Remote Tuner for Net Radio Is Good for a Select Few

One of the oldest and most enjoyable things to do on the Internet is listening to Internet radio--a modern-day version of shortwave that allows listeners to tune in to broadcasts from all over the world.

Using the Internet to carry the broadcasts means that listeners can tune into Hong Kong radio whenever they please, listen to rock ‘n’ roll from France or, because the shows can be stored and sent later, even catch the early-morning edition of National Public Radio at dinner time.

The only problem with this great application is that you usually have to sit in front of your computer to enjoy it.

Who wants to sit at a computer to listen to Mozart or news from Singapore?

I want to listen to my radio in the kitchen, in the garden, on the back patio, in the living room or any number of other places that are a lot more pleasant than the computer room.

One idea to liberate Internet radio has come from Sonicbox Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., which has developed a little device that uses wireless technology to beam digital audio from a computer to a stereo, wireless headphones, or even a boombox.

In essence, the $99.95 iM Remote Tuner is a bridge between the new world of the computer and the old world made up of all those comfortable audio devices that we have grown used to.

The Sonicbox device is part of a much broader movement to transfer a variety of computer activities out of the sacred temple of the computer room into the larger world of everyday life using simple and familiar appliances.

So far, we’ve seen appliances to surf the Internet, make Internet phone calls and even display digital photos in electronic picture frames that can be scattered around the house.

Internet radio is one of the best of the applications and a group of companies, including 3Com Corp. and Akoo.com Inc., are promising I-radios in the next few months.

The iM Remote Tuner is first on the market and the company has come through with a product that Internet radio junkies will love, although there are some quirks and caveats that make it hard to recommend to other people.

It has a short range--about 65 feet to 100 feet in a typical home--and like a cordless phone, the sound can break up depending on where you are standing.

I should also warn that if you have only one phone line, this device does not make much sense because you obviously have to use that line to connect to the Internet, meaning that you won’t be able to make any phone calls while using the tuner.

It clearly is designed for people with high-speed Internet connections through either DSL or a cable modem. The high speed provides better sound and faster loading of audio streams and enables some key functions of the remote control tuner, such as the audio description of the channels you select.

You can still use the device with a slow analog modem, but it is a far less interesting option--and one that can get very aggravating at times.

Three Basic Parts

The iM Remote Tuner, which is now only for PC-compatible computers running Windows 98 or 2000, is made up of three basic pieces. There is a transmitter that sits on the computer, a receiver that can be plugged into most types of sound equipment, such as headphones or a stereo receiver, and a remote control that allows you to dial into Internet stations without going to your computer.

The transmitter attaches to the computer through a Universal Serial Port, a common connector on modern computers. A second wire connects to the speaker jack on a computer’s sound card, also a standard item these days. A third wire connects to the computer’s speakers so they can also work with the iM Remote Tuner plugged in.

Installing the transmitter is fairly simple and should take less than half an hour.

The receiver is a little pager-sized device that plugs into the audio input jacks on a stereo. You can also plug headphones into the receiver, which has a clip on it so you can walk around.

The key to the system is the remote control unit. Instead of the usual process of typing in Web addresses to get to an Internet radio station, the remote control is pre-programmed with hundreds of stations.

The stations are grouped into 25 categories, labeled “A’ through “Y.” “A,” for example, is alternative music, “M” is live radio from the Eastern Hemisphere and “Q” is college stations.

“Z” is a category that can be customized by adding your favorite stations. You can also load the “Z” band with MP3 music files stored on your own computer and--using an undocumented feature--get it to play audio CDs on your computer.

To use the iM Remote Tuner, you first turn on your computer and connect to the Internet using your usual access provider. When you turn on the remote control, it sends a signal to your computer telling it what station to go to.

One of the nice features of the iM Remote Tuner is that because it broadcasts at the 900 megahertz frequency, its transmission can be picked up by a variety of wireless audio gear, such as wireless speakers and headphones, that use the same frequency.

I set up a pair of $199 wireless speakers from Advent in the backyard and listened to the BBC while basking in the sun.

Big Limitations

This may all sound wonderful, but the reality is that the iM Remote Tuner has some very serious limitations.

The biggest problem is its range. Sonicbox claims the device can transmit from 65 feet to 100 feet, but they must have measured this in an empty warehouse because I didn’t get anywhere near that distance.

There were rooms inside my modest three-bedroom home where the sound broke up enough with static and pops to make listening painful. Outside, the reception was even more erratic.

The range limitation also affects the remote control unit, making it useless in spots.

The sound quality is fairly good, but it can be affected by slowdowns on the Internet and the vagaries of wireless transmissions.

The experience is very much like talking over a cordless phone, which also uses the 900 megahertz frequency. At times, the sound is perfect, but move your head just a degree or two and the static begins to appear.

In a phone conversation, this kind of breakup is acceptable. With music or talk radio, it is annoying beyond belief.

For this reason, the iM Remote Tuner really works best when it is put in a stationary location.

One of the most puzzling features is the remote control’s coding scheme. All the stations are marked with a letter indicating its category and a number. “N26,” for example, is National Public Radio. “E09” is for Tiki Hut 24-hour surf guitar music.

Sonicbox realizes that no one can remember these codes, so for those with a high-speed connection, there’s a little audio announcement before every channel telling you what it is. The system works, but it is cumbersome.

For those using a slow analog modem connection, there is no audio announcement; you just have to remember what all the codes stand for.

There is also a long delay--sometimes a minute or more--before sound starts coming out of the device with an analog modem while the computer loads the transmission. I found myself constantly running back to my computer to check if the remote was working, negating the whole advantage of having a remote in the first place.

The iM Remote Tuner is really for a select group of people who are crazy about Internet radio, have high-speed Internet connections and want to listen to the radio in a set location that is not too far away from a computer.

That is a fairly limited bunch of people, at least at the moment.

For the rest of us, we’ll still have to wait a while for a more elegant solution.

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To read past E-Review columns, go to https://www.latimes.com/ereview.

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Sonicbox iM Remote Tuner

The Sonicbox device allows listeners to tune into Internet radio without having to sit in front of the computer.

System requirement:

Any PC-compatible computer with at least a Pentium-level processor, Windows 98 or 2000, 64 megabytes of RAM, 40mb of free disk space, USB port, sound card, Windows Media Player 6.4 or greater or Real Player 7 or greater.

Internet connection requirement:

Optimized for a high-speed connection (128 kilobits per second or greater); the minimum speed is with a 56 kilobits per second modem.

Price:

$99.95 from the Sonicbox Web site: https://www.sonicbox.com.