The radioShark is now a firm fixture on my desktop.
A transistor radio would be cheaper, but you wouldn't get the timeshift and scheduled recording facilities, which earned their spurs keeping me up to date with the new Hitch-hikers' Guide to the Galaxy series. There's no doubt radioShark offers better sound quality than web-based transmissions, and it's far better looking than any standalone receiver.
#Radioshark radio update
Update Griffin's UK distributor AM Micro tells me production units do provide stereo support, and only an initial batch of review models lack this feature. Stereo reception requires a good, dedicated antenna, and it's obviously proved to tricky to build into the fin. RadioShark's other drawback is that appears to be a mono device - it doesn't pick up stereo broadcasts. Knocking back the volume fixed the problem, but I'd prefer not have to juggle two volume controls to get the best results - radioShark should simply provide sufficient output to sound fine at whatever level the Mac's output is set to. Turned up too high, the radioShark's output was breaking up. What I'd done was set the radioShark's own software-implemented volume control to maximum to allow me to use the Mac's master volume control. The sound was great: crisp, clear and distortion free. Poor reception? Well, a Sony transistor radio right next to the radioShark tuned to exactly the same frequency sounded just fine.īut so did the fin when I plugged in a pair of earphones into its own audio port. Listening in on my PowerBook G4, the sound coming through the speakers was distorted, as if the device wasn't quite tuned into the station. My initial verdict of the radioShark was great looks, shame about the sound.
You can even add files to the list, including MP3s and AACs (non-DRM), if you care to. The same window provides a second pane, which lists and allows you to play recordings you've made, but you can play the files back in any other audio app if you wish.
#Radioshark radio software
You can line up a whole series of scheduled recordings, and the software is smart enough to check through the list and warn you of timing clashes. Regular programming is catered for with hourly, daily or weekly repeat-recording options. Pick start and end times, on the same or different days, select your station and recording format, and you're away. Windows users' recordings are saved as WAV files.
#Radioshark radio free
You can buffer as much programming as you wish - it all depends on how much free hard drive space you have - and record to uncompressed AIFF or iTunes-friendly compressed AAC formats. The unit has its own earphone socket and, best of all, it's bus-powered, so you only need one cable.
There's a rubber pad on the base, for instance, so it doesn't slide around or fall over. The look may be iPod-inspired, but Griffin hasn't shown any less attention to detail. Each side sports a cool-blue backlit wave design. Said fin is stylishly cast in shiny (great?) white iMac/iPod-friendly plastic, mounted on a shiny chrome base. Oh, and 'radioShark' sounds a bit like 'radioShack', geddit?!? You've got to sculpt a casing one way or another, and the curvy, 18cm high, 1.5cm thick fin is a darn sight more interesting to look at than an oblong box. The 'radio' part of the name gives away the device's function.
#Radioshark radio mac
Its iTrip - a beautifully designed, AA battery-sized FM radio transmitter - has become one of the key accessories every iPod user should own.īut Griffin hasn't ignored the Mac - or, now the iPod is cross-platform, Windows machines - and radioShark sees the company bringing its new-found design savvy and product nous to the desktop. Reg review Griffin Technology has been offering a nice line in Mac accessories for over ten years now, but it's only in the iPod era that its add-ons have become seriously cool.
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