One of the things that I really miss about Nashville, TN is the country music stations. While I can get to the music via an individual website, I don't always like playing music from a website on my PC.  The sound sometimes interferes with system sounds from the PC itself, besides, I'd rather not have the processor busy decoding streaming audio while I'm busy doing something else. Enter the Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio.  The device decodes and streams audio from broadcasting internet radio sites and allows you to play them anywhere your wireless network signal reaches. Is it worth the cost?  Is it a decent way to play audio from the internet?  Let's take a quick look and see.

Myine Internet Radio and Remote Control

 

Setup
I’ve had the device for a few months, and honestly I like it a lot. The device has a great deal to offer.  The marketing chart below is from the Myine site, and shows you exactly what the device can do compared to other devices, and even satellite radio receivers.  I really don’t buy the $30k, three year TCO, however, no matter what Myine says.  I’ve had MP3 players since 1997, and I haven’t spend a third of that.   If you spend $30,000 on CD’s in 3 years, not only are you buying a hell of a lot of music, you’re really being wasteful with your money, no mater what economy you’re dealing with. I’m just sayin’…  If you do the math, you’d have to buy 991 CD’s a year if each CD cost $10 bucks.  Like I said…totally unrealistic.  However, the feature set comparison is decent.

Myine’s feature comparison with other popular music players

To use the Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio, you need a couple of things.  First and foremost, you MUST have a broadband Internet connection; and let me recommend that if you’re going to use the Internet for entertainment, that you need to have a pretty peppy connection – 3Mbps down or better.

To use the Myine IRA, you need a few components

Since its a wireless device, you’re also going to need a wireless router or a wired router and a wireless access point. The IRA is a wireless G device, so while 802.11b wireless routers and access points will work, streaming audio over that class of device is going to consume a lot of bandwidth.  Other wireless devices will either interfere with the Myine IRA or the IRA will swallow your wireless service.  Wireless G or N is the better way to go.

The back of the Myine IRA & the RCA to 3.5mm speaker adapter

All you have to do to set up the Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio is follow these steps

1. Plug the adapter into the device
2. Plug the speakers or headphones into the device (use the RCA adapter if needed)
3. Turn the device on and allow it to find your wireless router/access point
4. Enter your wireless router/access point’s password
5. Find a station and begin listening

Yes, its that easy.  I was up and running in less than 10 minutes.

Use
The device does exactly what it says it does – gives you access to over 11,000 radio stations, including Podcasts and other prerecorded, streaming content. If you’re looking for a way to quickly listen to Internet streaming audio, the Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio is a decent device.

As I mentioned, I’ve had the device for a while and there’s only been once time where the device had trouble streaming audio.  However, that wasn’t the device or my Internet connection.  The radio station that I was listening to was having streaming issues, as any other station I tried to listen to didn’t have any buffering issues.

I’ve been very pleased with the device’s performance; although I have doubts regarding its value at $149.99.

Price: The Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio lists for $149.99.  However, I was able to find it at Amazon for $69.99.

What I liked: The device easily connected to my wireless access point (I don’t use a wireless router), and allowed me to listen to podcasts, Nashville radio stations (or any other that broadcasts on the internet).  It was quick to log in, begin streaming, and never skipped a beat or dropped any packets.

What Needs Improvement: The device software needs a bit of an overhaul.  Its all text based, and it could use an onboard GUI or even a PC based component that allowed you to update a configuration file on the actual device. The keyboard used to enter SSID configuration for your router or AP is alpha-numeric and not QWERTY based.

Conclusion: The Myine IRA Wireless Internet Radio is a decent device and I like it a lot. However, I don’t think its worth $149.99.  At Amazon’s $69.99, its a much better buy, and a very real bargain. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you’ll need a separate set of speakers for it, or at least a dedicated set of headphones.