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Freecom MusicPal WLAN Internet Radio | 
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| Brand: Freecom
Category: CE
Buy New: £117.99
New (2) from £117.99
Rating:  31 reviews
Media: Electronics
Fragile: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 3.2 x 10.4 x 4.5
MPN: 29309
Model: 29309
EAN: 4021801293091
Release Date: November 28, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Wireless digital Internet radio and MP3 player. Plays Internet radio stations without the use of a PC. Also streams MP3 music from your computer or network via WiFi. Tune into over 10,000 Internet radio broadcasts with vTuner or listen to your own music stored on your computer or network. Thanks to the built-in speaker you can listen to the MusicPal anywhere you want, and you can also plug it into your hi-fi. Installation takes less than 25 seconds! As the Internet continues to have a bigger and bigger impact on our lives we now find all the popular radio stations broadcasting on the web! And they are joined by an enormous group of regional and specialist stations which can be heard across the world. Another trend is that we are collecting our own audio songs in our own libraries. We want to play these songs anywhere in the house: in the bedroom, the kitchen, the home office or the garage. Also more and more people are using RSS which is a popular way to pull in news and information from across the internet, and allows web sites to easily push content to subscribers directly. Subscribers are instantly updated with the latest information and news from web servers. Just put the Freecom Internet radio MP3 streamer anywhere in your house and, with the push of a button, play thousands of radio stations or enjoy your own digital music library. Like the original radio we know, the Internet radio is a device that will find its way to millions of households in the next few years. Keep it simple! In the box: MusicPal Power adapter Network cable vTuner subscription Manual and software CD Quick install guide One year manufacturer warranty Free unlimited manufacturer helpdesk support
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 An excellent, easily used Internet Radio May 11, 2008
R. Gorman (Bangor, Northern Ireland)
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
I bought this as a present for my wife to use in the and around the home and it performs stunningly well. The initial setting up was a bit fiddly, but then I find many of todays digital devices fiddly to get going.
The range and variety of stations is amazing - there are literally thousands in addition to all the BBC faithfuls. [ On setting the radio into operation you will be confronted with the option to download an update to the inbuilt software - just go for the "Yes/OK" option as it only takes moments and brings all the radio station data right up to date].
No matter where we take the radio throught the house (it must be plugged into a 230V AC socket to work) reception is excellent. I'm using a "BT Voyager 2110" wireless router and the Internet radio receives solid signals everywhere throughout the house and even in those areas where my WiFi Laptop just won't work - so I'd say that the radio is very sensitive.
Sound quality isn't Hi-Fi, but then the radio isn't intended to be a Hi-Fi receiver. The sound quality, and available volume, is more than acceptable for general listening around the house and, in many instances, is surprisingly pleasant.
Do note that if the radio is switched 'on' and left running throughout the day, unless you have 'unlimited' broadband you will suddenly discover that your download allowance has been gobbled up.
[This applies to any Internet Radio, not just this specific model]
Several reviewers have muttered about poor build quality and lack of weight - well I don't share those views. There are so called "better" internet radios available but at double, treble or quadruple the price and I've not seen or heard any that perform or work any better than this Freecom MusicPal WLAN Internet Radio.
Do I recommend it ? Yes, I do, and several family friends have bought them and are equally as well pleased. It's darned good value for money.
An excellent Internet radio. April 16, 2008
The milkman (Down your street)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
An excellent Internet radio. Was very impressed by device when I opened the box. Very straight forward to set up to my broadband router (Netgear) via WEP (also has WPA available as well). Set-up took no more then about 3-4 mins. Stations easy to navigate, found loads of BBC stations in particular FiveLive, so now being used in the conservatory on a Saturday for the football! Sound quality is good and the buffering was quick as well, haven't suffered any delays or jutters yet. Does come with an ethernet connection so I can directly attached to my Laptop if needs be. MP3 streamer works perfect. I set my music library on my laptop (XP Pro) to broadcast and found it straight away, don't have too many MP3's but might download a few more now.
Impressed for the price, especially for 10000+ radio stations and an MP3 streamer. Well recommended.
BBC and all stations are included! April 16, 2008
D. Meadus
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
Read some of the reviews on Internet radios so decided to buy one. Freecoms MusicPal seemed to get the better reviews, so decided on that one and haven't been disappointed, really liking the MusicPal. Found it a doddle to set up, it found my wireless modem straight away and had no problems connecting. Have set it up in the kitchen and is really good, looks nice and the sound quality is good. Did the usual quick search for BBC and all stations are included along with Virgin, haven't had chance to check through the all the other stations as I have a lot to choose from, but they are there all the same. 10/10 for the MusicPal and for Amazon as well for a quick delivery, thanks.
Does exactly as it says on the tin. Great gadget November 5, 2008
R. Macdonald
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
This thing connected to my wireless network amazingly easily and quickly, was as simple as typing in the WEP key. Not tried with WPA security, but I can only assume that works as well.
The web interface is great (type the IP addy into your browser) although I haven't used it as much as I expected - apart from the fiddly entering of letters (it's only got two knobs and two buttons) the built in interface is very good.
It has a very basic web browser built in, which can be enabled from the web interface. This lets you use it to view websites, but in practice it is about the same quality as the first internet phones - not much use for anything and with no images or colour. You can also set it to take RSS feeds for displaying under the clock as well as in an RSS viewer.
I normally don't like wireless much and only connected this to it because my network socket is behind my desk and I couldn't be bothered moving it. I had planned to connect this to the wired network eventually but I don't think I'll bother - its perfectly reliable on wireless.
The list of stations built in seems very comprehensive. It works perfectly with BBC Internet Radio, the negative reviewers complaining about the lack of this feature are trying to get around the fact that they are in a different country and trying to steal radio funded by the British public by using the internet version, which blocks foreign connections for this very reason.
The sound quality from the speaker is almost exactly what I expected for 60 - more than acceptable for using around the house, but not for dedicated listening. I'll certainly use it when I have the radio outside in the garden but indoors I have used the line out feature. I was a bit disappointed with this at first, but if you use the Settings menu or the web interface to select Yes to line out, it outputs only to line out and not the built in speaker. You can then set the volume to around 85% and it will give you an almost perfect line out signal for connecting to your hi-fi equipment (although you may notice a loss in quality from the compressed nature of internet radio if you have really good speakers and ears, but I certainly don't notice enough for it to bother me)
The interface is very simple - I only had to look up the instructions to find out how to turn the thing off! (hold down the volume knob for 3 seconds, another reviewer said they couldn't find how to do this). I've found it handles the spacious but still small screen very well and it's always quite easy to get to what you want to do. The interface is also very responsive - too many modern devices take ages to respond to controls but this seems very perky indeed.
The ability to connect to a media center seems to work very well, and lets you browse around the tracks available on the media server very easily. It says it only supports Mac and Windows, and includes software and guides for setting up your Windows computer as a media server to play all your MP3s on the radio.
I use Linux which is apparently not supported, but I installed mediatomb (from ubuntu repositories and probably most others, or source from their webpage) and got that to work amazingly easily. (check mediatomb process is running, if it is check log file at /var/log/mediatomb.log to find out the web address. otherwise start it with command mediatomb and the web address will be the last line output. go to that website and you can add your mp3s and then just open it from the menu on the radio. mediatomb has loads of online docs)
The system automatically picks up the exact time from a network time server on the internet(or one of your choice if you happen to have one) which is good. Not only keeps it perfectly accurate but it means you don't need to set the time to use it as an alarm clock.
Obviously its not perfect as its only 60. I'd like the line out to be a proper, static volume line out, but it actually varies with the volume control and distorts above about 90% volume. The built in speaker could be a little better, and it could have the function to wake you up to a different station from the one you were listening to last. And the front panel can smudge if you have greasy fingers and touch it for some reason. The screens backlight isn't perfect either - its not evenly the same brightness across the screen. Not enough to bother me, I don't even notice it really, and still just as readable but some people don't like that sort of thing.
Of course I had to take the amazingly low price into account when giving it 5 stars. If it cost double the price as many of the others do, I'd have given it 4. But in saying that, I bet I'd have just as many or more niggles with the expensive models and ended up giving them a lesser score.
Probably among the best gadgets I've bought in terms of its ability to just work, it ranks up there with Sky Plus and the TomTom.
Freecom MusicPal June 20, 2008
Mr. Clive M. Smith (London, UK)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Nice little internet radio / media player.
Bought it for my wife who loves it. She is able to listen to all her music I put onto our UPNP media server.
We have it connected via a wireless router so one may take it anywhere round the house where there's a 13Amp socket and in range of the router.
Only locked-up/software crash once in the three months she's owned it. Don't think it liked my internet connection being interrupted whilst listening to an internet radio station.
Mono speaker a bit poor, but it does have RCA left and right stereo outputs to connect to ones Hi-Fi if you need better sound quality.
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