Internet Radio

Older Brother 66 who has worked in the IT industry for most of his working life and  dad who at 92 is more IT savvy than most including yrs truly  are both critical of DAB digital radio quality and both recently purchased internet radio sets, the virtues of which they have been extolling ever since Christmas.

DAB radio  sound is a disappointment. Listening to old fashioned FM radio while shaving in the bathroom on weekday mornings before commuting to the dayjob is clear enough but DAB sound is often too muffled to be heard  so clearly over splashing water and shaving. Added to that is the inconvenience of DAB radio batteries needing to be recharged far more frequently than conventional portable radio batteries.

Dad and big brother's many virtues do not usually extend to a good eye for designer appearance in  household  electronics so at first I ignored their researches and was on the point of buying a rather attractive to my eye anyway  looking

Monitor Airstream Internet radio. However despite the attractive looking  design it did not seem to have a portable battery facility so I began to take more notice of their recommended

Logitech Squeeze Box Internet radio and in the end took their advice and bought the £99 squeezebox. This has as an extra  irritatingly somewhat pricey a battery pack and remote control.

The Internet radio having been delivered promptly it proved simple to set up even for non-teccies (speaking as such). The sound is far superior to DAB added to which is the fun of being able easily to tune in to radio stations from around the world as simply as the BBC eg Radio Sahara. mrs maytrees scepticism evaporated upon her hearing the rich Irish accents emanating from the squeezebox when tuned in to a local Dublin City station. Broad smiles were the order of the morning.

Another huge plus is the fact that the squeezebox radio automatically logs in to  PC saved music so I can listen to music from my computer stored play lists anywhere as easily as listening to the radio. The whole experience puts radio listening on a new level rather like an electronic  Kindle does with book reading.

The sooner the TV, computer and internet are inter connected and as simply the better so far as I am concerned.

The main gripe is a somewhat nationalistic one - the computer server which makes all these aspects of ordinary suburban life richer to savour, is based in Germany. The Germans are brilliant at engineering etc and deserve full credit for their inventiveness but why on earth cannot British IT teccies design and sell something  like the squeezebox so beneficial to ordinary lives relatively cheap cheerful and base its computer servers in the UK?

Having said that I know that Roberts radio has British aspects and I have not checked where their IT radio servers are located.