Livio Radio
Today I want to tell you about a very cool radio that I’ve been playing with. Radio, you must be asking yourself, who listens to the radio these days? Well, this isn’t your ordinary broadcast radio, this isn’t a satellite radio and it isn’t even your typical internet radio, though you’re getting warmer with the latter.
The Livio Radio is unique in the marketplace right now. It plays Pandora radio as well as over 11,000 internet radio stations. It was specifically designed around Pandora radio, including the specific thumbs up and thumbs down controls, more about this later. It does this wirelessly utilizing your home or office Wi-Fi connection. If you don’t have a Wi-Fi network, there is the option of plugging the radio into your network using the included Ethernet cable.
Let’s back up a little and talk about Pandora radio since that is the major attraction of the Livio Radio. Pandora quite simply is a free internet radio service. You tell Pandora what kind of music you like by indicating a song or artist. The service then plays songs that it thinks you will like based on that selection. For each song the service plays you can specify whether you like it or not by using a thumbs up or thumbs down button. The service learns what you like and don’t like and it endeavors to supply the music you should like. You can also choose not to rate a song or skip the currently playing song.
That’s the simple explanation of Pandora. What is actually going on behind the scenes and the technology that makes it all possible is quite amazing and sophisticated though it is beyond the scope of this article. To learn more check out the Pandora web site as well as the Music Genome Project.
Right now, there are many ways to listen to Pandora radio. You can use a Mac, a PC, a mobile phone, as well as other home entertainment devices. Currently, none of these devices combine to give you all the features that the Livio Radio does. Let’s take a closer look at the Livio Radio.
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Livio Radio Remote Control
The Livio Radio is a very attractive device. It measures about 9 x 5 ¼ x 5 ½ or thereabouts. The Livio is solidly constructed and has a quality look and feel to it.
The front panel is quite attractive and consists of:
- A single speaker (it plays in stereo through the one speaker).
- A chrome knob, the knob has dual functionality for volume control as well as menu browsing and selecting.
- An input jack so you can plug in an iPod or other MP3 player.
- Six buttons which are for thumbs up, thumbs down, song skip, power, favorite and back.
Set-up right out of the box was fast and easy. It shouldn’t be difficult for the average person to have this radio up and running in just a few minutes.
Here are the basics of the set-up procedure if you have a Wi-Fi network:
- Plug the radio into the wall.
- Select the wireless network from the menu on the radio.
- If your network is password protected (it should be!!) you can enter your password using the knob. The Livio will store the password so this is a onetime deal.
- You’ll need to go online to register your Livio Radio, this is really the only time you’ll ever need to use a computer, the Livio radio is totally standalone after this.
- You can set up your free Pandora account on your computer or directly through the Livio Radio.
That’s how easy the set-up is.
From this point, you can select songs or artists that you like. You can assign five preset channels to your favorites to make it easy to access them in the future. You can access those favorites using the “fav” button on the front of the Livio to scroll through your favorites or by using the included remote control, which gives direct access using the numbered buttons. Once the Livio is set-up, virtually all functionality can be controlled by the handy remote.
I easily set up three Pandora channels and assigned them to my favorites. I set up Pink Floyd, Muse and Jimmy Buffet. The Livio radio makes it so fast and easy to do and the Pandora service is almost uncanny in its ability to pick music you will like. The Pink Floyd channel played The Beatles, The Who, Led Zepplin and of course Pink Floyd. The Muse channel played Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Radiohead, Weezer as well as Muse. The Jimmy Buffet channel played Bob Marley, The Eagles, John Fogerty, and Jimmy Buffet. These are just some short examples of what you could expect.
Livio Radio
I’ve talked about Pandora radio but, as I mentioned previously, the Livio Radio also has the ability to easily access over 11,000 internet radio stations. Accessing them is easy and intuitive using the menu system on the front panel display. The internet radio stations run the gamut from news, talk, and just about every musical genre. You can have a lot of fun just twisting the chrome knob to see what your choices are.
How does it sound? Surprisingly good for a small radio with just one speaker. The sound is never tinny and has a decent richness to it, which belies its size. Realistically this isn’t going to be useful to entertain a large party but it can be hooked up to a larger stereo system for that purpose. This makes a great table or desktop radio that can easily be moved around to anywhere there is AC power. It can also be used as an alarm clock though it certainly isn’t designed primarily for that purpose.
Here’s what comes in the box:
- Livio Radio with Wi-Fi antenna built in
- Remote Control
- Ethernet Cable
- AC power adapter
- 1/8” stereo adapter
- User guide
The Livio Radio is only available in the United States right now. The company says that when Pandora is available outside the US they will expand their sales to cover those areas (Pandora checks your IP address location to confirm that you’re in the US). If you’re wondering what the name Livio means, it’s my understanding that it is just a made up name that doesn’t really mean anything.
The Livio Radio costs $149.99 and as far as I can tell, is only available directly from Livio right now at www.shoplivio.com. So what’s my verdict on the Livio Radio? I give it a thumbs up and I believe you will too!
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Comments
No the best way to listen to pandora is to put our iphone or ipod on a dock, or plug it into your stereo where the music will sound even better!
iPod Touch that is
The best way to listen to Pandora is over the Livio. With this radio you can also hook it up to your home audio system because there is an auxiliary input jack in the back of the radio. If you don't want to listen to Pandora you also get an additional 11,000 internet radio stations from around the world.
Using an iPhone is good until you get a phone call. A Touch is good unless you want to play a game. Livio is nice but check out Grace Digital from San Diego. Grace radios play Pandora, Sirius, Live365, iheartradio, NPR, College stations, NOAA weather stations, and over 16,000 AM/FM radios stations.
Grace Digital has multiple radios that have class D digital stereo amplifiers for optimal sound and optional battery charger for back yard use.
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