internet radio for the shop

[Paul Saffold]

Rather than hijacking Jerry Bruette’s thread on buying an AM/FM radio I’ll start one on internet radios. The timing of his thread couldn’t be better. A few weeks ago the radio/CD player I had in my shop died. The one I’ve been using since gets really lousy reception. Looking at some of the brands mentioned in his thread led me to internet radio. It looks good to me and I’m wondering if you have any thoughts and recommendations about using internet radio and specifically any brands or models. I want something I can easily take from my garage to my basement so no separate speakers. I have Comcast cable and the wifi signals are strong in each location. I’m not looking for anything that requires a paid subscription like Sirius. Too often the jazz station from Baltimore fades out and the pbs station from DC is too close on the dial to a much stronger station that interferes (and preaches).Grace's Encore and Mondo look like possibilities.
Your thoughts.

Paul

[Matt Marsh]

I use my iPhone with a Bose Soundlink III Bluetooth speaker, a Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin Air, and a Bowers and Wilkins A7. The Bowers and Wilkins both use Apple Airplay technology, so you would need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. If I'm in the shop working on a major project, I'll use the A7, but for most days, the Bose is great. I subscribe to Pandora, but you can also get it free with ads. The only downfall with Pandora, is that you have to interact with it about once every two hours (i.e. thumbs up or thumbs down), or it will disconnect. I love Pandora!

[Paul Saffold]

I do not have a smart phone and do not much care for Pandora. Started out looking for a new FM radio then I learned a little about the internet radio and thought it sounded nice. Better reception and a bigger pond to fish in so to speak.

[Chris Parks]

Sonos here for both radio and stored music.

[Shawn Christ]

Are you an Amazon Prime member? If so you can access all kinds of music included with your account. If not there are other services -- I know people who like Spotify and I use the free version at work. You could also look into I Heart Radio. I also use my smartphone; it makes it easy to access my subscriptions due to the built-in wifi and display, plus it's portable. You could look for an old used and deactivated smartphone for next to nothing and use the wifi to access your music all over the house. In my shop I use my old A/V receiver and mounted indoor/outdoor speakers and in my garage or on my deck I use a cordless Ryobi work radio. Cheap and portable.

[Chris Padilla]

Spotify works nicely for me and the ads are no big deal to listen to hours and hours of Led Zeppelin. :D

[Prashun Patel]

Sonos with Pandora . Sonos also gives access to regular band radio stations nationakly

[Aaron Conway]

I'll second the others who recommend Sonos. I actually work for Sonos so I won't say much as I don't want it to sound like a commercial. I will say that this is probably the best company I've ever worked for in how they treat employees and customers. I'm a Customer Care Manager and I can honestly tell you I probably take 25 kudos calls from customers for every one complaint call...highly unusual in a contact center. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll be happy to answer them.

Cheers,

Aaron

[Matt Schrum]

I have a cheap/old desktop I use to run my CNC machine and play music via Pandora. Works well if you already have an old monitor, etc. lying around the house.

[Prashun Patel]

Yes I have a question: Can I get a discount on 10 more play 3 units?????!!!!

[Jeff Bower]

Google music...$10/month. 60+ million songs, playlists, radio stations, no commercials! I think iTunes has something similar too. For local stations and those far away, iHeart and TuneIn apps, both free. Hook your phone, tablet, iPod, laptop or computer to some old computer speakers or a bluetooth speaker device and you're in business.

[glenn bradley]

I do not have a smart phone and do not much care for Pandora. Started out looking for a new FM radio then I learned a little about the internet radio and thought it sounded nice. Better reception and a bigger pond to fish in so to speak.

I use an old discontinued Livio Radio (from back when they were one of the few players in this arena). If you don't like Pandora, you may want to analyze why. You do have to interact with it for a period of time before it can factor in your preferences. There are no advertisements with the Pandora subscription.

The Livio (this is an old model and newer offerings are probably superior) gets about any station that has an internet presence so, I have a dozen of my own stations tuned to types of music I may be in the mood for along with a half a dozen favorites that normally traverse the airwaves in my area. I generally just use 'shuffle' to listen to things from all my stations. Speaking as someone who can "get used" to the selection from a few hundred CD's in a carousal, the fact that Pandora meets my needs says quite a lot ;-)

P.s. I guess I should mention that I do not use the internal amp/speaker. I plug into a powered speaker system that I have installed in the shop.

[Aaron Conway]

Yes I have a question: Can I get a discount on 10 more play 3 units?????!!!!

If you like the Play:3 wait until you hear the new Play:5. You think our power tools are loud, crank that thing up to max and you'll think you're in a night club.

[Larry Browning]

Let's see, You want to do a little research on internet radio to see if it might work for you in your shop. However, you do not have a smart phone and you don't much care for Pandora. Have I got that right?
I have a couple of comments.
A smart phone is probably the most hassle free way of accessing internet radio. The possibilities are almost endless for whatever service is out there, most have a free option. You can either hook it up to an old stereo via a cheap cable or you could get a rather inexpensive bluetooth speaker to hook to and have the controls right in your pocket. A lot of people don't realize that an old smartphone that is not tied to a phone plan can still be used as a wifi internet device so all those music services are still available via wifi. If you have some friends or relatives that have an old outdated smart phone laying around they might even give it to you. I think there are even places that would sell you one for pretty cheap. Also, if you have a kindle fire or some other tablet device, those will work too.

You didn't say what your objection to Pandora is, but you can configure it to where it will only play the songs you like, you just have to spend a little time selecting the artist you like and press the thumbs up on the songs you really like, pretty soon it just plays only the really good stuff. I think iheart radio has lots of internet radio stations that you just sort of tune in like an OTA radio, that might be a better choice for you. There is pretty much an endless set of choices out there.

[Paul Saffold]

Thanks for the time all of you took to reply and the suggestions. Think I'll start by digging my old laptop out of the closet and get some speakers for it. It won't be as easy as moving a radio between shop and garage but it's the cheapest route. My biggest concern is the dust buildup. Maybe I can hook my dust collection up to it. If I get big enough speakers I won't hear the DC.

[Matt Schrum]

....Think I'll start by digging my old laptop out of the closet and get some speakers for it.....My biggest concern is the dust buildup.

I just blow my desktop computer off with compressed air every now and again to clear out the innards. I haven't noticed any real heat build up or issues. Unless your laptop is very ancient, streaming music shouldn't be too taxing on the system. I'd keep it out of the way of the dust if possible, but I wouldn't go too crazy at first. If you hear its fans really revving all the time trying to keep cool, then you know you need to blow it out and find a better solution.

[Prashun Patel]

I have a 5 and a 3 and i like the 3 for its being inconspicuous

[Garrett Ellis]

+1 for sonos, although I don't yet have one dedicated to the garage. Any problems in having a Play unit in an unconditioned and dusty space? Maybe this is better handled with a connect amp?

[roger wiegand]

I got a Sonos Connect a few months ago and it's fabulous. All of the music stored on my computer (several thousand CDs), pretty much every radio station across the country plus many international stations, all of the streaming services (the free version of Rhapsody seems to work great for me), and a myriad of internet radio stations, including, when I feel like a real timewarp, rebroadcasts tapes of KFAT (Gilroy, CA) from the late 70's and early 80's replete with ads to come over to Santa Cruz for a new 8-track tape installation in your car. An astonishing amount of wonderful material is available out there for free.

[Aaron Conway]

+1 for sonos, although I don't yet have one dedicated to the garage. Any problems in having a Play unit in an unconditioned and dusty space? Maybe this is better handled with a connect amp?

I have a PLAY:1 and a Connect:AMP in the shop and keep them cleaned off with compressed air...no problems.

Aaron

[Mike Schnorr]

I have a Grace GDI-IR2000 (this model is no longer available) that was given to me by the widow of a late friend. As I recall, Bill paid about $2050 for it and used it in his garage. I will be using it in my new shop as soon as I get the electricity hooked up out there. I really enjoy it - especially listening to music from all over the world. It is wireless (You put your router code in) and there is no cost to using it. It can play through a stereo for better sound than you get out of the built-in speaker.
324946

[Larry Browning]

I have a Grace GDI-IR2000 (this model is no longer available) that was given to me by the widow of a late friend. As I recall, Bill paid about $2050 for it and used it in his garage. I will be using it in my new shop as soon as I get the electricity hooked up out there. I really enjoy it - especially listening to music from all over the world. It is wireless (You put your router code in) and there is no cost to using it. It can play through a stereo for better sound than you get out of the built-in speaker.
324946

Holy Samolies! 2 grand for an internet radio! You can set up an iHeart radio account for free and listen to that on your cell phone plugged into an old stereo. I get iHeart and Pandora on my phone (along with just about any other streaming service you could imagine). The phone connects to the internet via WiFi so no data usage charges. I bought a little $20 bluetooth receiver, so now I can carry the phone in my pocket, if I need to pause it or change the channel I can do that from where ever I am in the shop. No wonder they don't make those anymore.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I'm use "I Heart Radio" to listen to the oldies (50's &60's.) Best of all, it's FREE!

[Mike Schnorr]

Ooops! Sorry about that Larry! My fingers were flying across the keyboard apparently! I meant to type $200 (still not cheap but Bill sure loved that radio - I had to go over and fix his computer on a regular basis so I got to listen to it pretty often - and that's why Mary decided I should have it after Bill passed away).

[Larry Browning]

Speaking of those internet radio devices. I have a Roku Sound Bridge that i used to use to listen to I.R. with. I think I paid around $100 for it back in the day. This was Roku's flagship product until they discovered streaming video. After that, they pretty much dropped support for it. It still works, but I never use it for music anymore. The display shows the date and time when in standby mode, so I use it for a clock. It it ever dies it won't be any great loss.

[bill kaminski]

I-Heart Radio and Jango..both good

[Harry Hagan]

iPhone / iHeart / ION Audio Block Rocker Bluetooth Portable Speaker System

http://www.costco.com/ION-Audio-Block-Rocker-Bluetooth-Portable-Speaker-System.product.100215941.html