| General | |
| Brand: | Freecom |
| Item Height : | 8 centimetres |
| Item Width: | 26.5 centimetres |
Product Specifications
Technical Details
- Wireless digital internet radio and MP3/WMA player
- Streams MP3 music from your computer or network
- Plays digital internet radio without the use of a computer
- Supports MP3 and WMA Internet radio streams
- Including compact remote control for easy operation
Product details
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Product Description
Manufacturer's Description
10000 RADIO STATIONS
No, it’s not a typing error. The MusicPal brings you 10000 internet radio stations, from all over the world, to YOUR home. Connects easily to your wireless network, and seconds later you’re moving and grooving to dance music from Japan or hard rock from America. Can also be used to play back music files from your PC or network.
As the internet continues to have a bigger and bigger impact on our lives we now find all the popular radio stations broadcasting on the web! And they are joined by an enormous group of regional and specialist stations, which therefore can be heard across the world. Another trend is that we are collecting our own audio songs in our own libraries. We want to play these songs anywhere in the house: in the bedroom, the kitchen, the home office or the garage. Also more and more people start using RSS which is a popular way to pull in news and information from across the internet and allow web sites to easily push content to subscribers directly. Subscribers are instantly updated with the latest information and news from web servers. Freecom internet radio enables new ways of music listening and RSS/Blog information in one new device: MusicPal. Just put the Freecom internet radio MP3 streamer anywhere in your house and, with the push of a button, play thousands of radio stations or enjoy your own digital music library. Like the original radio we know, the internet radio is a device that will find it‘s way to millions of households in the next years. Again, Freecom has created a solution from a consumer’s perspective, where convenience, design and quality are key factors.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I was really surprised of the stability of this device.
I was ready to spend some time reading forums, installing updates, etc - but it just works out-of-the box!
No problems with WiFi connection with WPA2, all stations are up-to-date and easy to use. Automatic time sync, and lovely night soft backlight, which allows to use this as a clock in the bedroom. No damn annoying LEDs, just a soft backlight and a big digits on the screen.
My wife is really happy with this device. 5/5
I was ready to spend some time reading forums, installing updates, etc - but it just works out-of-the box!
No problems with WiFi connection with WPA2, all stations are up-to-date and easy to use. Automatic time sync, and lovely night soft backlight, which allows to use this as a clock in the bedroom. No damn annoying LEDs, just a soft backlight and a big digits on the screen.
My wife is really happy with this device. 5/5
I have owned this radio for 3 - 4 years now and am happy with the sound quality and facilities. I use it solely in my bedroom listening to UK BBC stations as I live in Spain. It doesn't have any pre-sets, which would be really useful but it is easy to change stations.
Last year it failed, for no apparent reason, to recognise my WIFI signal, I had to have it reprogrammed by an expert and, after consulting the manufacturer's Web Site it was restored to its previous functionality.
So saying I have been happy with the unit until yesterday when one of the knobs fell off. It is not a simple volume type control, it is a push button control as well and it cannot be refitted as the shaft has snapped. I think the problem may be that the control knobs on this unit are rather large and, unless you press the knob in the dead centre, it creates stress on the knob shaft, hence the breakage over a period of time. When lying in bed, half asleep and wanting to change station, the last thing on your mind is to hit the knob dead centre!! A smaller knob, I'm sure, would negate this problem.
Another minor gripe is that it is difficult to operate one-handed. Pressing a control knob, situated on the front of the unit, pushes the unit away, therefore it has to be steadied with the other hand while pressing the knob.
I feel these are build quality and design issues and the former has made my unit inoperable, forcing me to purchase a new unit, which will not be one from this manufacturer.....
Last year it failed, for no apparent reason, to recognise my WIFI signal, I had to have it reprogrammed by an expert and, after consulting the manufacturer's Web Site it was restored to its previous functionality.
So saying I have been happy with the unit until yesterday when one of the knobs fell off. It is not a simple volume type control, it is a push button control as well and it cannot be refitted as the shaft has snapped. I think the problem may be that the control knobs on this unit are rather large and, unless you press the knob in the dead centre, it creates stress on the knob shaft, hence the breakage over a period of time. When lying in bed, half asleep and wanting to change station, the last thing on your mind is to hit the knob dead centre!! A smaller knob, I'm sure, would negate this problem.
Another minor gripe is that it is difficult to operate one-handed. Pressing a control knob, situated on the front of the unit, pushes the unit away, therefore it has to be steadied with the other hand while pressing the knob.
I feel these are build quality and design issues and the former has made my unit inoperable, forcing me to purchase a new unit, which will not be one from this manufacturer.....
15 of 21 people found the following review helpful
There are many reviews of this internet radio under its other, earlier listing on Amazon. I've sent mine back to Amazon on the grounds that any internet radio (I have no interest in any media-server functions) sold in this country, for use in this country, that cannot (or will not) receive such staples as the BBC Listen Again services, has no place here. And no, I don't think the fact that it doesn't is made clear before you buy it. In short, the Freecom is not a Reciva radio, nor any of the competition that can get the Listen Again stuff. This is apparently because it is not compatible with Real Player 'broadcasts', which is quite a setback given that it doesn't handle OGG ones either.
It's good that this radio is not one of those that won't work anywhere near 'n' band broadband servers, such as the BT Homehub. Also that, as is now standard, it comes with a LAN socket for use if your wireless set-up isn't up to it. And yes, there are some quite fancy tricks that this one can pull off that make the Reciva set-up look a little staid, but as it's surely sold primarily as an internet radio, that's the job it should do best: no amount of glitter, such as RSS newsfeeds, can make up for lack of real bottom. As to the build, it is so lightweight that unless you jam it up against a wall, you have to restrain the unit when pressing buttons. And, of course, that lightweightness wouldn't be there if the unit came fitted with a decent loudspeaker, such as is found in the 'old' Magic Box IMPs and, of course, the Tangent Quattro. The sound is thin and says 'cheap radio', which is unacceptable given the current high cost. A Tangent Quattro II can be picked up, on a good day, for only £20 to £30 more than this, which at £100 (in late September 2009, direct from Amazon and post free), makes the MusicPal simply uncompetitive.
The MusicPal doesn't seem to know whether it's a true radio or more an internet radio adapter, meant to be plugged into an amp or active speakers (I immediately opted to feed mine though my kitchen Pure Evoke III, which helps enormously but makes use more complicated of course). I also found that mine went into buffering mode at annoyingly regular intervals, and was prone to hang under intensive channel changing. Sometimes, as with the Quattro, but unlike older internet radios, it thinks for a short time and then pulls itself out of it, or at least takes you up a level so that you don't always have to resort to unplugging it.
The favourites feature is miles better than Reciva's though, as you can do it all at the unit itself and do not have to go online to add/remove channels - but as there are only preset selection buttons on the biscuit-sized remote (six), but none on the unit itself, that's just as well. But again, the more limited number of channels you can get in the first place mitigates the effect of an easier-to-use favourites function. The large display ought to be a plus, but with most internet radio channels there really isn't much textual info coming down the line anyway at present, so it doesn't seem to add much in practice over, say, the Quattro's 'peep-hole' screen.
I strongly recommend that anyone thinking of buying this has a good look at the user forum on the Freecom site to pick up what users say about it. Many will probably disagree with what I've said, and the more technical-minded may have ways around the main limitation I've mentioned. And never forget that internet radio is still very young, and that there don't seem to be any meaningful standards protecting the consumer. For the present, I'll stick to Reciva radios, and just hope they don't go out of business. It really is that precarious though, as anyone who's been forced to replace pretty serviceable, very slightly older internet radios such as the IMP or the Acoustic Research, simply because companies such as BT barged in and started selling household broadband that uses the 'n' band (which renders these particular radios useless anywhere in the vicinity), will have found out. And no, the companies that marketed the IMP and the AR have not come forward with a fix to help their loyal customers, at any price from zero upwards.
It's good that this radio is not one of those that won't work anywhere near 'n' band broadband servers, such as the BT Homehub. Also that, as is now standard, it comes with a LAN socket for use if your wireless set-up isn't up to it. And yes, there are some quite fancy tricks that this one can pull off that make the Reciva set-up look a little staid, but as it's surely sold primarily as an internet radio, that's the job it should do best: no amount of glitter, such as RSS newsfeeds, can make up for lack of real bottom. As to the build, it is so lightweight that unless you jam it up against a wall, you have to restrain the unit when pressing buttons. And, of course, that lightweightness wouldn't be there if the unit came fitted with a decent loudspeaker, such as is found in the 'old' Magic Box IMPs and, of course, the Tangent Quattro. The sound is thin and says 'cheap radio', which is unacceptable given the current high cost. A Tangent Quattro II can be picked up, on a good day, for only £20 to £30 more than this, which at £100 (in late September 2009, direct from Amazon and post free), makes the MusicPal simply uncompetitive.
The MusicPal doesn't seem to know whether it's a true radio or more an internet radio adapter, meant to be plugged into an amp or active speakers (I immediately opted to feed mine though my kitchen Pure Evoke III, which helps enormously but makes use more complicated of course). I also found that mine went into buffering mode at annoyingly regular intervals, and was prone to hang under intensive channel changing. Sometimes, as with the Quattro, but unlike older internet radios, it thinks for a short time and then pulls itself out of it, or at least takes you up a level so that you don't always have to resort to unplugging it.
The favourites feature is miles better than Reciva's though, as you can do it all at the unit itself and do not have to go online to add/remove channels - but as there are only preset selection buttons on the biscuit-sized remote (six), but none on the unit itself, that's just as well. But again, the more limited number of channels you can get in the first place mitigates the effect of an easier-to-use favourites function. The large display ought to be a plus, but with most internet radio channels there really isn't much textual info coming down the line anyway at present, so it doesn't seem to add much in practice over, say, the Quattro's 'peep-hole' screen.
I strongly recommend that anyone thinking of buying this has a good look at the user forum on the Freecom site to pick up what users say about it. Many will probably disagree with what I've said, and the more technical-minded may have ways around the main limitation I've mentioned. And never forget that internet radio is still very young, and that there don't seem to be any meaningful standards protecting the consumer. For the present, I'll stick to Reciva radios, and just hope they don't go out of business. It really is that precarious though, as anyone who's been forced to replace pretty serviceable, very slightly older internet radios such as the IMP or the Acoustic Research, simply because companies such as BT barged in and started selling household broadband that uses the 'n' band (which renders these particular radios useless anywhere in the vicinity), will have found out. And no, the companies that marketed the IMP and the AR have not come forward with a fix to help their loyal customers, at any price from zero upwards.
