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Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox (Black) | 
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| Brand: Aluratek
Category: CE
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $27.95
You Save: $22.04 (44%)
New (31) from $27.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Color: black
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 1 x 3 x 4
MPN: AIRJ01F
Model: AIRJ01F
UPC: 890989001569
EAN: 0890989001569
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Features:
| • | USB plug-n-play (no software to install) | | • | Search for music by Genre or geographically (over 300 countries) and 13,000 channels | | • | Save all your favorites right to the USB drive and take it with you when you travel. | | • | No monthly costs! | | • | Keep a list and vote for your favorite radio stations to tabulate TOP 10 genre and region lists among all users. |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
If you use broadband (DSL or Cable) Internet access, your PC can be a super-sensitive radio. The USB Internet Radio Jukebox allows you to easily access more than 13,000 radio stations in over 150 countries around the world with no monthly fees. Simply insert the USB Internet Radio Jukebox into your computer's USB port and you have a world of entertainment at your fingertips via Aluratek's Internet media player. You can search for music geographically by continent/country/state or by the more than 50 different available genres including a wealth of news and sports radio stations broadcast throughout the world. Once you find a favorite station whether it is from your local country or while visiting other countries around the world, simply add it to your favorites folder. You can also search for the top ten radio stations in each country or by each genre and cast your own vote for each channel. No software installation is required making this truly plug-n-play experience. Let the fun begin! No monthly cost. Compatible with Windows 2000, XP and Vista.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Expand your mind, computer September 13, 2008
51 out of 57 found this review helpful
It's pretty straight-forward: it lets you listen to thousands of radio stations that broadcast on the Net. As I write this review, I am sitting here, on the US East Coast, listening to some Icelandic rock station. In the past couple of hours I browsed through radio stations based in France, the Philippines, UK and, I believe Thailand. Pretty cool, eh?
But, let's summarize:
Installation: super-easy. You stick the USB thing into the proper port and you get prompted to allow for the software to install on your computer - at least that's what Vista does.
Interface: you get 2 top-10 lists that can be expanded to top-100, by region or by genre. The tops are not too useful, unless you really believe that the number one talk station in the world is broadcasting from Bulgaria but, it's fun to have them there. The categories are usually hit and miss - you are almost as likely to find music on a 'talk' station as your are to find actual talk but... it's no big deal, believe me. The stations are also classified by Genre and Location and, within each of these, you can sort them by 'country' - not all stations have a country assigned to them and Kansas and Kenya are both viewed as 'countries'. You can include individual stations on your favorite list and you can vote them up or down. There is also a 'history' section, a 'help' section and a link to the maker of the product. Oh, the bottom of the window is reserved for advertising but, I bet, you are NOT likely to stare at the Aluratek windows while listening to the radio so it's not bothersome.
Reception: each station shows a number of bars, telephone style - 4 bars are supposed to be the clearest and no bars you probably can't get. The quality of your connection is, without a doubt, dependent of your own bandwidth. Depending of it and depending on many other factors, your connection may break from time to time or you may not be able to connect at all but, so far, I am happy with what I get.
Why I almost took out 1 star?
- The interface could be improved. What I definitely miss is the ability to enter my own little notes to the stations that I mark as 'favorites'. The way they appear now - which could be something like 'WKZR' or maybe a string of Chinese hieroglyphs - is not always descriptive enough.
To summarize: if you spend a few hundred $$ for your laptop, I can't think of any good justification for not spending $20-30 on this little device.
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October 2, 2008 Update
I learned from a related discussion thread that there are 'free' sites that allow access to thousands of radio stations with some search capabilities. http://www.vtuner.com is one of them. Some may prefer to use such a site for their radio listening and save some money. Personally, having purchased this device, I am more likely to use IT than Vtuner but this is my personal preference only.
Music Galore! August 23, 2008
15 out of 22 found this review helpful
I can't believe this technology. I just plugged it into the USB port on my laptop at home that's connected to internet and the media browser automatically launched giving me instant access to music stations all over the world. I love the search by region feature which looks sort of like google earth and it allows you to simply click on the region you want to access then lists all the available countries. I use other free internet radio websites but I have yet to find something like this that organizes all the available music by country and genre for you and best of all no advertisements. This is an awesome product and very cheap.
Listen to overseas stations at home, and home stations overseas September 12, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful
I was feeling nostalgic, remembering listening to BBC radio dramas when I was in college in Europe. I've tried to find them online with no luck.
Then I bought this tiny gadget.
I plugged it into my computer's USB port, and it's like going back in time. It works just fine on my computer running Windows XP. I can listen to radio dramas from the UK, music from Virgin Radio, Celtic stations from Ireland, and other favorites from around the world. I can also explore stations I've never heard of from pretty much every country on the globe.
Mind you, this device isn't perfect. It can take a few seconds for a radio station to start, sometimes you'll find a dead link, sometimes the sound drops a bit, though usually not much and certainly not as much as any other form of radio streaming I've found. Despite the drawbacks, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is missing a favorite radio station from another country. There's no reason to feel homesick anymore.
Likewise, if you're traveling with your laptop and you like to listen to American radio, you should probably take this with you. I've been in countries where I've had the hardest time finding anything on the radio I liked. With this device and a laptop with an Internet connection, you can take this comfort from home anywhere you go.
I laughed at first... was I ever wrong! September 7, 2008
13 out of 33 found this review helpful
A friend of mine had one of these, and I laughed as he explained it to me. Then he let me try it out... and all I can say is that I was wrong!
This Aluratek AIRJ01F USB Internet Radio Jukebox is a truly amazing product, and in such a small package. Just plug it into the USB port of your computer's USB port and you'll have access to over 13,000 radio stations from over 150 countries around the world, and there are no no monthly fees to pay.
The first thing that this reminded me of was childhood memories from the 'old days' of sitting in front of my dad's large short-wave radio, listening to broadcasts from radio stations around the world. But the big difference here is that the static and station drift that we got so used to in those days isn't there, form what I've seen in my limited experience with this excellent product.
And get this: there's no software to install. It's true 'Plug-n-Play', directly to your computer's USB port. I understand that it only works on Windows 2000, XP or Vista, unless someone has more info on that than I do. You can also keep a playlist on your computer, and vote for your favorite radio stations among other users. It's "social music networking" at its best, and in a small package.
Have I accessed all of those 13,000+ radio stations from around the world? No, I haven't, for I had just a scant two days to play with this product before returning it. But it was such a fascinating product that yes, I had to get one for myself.
If you want something bigger and more specialized, take a look at the feature-loaded Aluratek AIRMM01 Internet Radio Alarm Clock with built-in WiFi, another interesting product from an experienced company that makes some great products.
By the way, the Aluratek Website has excellent support documentation for those interested. All in all, this is a great little 5-star product!
Great little product, at great price! September 13, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
I discovered this Aluratek AIRJ01F USB internet radio stick as an Amazon promotion. The idea that I could be anywhere in the world but easily hear my local radio stations sounded great. (Or vice versa -- easily find broadcasts worldwide.) After checking the handful of reviews, I decided to take a chance -- hardly a big loss if it didn't pan out. Well, I'm glad I did. It arrived in two days. I opened the package. The instructions said, "Plug it into the USB port." I did (on my laptop which runs Vista) and, lo and behold, the application immediately began to run, and a huge directory of worldwide web radio stations came up, organized in several different ways, and easily searchable. In seconds, I was listening to my home town radio station. One click later, I was checking out a station half a world away!
Then a friend called and, in passing, he mentioned that he never gets to hear broadcasts of his old college's football games, because the school is 600 miles away, and he often travels, anyway. I recommended this! Could he figure out how to get the webcasts without this inexpensive device? Maybe....No, obviously not. This makes finding numerous stations so easy, no matter where you are or what computer you're using.
One issue: I tried plugging it into a secure laptop which runs Windows XP, and the self-starting app did not run automatically. I'm still trying to track down the ActiveX setting which is preventing this. But, no problem, anyway: All you have to do is create a shortcut to the application on your desktop, and then clicking that will start it up.
Nifty and inexpensive little thing, makes staying local, or going global, with your web radio, so easy! These will make great Christmas gifts, too!
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