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Muzee USB Internet Player & Recorder Radio, over 20,000 Internet Radio Stations by Vibe
Digital Photo Product DetailsManufacturer: Vibe Format: CD Platform: Windows Product features: - No monthly fees
- Easy-to-use interface
- Choose a country, city, genre or keyword and a list of available stations appears
- Automatically updates as new stations appear
- Allows you to save your favorite stations and record music to your PC
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Muzee USB Internet Player & Recorder Radio, over 20,000 Internet Radio StationsCustomer Review: Muzee on a Mac, Support & Performance Summary: 5 Stars
It's not indicated in the product description that the Muzee does not work with the Mac operating system. I bought it anyway and hoped. It took some troubleshooting, but I now have it running in a virtual machine on my Mac, and it is working beautifully. I'm posting this to share the solution.
I have iMac with an Intel processor, running Snow Leopard, and Windows 7 running in a virtual machine created by Parallels. Under Windows it was as simple as plug & play, but there was a problem. The sound broke up annoyingly. I emailed Muzee support and received a prompt, personal reply addressing my problem specifically. The suggestion offered did solve the problem. I reported that and received another prompt, personal email with another suggestion. That didn't work either.
When I bought the Muzee I also bought one for my son, who is an IT guy with far more knowledge of Windows than I have. He also has a Mac, and he had gotten his Muzee to work well in a virtual machine running Windows 7 created by the free Virtualbox program. Virtualbox does not install sound drivers, so he downloaded the free Realtek ac'97 audio drivers from the Realtek website [...], and installed them in the Windows 7 virtual machine. He solved my problem by installing the Realtek ac'97 audio drivers in my computer's virtual machine. I assume that the audio drivers installed by Parallels were the source of the problem.
One more thing: The product package says "Instant access through your PC to over 13,000 radio stations worldwide!" Thinking that the Muzee works as a portal to the stations that is maintained by Muzee, I asked about this and was told that regarding the number of stations "it was labeled when the product is delivered. As time goes by, the number of collected stations increases too. And you can always have the most up-to-date stations no matter when you bought it." The Muzee website [...] now says that 20,000 thousand stations can be accessed! I received this from Muzee product support: "Currently it's announced that we have 20,000 radio stations. Some of them could be duplicates, or a station could have many different bitrate channels."
I am delighted with the Muzee. Great selection and sound, and price. One reviewer questioned why anyone would want to buy this device when you can access the same streams from the stations' individual websites. To compile links for even a fraction of those available on the Muzee could be very time consuming, not to mention finding content you want and overcoming limitations with languages. Example, one of my favorites is a classical station from China. I've gone to their website and have no clue what link streams the station. As I write this the Muzee lists over 400 classical stations. It is so easy to explore and compile a favorites list.
UPDATE: I've installed two updates of Parallels and that program's Tools. Audio performance with the Muzee was still not up to par, so I simply reinstalled the Realtek ac'97 audio drivers.
Description of Muzee USB Internet Player & Recorder Radio, over 20,000 Internet Radio StationsTune into your choice of over 13,000 radio stations, in 50 different genres, from 210 different countries with this easy-to-use Internet radio. USB port plug-and-play technology lets you experience worlds well beyond the reach of your old radio signal. No discs or software to download; simply place it into a free USB port and check out the airwaves worldwide, record music to your PC and store your favorite stations.
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