AR ARIR200 Tabletop Wi-Fi Internet Radio with Alarm (Black)

• Wi-Fi internet and AM/FM radio with built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity
• Simple online setup and activation; free accounts with Slacker Personal Radio, Personal Portal and WeatherBug
• Clock radio and alarm functions to wake to your personal favorites
• Record up to 10-hours of internet radio or AM/FM radio
• USB connection for playing content from your flash drive or mp3 player

This radio is the same as the RCA Infinite Radio RIR200 which Amazon stopped carrying in favor of this Acoustic Research ARIR200, so I encourage anyone who is thinking about buying this products to ALSO read the reviews at the following link:

RCA Infinite Radio RIR200 Internet Radio with Wifi Connectivity and Slacker Personal Radio

In case the link does not work, put this number (a product number) into the search box: B0016OK5O0 (cut and paste because those are both O's and zeros). You can also look at the reviews for the RIR205 which is the same unit but it also includes a basic router for those who want a simple way to hook up their unit to the internet. Search for B0016OI1BY to get info on the RIR205

Some of the issues brought up in those reviews are still valid (e.g. the odd ergonomics of the controls, too bright illumination, etc.) and some issues have been fixed by firmware updates. Unfortunately, sometimes when they fix one issue in the firmware they seem to also "break" another.

I give AR/RCA credit that they are at least supporting the product with firmware updates (as of 3/2009 they have released a version during 12/2008 and 3/2009). Right now, in my experience the product is a bit buggy with the current version of the firmware and I have been experiencing some random crashes where it either locks up or reboots itself. This is a real pain because it loses the security key for the WiFi when this happens and thus it has to be reentered. There is also a base level of white noise through the speakers, even after turning the radio off, that I find annoying (hint: after going standby, turn the volume dial all the way down and it will disappear with a pffft then spin the volume back up to the normal position so that you have volume the next time you turn the radio portion on). This unit is better than the iLuv unit I reviewed elsewhere and could be quite good if they ever get a good version of the firmware going.

One of the best resources for information on these radios is the message archives at the following group at Google groups: Acoustic Research ARIRC200 Internet Radio . Just do a search at Google Groups and you should find the group (I don't think Amazon will let me include the link, but here goes: http://groups.google.com/group/acoustic-research-arirc200-internet-radio?hl=en )

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My wife bought me this for my birthday. She probably wishes she didn't. I keep her up at night as I go through all the internet stations each evening. I guess you could say this is the "world's worst alarm clock". I lose at least an hour's sleep each night, playing with the RIR200. It may soon replace my XM radio as my favorite radio. Seriously, the RIR200 is just awesome. Setup is fairly simple. You setup an account online (free), which takes about 5 minutes. You can customize some favorite options if you like. You use your Slacker password if you have one, and the radio will automatically log into Slacker. A free 4 year subscription to WeatherBug is included for instant weather and alerts. After you setup online, you turn on the RIR200 and follow the quick setup guide. Connecting to my WEP wireless network was no problem, and I had the radio up and running in a few minutes. All in all, I just love the RIR200. It performs well. The sound is very good, but by no means Hi-fidelity. If I had to say a negative thing about it, the AM and FM performance is nothing special. No big deal because I'll probably never ever listen to them on this radio anyway. Also, I wish the lowest volume setting wasn't as loud as it is. It's a little loud when trying to fall asleep. The radio isn't perfect , and does have its bugs. None of which I consider major. I haven't had any major issues. The firmware is updated in occasion. The most recent update added access to MP3Tunes, and fixed many of the previous bugs. It also introduced a few more, but they're working on fixing them too. If they get all the bugs out, I'd easily give it 5 stars.

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I bought this as a second internet radio, mostly because it is pretty inexpensive compared to other radios. (My other is a Squeezebox Boom, which cost ~ $250.) At $90-$100, the AR Infinite Radio is a steal. It's kind of small, and has smallish speakers. There's no remote, either. But, the device works as advertised, and it's hard to remember why other companies charge twice as much for an internet radio device. It was very easy to get it on my WPK2-protected wifi network, search for my favorite stations, and away we go. This radio is great for my office.

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BUYER BEWARE: IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS BELOW!

Having owned both the AIR200 and AIR205 models for almost two years, I've had plenty of time to evaluate them. The AIR205 is the same as the AIR200, except the former includes a wireless router, which is useful for those who don't already have a wireless router or don't know how to connect to their existing router.

Firstly, these units are NOT made by Audiovox. This is a classic case of an American company going to a Chinese manufacturer and stamping their logo on an existing product. The EXACT same unit can be found under the RCA brand name. Hopefully RCA had higher quality standards than Audiovox!

I originally purchased the AIR200 as a gift for my non-technical mother. Big mistake! She was totally lost and gave up on it quickly. I have a computer degree, so I didn't mind fiddling around with the unit. At first, I overlooked the flaws because it was such a great thrill to dial into thousands of stations around the world. Classic rock, retro 80s, you name it. I even rushed out and bought an AR205 for myself. That's when I started paying attention to how badly designed these things really were.

The built-in software has the most bugs I've ever seen in any commercial product. It appears they released this with absolutely NO bug testing or usability testing WHATSOEVER! There are so many issues, I don't know where to begin.

It often takes two or more tries to connect to its own router. I have to unplug it and then plug it back in again to get it to connect. If I leave it plugged in, it often turns itself on randomly during the night, even if the alarm isn't set on the clock radio. Sometime it turns on to the previous radio station; other times it turns on to no station at all -I just wake up to light static/buzzing from the speaker being powered on.

The menu was very poorly thought out. Let's say you want to listen to KROQ in Los Angeles. The way to get there via the menu is as follows: choose Internet->By Region->North America->By Country->United States->By State->California->By City->Los Angeles->KROQ

That means you might have to click on TEN menu items to get to the station you want!!! Plus, you have to click the "down" button through each item in each menu to get to the one you want. Some menus have up to 50 to 100 items, so you'll be click-click-clicking quite a bit. I'm not sure how long these buttons will last. They should have used the volume dial to scroll through the menu. That would be much faster. In fact, voice commands or a search mechanism would have made more sense.

OK, so let's say you're back listening to KROQ. If you want to go to another station in Los Angeles, you'll have to go through the menu all over again because the "back" button usually forgets where you were. The preset buttons and favorites are helpful ways to create shortcuts, but they sometimes get confused and fail to connect too.

It appears to be impossible to remove a dead station from your favorites list because the remove option is only available [after] the station connects successfully, which it won't if the station no longer exists. And here's the kicker:

IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE USA, MANY STATIONS WILL NO LONGER BE ACCESSIBLE DUE TO CBS'S NEW GEO-BLOCKING POLICY.

When I first bought this radio, I was able to access thousands of US stations, which made all the flaws worth overlooking. However, CBS (who handles the streaming for most US stations) has since blocked access to non-US IP addresses. While there are still thousands of world-wide stations available, over half the US stations are now off-limits to many customers. Unfortunately, this means most of the best stations, in my opinion. This isn't Audiovox's fault, but it is a shame.

I don't have a problem with the sound quality. It's fairly clear for a small clock radio. Even a low-quality 48kbps stream sounds pretty darn good. It's a shame they did such a poor job on the software because the radio feels solid and sturdy.

In closing, I couldn't possibly recommend this to a non-technical user. Despite several firmware upgrades, none of the aforementioned bugs have been fixed, and I doubt they ever will be. I also think this has lost a lot of value for non-US residents due to the blocked stations. I'd probably begrudgingly buy this radio again because it's still nice to listen to internet radio without having a laptop or desktop computer in the room, but there are probably better products out there.

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I've had this radio for over a year. It was a great purchase. It entertains me every day and wakes me up every morning. Yes, it looks a little funky-but don't we all? You'll grow to like it's looks, I promise. Yes at times it can be a bit hard to program-and the buttons could be laid out a bit better. But again you get used to its quirks. Right now it's like an old friend, not perfect, but a good companion to have around. By the way-the radio's internal circuitry produces FAR better sound then the speakers can reproduce. There's a headphone/audio output jack on the back. Connect this to your stereo with a $5.00 patch cord from Radio Shack and you'll be amazed!