is also straightforward and quick. Once you have that done, you have access to more radio station than you can really handle. My favorite is the Pandora integration - I love Pandora. I had to get a premium account for a whopping $36 a year but given how much I listen to it that's easy money. The Grace radio resets when that rather annoying Pandora "Are you still listening?" message stops the music; it takes a minute or so but it goes on with the music without my having to get out of the pool to click anything.
The only thing that could really improve this is a remote control. It's a pretty minor thing that would be a nice to have feature.
UPDATE 12/11/2008:
I initially gave this 5 stars but now that I've had it a few months, I would rate this 1 star (why can't Amazon let me change the stars?). It simply quit working on a number of features. The screen began getting flaky, fading in and out until now it's more out than in. It can no longer connect to my wireless router - other systems can and I know the router is fine and there were no changes made to the radio, it just lost the ability to connect. Even trying to let is scan for wireless networks fails to find the router. If I could see the screen, maybe I could get it working again ...
Support for the product is literally non-existent. There is a terrible forum for users that Grace made clear they do not monitor and it's basically useless (I don't even know why they bothered). There is a half page of troubleshooting in the manual. After that, you're on your own.
The reason this product is so inexpensive is because it's so cheaply made. Plan on using it for about 6 months and then replacing. If it's working for more than 6 months, count yourself lucky.
Customer Review: Terrible instructions but offers good listening at a decent price
Summary: 5 Stars
Two years ago I bought a Receiva WiFi radio for the bedroom night stand and now I can't do without it. Ever since getting the first one I've wanted a second WiFi for the kitchen and/or bathroom, A Grace WiFi refurbished by the factory in San Diego, seemed like a great deal at $95. It only has five pre-sets, but that's about all I use, anyway.
I read all of the negative technical issues listed on Amazon's feedback evaluations by other users, but since the factory said these have been addressed and solved I decided to take a chance. About 1/2 hour was required to set it up because I was already familiar with the Receiva system and firmware, which Grace also uses. Anyone unfamiliar with the system will likely be flummoxed. This is definitely a geek's plaything, and I'm not a geek.
The instruction manual, if you can call it that, is one of the worst I've ever seen and was obviously written by an amateur. An old tech writing rule says, "Don't write so you can be understood; write so you can't be misunderstood." The text is tiny and hard to read. Phrases and words are used that can have more than one interpretation. There is just too much wrong with this confusing instruction manual to address here, but I will cite one example: Frequent reference is made to the "enter" key, but nowhere in the manual could I find its location. I finally spotted the word ENTER lightly cast into the big black scroll knob and found that pushing the knob entered the command. After that discovery things progressed better.
I was about to start packing the unit for returning to the seller because data would not be accepted. On a hunch I thought the problem might be that I was too close to the modem and tried moving further away, into the next room. That did the trick, no thanks to the instruction manual.
I tried to pre-select two talk-news stations (KNX, L.A. and WBAP, Dallas). They wouldn't load because Grace, in their zeal to have instant "ON" stations doesn't allow enough buffering time between trys. I get these stations on my Receiva radio so It wasn't a big deal. I just pre-selected two more music stations.
The Grace is nice looking. Even with its ported base the sound is only average, but good enough for me. Its weight suggests quality. Another nice thing is that it plugs directly into an outlet instead of going through an external "wall scab" power supply.
Customer Review: Great Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I've not written a review before, but this is a great product. Its functionality should be included in receiver/amplifiers.
I hooked mine up to my whole house audio system. Unlike other media streaming devices, this does not require that you turn on your computer to stream music or audio to your audio system. It also has an alarm clock, which means you can wake up to audio through your receiver. For reasons I do not comprehend, reciever/amplifiers don't typically have an alarm clock.
It plays any of the 10,000 stations included in www.reciva.com or streaming music from www.pandora.com.
Easy to set up -- it found and connected to my ancient Linksys router.
I live in an area where there are three radio stations -- two that are the standard drivel of commercial radio and the other that fades in and out with sun spots and the seasons.
I considered XM or Sirius satellite rado, but rejected them because connecting them to a home audio system required a funky external antenna, a subscription fee, and was limited to the commercial programming of XM or Sirius. Access to internet radio is FREE and did not require running any wires or setting up antennas. With 10,000+ stations, you're not stuck with the local retarded shock-jock, a radio-evangelist, or stations that appear to have only 6 CDs in their collection that they play over and over again.
Competing units seem to include a Sanyo unit being marketed in Canada (why not the US?), and RCA unit and some other stuff marketed by C.Crane. I found that none of the local big box electronic stores carry internet radios except for Best Buy that carried this radio. That means internet shopping.
The cons -- this is not stereo. The stickers were really hard to remove from the unit. There are "only" 5 preset buttons, but when you set up your reciva and pandora accounts you can specify as many "favorites" to display on the unit under "My Stuff" so the preset buttons are really not relevant.
Now, if someone made a comparable unit to stream video from the internet to my TV ...