Internet Radio

Tivoli Audio has dramatically lowered the price of its line of NetWorks audio systems making them available (as the press release states), "at factory direct prices."

In case you're not familiar with the Tivoli Audio Networks system, to put it simply, it's a radio that allows you to listen to Internet radio stations from around the world, without using a computer. Stations can be found by searching for genre, city or station directly on the radio. If you have a networked home computer, you can access music stored there as well.

NetWorks Internet Radio new prices (available on www.tivoliaudio.com):

• NetWorks: $299.99
• NetWorks with FM: $399.99
• NetWorks Stereo (with a companion speaker): $399.99

Sonos this week announced that owners of Sonos Multi-Room Music Systems can now enjoy on-demand music from Rdio.

Sonos customers can search, browse and play anything from Rdio's 8 million + song library throughout their entire home. Rdio also lets users follow the musical tastes of their friends, share favorite songs and playlists, explore themed playlists, and also check out what's in "heavy rotation" by other Rdio listeners.

Available now, Rdio on Sonos is found under the More Music menu on any Sonos Controller. Rdio on Sonos costs $9.99 per month. Not a Rdio subscriber? Try it for free with a 7-day trial at www.rdio.com/Sonos.

"Our goal at Sonos is to provide music lovers with access to all the music on the planet," said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. "By continually adding innovative services like Rdio to the experience, Sonos customers will be able to discover and enjoy unlimited music possibilities in any room of their home."

I am a huge fan of Pandora Internet radio, so I was happy to hear that Grace Digital Audio has a new tabletop Internet radio with one button music control of Pandora. It has all the same features that Pandora listeners (like me) use on computers and smartphones, including 1-button access to the thumbs up/down song selection and play/pause functions. You can also skip, play, pause, and even bookmark songs directly from the remote and front control panel.

Grace Digital's Wi-Fi Internet Radio featuring Pandora (model# GDI-IR2550p) also has access to over 50,000 radio stations, podcasts, and on-demand content including NPR / NPR on-demand, FOX News, CNN, BBC, CBS, iheartradio, NOAA Weather Reports, Live365, KROQ, and Sirius Premium Internet radio. It will also connect and play music direct from your iTunes library stored on your PC or MAC. Read more

TiVo this week announced that Pandora Internet radio is now available on all broadband-connected TiVo Premiere boxes.

On TiVo, you can create a new free Pandora account, or sign-in with your existing Pandora account to enjoy your favorite stations on the television set. You can also access Pandora stations created on TiVo on any other platform where you listen to Pandora, including PCs and smartphones and other connected devices.

"Just as TiVo revolutionized your television and personalized your viewing content, the Pandora application brings additional music customization to the all-in-one TiVo box," said Jim Denney, VP and GM of Product Marketing for TiVo. "With Pandora now available on TiVo Premiere, we offer customers even more options when it comes to music including personalized on-demand radio, audio podcasts, music videos, music from your PC, and more through the TV and with just one remote." Read more

Pandora listens to their subscribers. One of the most requested features was the ability to personalize radio stations even further. And they did just that by adding the option to create radio stations by musical genre. A simple 'thumbs-up' and 'thumbs-down' allows listeners shape the stations to their individual tastes. Until now, stations on Pandora were created when the name of an artist, song, or composer was entered.

Senior Music Curator Michael Zapruder said, "Our listeners have been telling us for a while that they'd like an easy way to start a station from popular genres with the option to personalize the station from there. We wanted to find a uniquely Pandora way to address this consumer need so we created a number of genre stations that are carefully seeded with relevant songs and constantly refreshed with new releases."Read more

A 2010 CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award Winner for Integrated Home Systems, the Meridian Sooloos Digital Media System has a fast and powerful touch-screen interface allowing you to browse your entire music collection with speed.

The Meridian Sooloos system now has access to Rhapsody ($13 USD per month). Albums from Rhapsody can be added to your Cover Browser and then browsed, searched, and played as if they are stored locally. Since there is no limit to the number of Rhapsody albums you can add to your Cover Browser, you can build the collection you've always wanted. (Rhapsody is currently only available in the US.)Read more

There is another Internet clock radio hitting the marketplace, the chumby one. It is similar to the original chumby device (now known as the "chumby classic"), with content available from more than 1,500 applications such as Pandora Radio, The Weather Channel, MTV, CBS and The New York Times. However, the chumby one has a few new features. It has an ABS plastic casing rather than leather, a battery option (using a standard rechargeable lithium ion battery), an FM radio tuner, and a volume knob.

Facebook and Twitter can be monitored, and photos can be shared from sites like Flickr and Photobucket. You can also watch sports clips, play games, or choose from more than 200 different clock applications to display on the touchscreen device. Read more

The way people are listening to music is changing. More and more music is being listened to on the computer than ever before. Yamaha pays attention to this. The proof is their MusicCAST2 Network Music Distribution System. It is an expandable wireless system that allows you to listen to music throughout your home. What makes even better is the MusicCAST2 works with your existing audio system as well, unlike some other network music systems.

MusicCAST2 is a WiFi-based system that connects to your computer to allow you to listen to music files, Rhapsody online music service, Internet radio, and NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices throughout your home. MusicCAST2 Network Music Players can playback music from iPod and Bluetooth devices via optional accessories, as well as from USB thumb drives. Read more

Onkyo today announced three network-and-internet-radio-capable, 9.2-channel THX Ultra2 Plus certified A/V receivers - the Onkyo TX-NR1007, TX-NR3007, and top-of-the-line TX-NR5007.

All three receivers include a rear-panel Ethernet port, and can stream music from Pandora, Rhapsody, vTuner, and Sirius Internet Radio services. Each receiver is Windows 7 compatible, and carries DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) 1.5 certification. They also include dual parallel HDMI outputs and ISF Certified Calibration Controls (ISFccc) for independent optimization and fine-grain adjustments of a full range of video sources.

The Onkyo receivers will be available in September at suggested retail prices of $2,699 for the TX-NR5007, $2,099 for the TX-NR3007, and $1,599 for the TX-NR1007. Read more