Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS

• Fully integrated Pandora capabilities includes both AC and DC power via the built in AA battery recharger for Pandora anywhere inside or outside your home.
• Listen to the over 17,000 free radio stations inside your house or outdoors in your yard or garage.
• Full-function remote control: choose stations, search, skip songs, and give feedback on Pandora from any location in your room via the remote control with direct Pandora access buttons.
• High-contrast, adjustable, 4-line, backlit LCD display.
• True 802.11g wireless connectivity; works with all 802.11b/g/n routers.

In mid 2008, I purchased another Reciva-based product that was more expensive. I still like that one very much, but it has some glitches that are more or less permanent. Some of them are due to the design, and some are due to a lack of support from the brand. I was expecting rough edges from this radio, but my experience with it has been smoother. In short, it has the tried and true feature set common to Recivas, without the glitches of my old unit.

Positives:

Streams, Podcasts, UPNP/DLNA.

MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, FLAC, Real.

Customizable menu entries via Reciva website.

Differences:

Missing from this is a wired Ethernet jack and a USB port for Mass Storage Compliant devices, but the MSC feature on the other radio was half-implemented anyway. The old unit couldn't run on batteries. The wi-fi bars on the old unit's playback screen have been replaced by a clock.

Knocks Cured:

More robust power cord from "brick" to radio.

Mute works with headphones.

Hardware power switch on back of radio.

More responsive menus.

Wider field of regard for remote control sensor.

More robust remote control.

Remote control takes AA batteries.

Fewer, but easier-to-use presets.

Display backlight can turn off.

Redundant entries removed from station listings.

Station listings have subcategories.

Buy Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Now

I've been using my Grace Digital Battery Powered Internet Radio for about two months. I also own two Grace ITC-IR1000B Internet table radios, that I've used for two years (they have performed flawlessly). This is the main reason I chose the Allegra radio. My two previous radios use the Reciva tuner for all station programming. Using the Reciva website to add stations to my radios is a painless process. Once you register your radio(s) with Reciva, all of your stations appear on each radios tuner (in my case, if I add a new station, either using the Reciva website, or my radios tuner, the station is added to all three of my radios, awesome).

The radio can be powered by the included AC power adapter, or from rechargeable batteries (the charging circuit is built into the radio so you don't have to remove the batteries. It's also a smart charger, knowing the difference between rechargeables and alkaline cells.

The sound quality is pretty good for ar a radio of this size (7"H x 5"W x 4"D). It has an 8 watt digital amp that provides decent volume. Please note that this is not a boom-box in any way. I use mine out on my back deck, about 6ft away from my seating position. I have the volume set at 3/4 (there is no distortion of any kind), and it sounds very good, minus the deeper bass tones, but very good for a 3" speaker. If I'm having a conversation, I need to lower the volume, just to give you an idea of the sound level.

As far as WiFi connecting, I've had no problems. I can walk anywhere through my house, and have absolutely no buffering. I can also walk around my house, outside (close to the house) and have no buffering. My wireless router is in the front room of my home, and I've used my radio while washing my car at a distance of about 18ft outside. On my deck in my back yard, I need to keep the radio close to the house (at this point, the radio is about 28ft from the router, outside). My solution was to mount a weather proof shelf on the side of my house. It works great, and keeps the radio safe and out of the way. The included wireless remote helps in this installation.

I hope this helps anyone who is sitting on the fence with this radio.

Read Best Reviews of Grace Digital GDI-IRD4000 Portable Wireless Internet Radio Featuring Pandora, NPR and SIRIUS Here

I was skeptical after reading a review on c-net, but the Allegro WiFi proved itself to be a powerhouse of a radio. The website provides an easy to follow method of programming and updating your radio's performance and capabilities. A simple initial set-up and, with the remote, it is one-touch access to my favorite streams, including Pandora, and my favorite--Live-365. You can choose from hundreds of pre-programmed streams, or set your own-as I did with Rewound Radio, or set your own Podcasts, as I did with MikeOMeara's Podcasts. The battery powered unit can also be taken anywhere within the range of your wireless network, so I can carry it from the garage to the bedroom, with no loss of signal and the speaker fills the room with a ton of quality sound. I'm like a kid again, with my favorite "transistor radio" of days gone by, with the music I want to hear, not the junk on over-the-air radio!

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I value the customer "star" ratings and comments. In this case I was concerned about the ratings. Many were from folks who had connection issues or connection quality. Someone complained about the sound quality. Well, I wanted a portable radio and that's what I got. It doesn't sound like a surround system but that's not what I wanted. As far as connectivity commentsI've had wi-fi issues with different computers and components. Customer configurations and situations are infinite so I was reluctant to put much weight on those reviews. What was left was mostly a ton of positive reports.

This venture started with me buying a more expensive radio with a color screen. That unit has hundreds of 5-star ratings but won't take batteriesonly the mfg's battery pack, available separately for too much money. That unit was returned. So, 5-star ratings might not always suit your situation just as lesser ratings aren't always awful.

This unit appears well built and feels good to handle although I wish it had a little strap or handle. It uses 6 NiMH (only) batteries.

I was anticipating an afternoon of connectivity issues but was listening to music in about 20 minutes. It took longer to sift through some choices to find what I like to listen to best.

One big plus: The entire owners manual is in English! I appreciate that and salute Grace Mfg!

The menus are very intuitive. I didn't read the manual after the first couple of setup pages. This radio has many capabilities that I have not tried or explored yet. One day I'll park on my recliner and study the manual.

My goal was to have a portable radio for the shop and picnic table and this is it! Too bad the expensive color screen 5-star radio won't do that. Grace got it right!

Then I got real bold and downloaded the Grace Remote App. I didn't know what to expect but figured it would require configuration and agony. When I executed the app it said to press the red power icon. So I pressed it expecting error messages. Wrong! The radio powered up and my favorites started to play. And the various commands I tried have worked flawlessly. My big surprise was the album covers display on both the iPad and iPod along with all the what's playing info. The Pad/Pod menus work well but I have not tried every option.

Because of my experiences I am very pleased with this radio. I know there are all kinds of fancy stuff it will do but right now it's playing what I like best. I have no complaints. I would recommend this to family and friends for sure.

This radio is a good idea. Executed properly, it would be a wonderful product. So far it hasn't fully lived up to that. Before you buy one, make sure you realize that you are on your own when setting it up. The user's guide that comes with it just skims the surface, and isn't well written. For instance, the diagram that names all the buttons refers to one as the "OK" button. However, all through the text they call it the "Select" button. It took a little while to figure that out. Many of the settings are not discussed at all. You figure it out for yourself.

When you need customer support, there is no telephone number to call. There are online questions and answers, but you'll be luckier than I was if you find what you need. You can also email tech support. However, they won't take the time to really read what you say and will come back with some simple answer which is already in the manual. In the end, you are on your own.

If you get one, you may very well need to read the part on doing a so that you can start all over again. For me, even though it would say it was reset, it never brought up the full initial setup again until I had reset it 9 times. Why it finally relented is unclear. Maybe it is a faulty unit, maybe a faulty design who knows? After several hours I was successful, and I now have a working radio. I haven't had it long enough to know how well it holds up over time.

Afterwards I talked to my computer guy, who knows more about them than anyone else in town. He strongly recommends the Logitech Squeezebox over any other internet radio. He thinks they are simplest and most reliable. On the other hand, he is a computer tech so he is better off dealing with this kind of equipment than I am. They cost a lot more, and this one is portable. I'll see what I think after using this for a year.