the CityRadio - Hear the world

A ‘radio’ that lets you listen in to broadcasts from cities around the world…but there’s a catch.
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[@SilverEye91]

I'm actually quite impressed by the creative way they managed to make this device completely useless!

[@joechisten7176]

Up there with the AR globe toy

[@JaredConnell]

​@@andymerrett i think it's quite ugly, even for a brick

[@porkyV2]

astounding to say the least! lol!

[@nettack]

I haven't seen a hardware dongle that big since the C64 days.

[@sdrape4964]

Did they though? They sold at least one!

[@NoName-ik2du]

It annoys me to no end that we live in an era where so many awesome devices can be made, and yet almost all of them are crippled to the point of being almost completely useless/disposable by requiring a smartphone app.

[@onataltn4596]

Ah, there is nothing else like the feeling you get when you buy something you need and it turns out you need to download an extension of the chinese intelligence agency

[@muellerhans]

And it is even worse when governments and companies the society depends on are also trying to push apps while cutting off actual smart options (that don't require to own a device) to save money. In those cases, make you heard.

[@MichaOstrowski]

Well, these days you just get an app and that's it, the useless gadget thing reminds me of the useless iPhone accessories from about 15-20 years ago, actually.

[@piffpete420]

Deliberate dumbing down of the world

[@noanime5762]

i love how devices like the radio are getting simpler and simpler to the point where the "radio" is an untunable pile of buttons reliant on a phone app that can connect to a handful of stations you can already find online. 10/10

[@AnalogSins]

Which by the way WOULD be the correct fucking direction for an internet radio, had they not made complete arse of it.

[@nicksterwixter]

This thing is a pure novelty. I genuinely can't think of a single thing this provides that you couldn't get with another internet radio app and any bluetooth speaker.

[@phantomwarrior8686]

Well the feeling of pressing the buttons and the idea itself is pretty neat. The audio quality as he said in the video is not bad too, so generally it's just a Bluetooth speaker, but it's still cool, maybe overpriced, maybe worthless, but cool, cool idea, bad product application.

[@callummclachlan4771]

@@phantomwarrior8686 Could make something that connects to the internet by itself but is standalone. Using LCD screens in the buttons so you can change place names. Not sure how much it'd cost, but it'd be more satisfying than just an app.

[@phantomwarrior8686]

@@callummclachlan4771 yeah, that's what I mean, thanks Like the idea by itself is pretty interesting, but the way they did the thing is bad, it's just an overpriced midrange whatever Bluetooth speaker. Maybe the LCD could be put in the sides of each button and internet would be available, and a button above to change between the stations inside onde specific city. That would cost more but would actually be the implementation of the idea they originally probably had

[@thenargles]

I agree completely with your assessment, Matt. I absolutely love the idea and actually the device itself looks very appealing. But being completely reliant on an application just kills it for me. It’s a shame, but I’m very glad you made a video about it.

[@celebrityrog]

Like, shouldn't it just be a plug and play kinda thing? Plug it into your router or mesh hotspot with ethernet and press the buttons and it just works. OR, if you want to enable WIFI features, then you could use the app to set that up and now you're free to move that around the house. Let's be honest, this just is way too niche to necessitate it having any LTE/5G connectivty but again, if you really want to take it with you on the go then your phone is the hotspot it can connect to.

[@adamlane6453]

"The internet of everything" is ruining everything.

[@xXYannuschXx]

I mean: theres zero reason for this device to have to run through an app. I mean, they could make it optional, when you are on the go, but allow the app to just setup the device for you WiFi and let it to the rest itself.

[@annother3350]

@@adamlane6453 This isnt an internet device, its a blutooth speaker

[@toastermon2272]

​@@xXYannuschXx especially when it's reliant on proprietary (cloud) infrastructure to work, once the company goes belly up or decides to end support for your device, you'll be out of luck unless they open source the code so people can build their own locally run system to configure it.

[@brankocollin]

The way I listen to international radio is I start the Local Radio plugin for Euro Truck Simulator 2, then start the game and then accept cargo for the country whose radio I want to listen to - which typically ends up being Romania in the hope they will be playing Romanian rock. Other favourites are Finland, where once the two djs talked for half an hour about a song before they played it, and France where I listen to FIP, because middle-of-the-road is my jam. Also the Baltics like fusion.

[@acomingextinction]

I love doing this too. It really surprised me how immersive real-world radio can be. And shoutout to Italian rock stations, which are NUTS.

[@WildBluntHickok]

Two DJs talking for half an hour about a song before playing it reminds me of German concerts. The guy who's supposed to introduce the band at the beginning reads an essay about the band's career instead.

[@oliviersavard8676]

@@WildBluntHickok well what did you expect from germans

[@lagautmd]

This was NOT a mistake. This ensured that your listeners knew what was actually in the box, a tremendous service. This device would have definitely caught my eye. It might have caught my money if not for this review. Thank you!

[@Ootgreet1]

The issue I really have with this product is that apparently there is a network of receiver stations that was created specifically to stream the cities' content for this service, and therefore you are totally dependent upon this small company staying around. If the company that made the box goes belly-up then you have a paperweight. This has happened to many, many other technological devices over the years. It's not robust.

[@LagrangePoint0]

@@Ootgreet1 yep, this thing will be useless in 10 years, probably less

[@pwcorgi2000]

@@LagrangePoint0 More like useless in 10 hours or less.

[@blenderbachcgi]

@@pwcorgi2000 Useless as a radio, yes, but it can be used as an overly expensive Bluetooth speaker. Alright, it's useless.

[@newp0rt]

@@LagrangePoint0 the non replaceable battery wont even last that long lol

[@CrazyTobster]

Shortwave radio was the traditional way to listen to world radio if you was lucky enough to get a signal dropping down from the atmosphere.

[@KofolaDealer]

I can tune into chinese stations from Slovakia with short wave

[@oasntet]

With the current sunspot cycle being one of the most active in recorded history, there's never been a better time to get into shortwave listening again. During daylight hours, we're getting to the point where low-end VHF signals (30MHz-50MHz) are bouncing, and that basically never happens. When we hit the peak, there's a slight chance that commercial FM stations are going to see skip propagation...

[@CrazyTobster]

@@oasntet I might end up getting one. Childhood memories; the wonder and amazement. Thanks for your message.

[@pmr446]

@@CrazyTobster I recommend the ATS20 or the ATS-25X1, it is cheap and arduino based, it also supports SSB mode so you can tune to amateur radio operators and aeronautical comms.

[@wyldemusick]

Living in Jamaica I got adept at DXing. I miss the plethora of shortwave stations…SDR is lot less fun in the shortwave wasteland.

[@hyper6500]

Pretty sweet, but nothing can beat the magic of young me tuning through my dad's expensive shortwave radio at 1am and being awestruck at what I was able to hear.

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

Indeed. Kids these days miss out on so much!

[@resneptacle]

​@@olmostgudinaf8100 Don't worry! There's plenty of other things my generation and the one after mine can explore and experience for themselves, yours wasn't the only one with magical childhood discoveries and experiences!

[@JackMortimer-lu6wv]

I was very fortunate. When I was about 10 years old (so, 2011) my grandad gave me a Sony shortwave radio from the 80s. I remember not feeling too fussed about it at first, until he tuned into China on it. Still got that little radio and I still get a massive buzz picking up far away stations on it.

[@CarlosPerezChavez]

@@resneptacle That's nice to hear.

[@dallas-cole]

I used to go rouge with an old Motorola cell phone that I was able to turn into programmer's mode and use the antenna for receiving any shortwave signal around, including police back in the day. It is an awesome feeling.

[@tenchuu007]

Impressive misdirection in advertising. I like the 1 five star review for the app. Definitely authentic.

[@caramelldansen2204]

Misleading advertising? Don't you mean "efficient marketing?"

[@ct1660]

its like a bait-and-switch. You think it's a dedicated internet radio, only to find out it's nothing more than a bluetooth speaker.

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@MyRealName They didn't _technically_ lie in the same way manslaughter _technically_ isn't murder; I wouldn't want it being done to me either way.

[@johanngambolputty5351]

@@MyRealName Ahh yes, we all want to live in a world where its not safe to casually buy anything, because -we might be tricked- you have to do in depth research on every silly little gadget, because if the info is somewhere out there, it makes it all ok.

[@AlexanderNash]

@@MyRealName "A magic box that connects you to the world’s LIVE city radio stations." Is the largest most prominent text, they absolutely are trying to mislead people. But it's literally just a bluetooth speaker. The app is the only thing that makes it anything. Why not just sell it as a bluetooth speaker? Just because it's not literal fraud because they do include a description somehwere that clears it up, doesn't make it any less dishonest. I do think people should do their own research AND I think people should speak out about dishonest advertising. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[@Tedd755]

The fact that once you've arranged the city buttons on the 'radio', you've got to _do the same thing again in an app_ is just the icing on the shit cake.

[@SergeiMosin]

The presentation of the device is absolutely top tier. It has a clean design with a solid concept for handling the interchangeable buttons. Speaker is pretty nice for such a small device, and the quality looks fairly decent apart from the sprue bits on the buttons. If it was set up as a standalone device, or even just used the app to allow you to program the buttons, it would be a great little piece of novelty or educational kit

[@toposebi95]

Worth pointing out that almost all radio broadcasters in Japan use a geolocked internet streaming service called Radiko which means that actual radio stations available to foreigners are almost little to none and the ones provided might not actually be Japan-based! (Only one of the stations on said list was an actual station: FM Setagaya, a small community station based exclusively in the outskirts of Tokyo.)

[@maiden666powerslave]

With a Firefox extension you can get around the geoblock

[@bruta1ny]

hello, northexpresswhateverVPN

[@nettack]

@@bruta1ny And that will magically update the station selection in the app? Radiko will automatically update their contracts with the device manufacturer or end user once the IP is correct?

[@bltzcstrnx]

Of course it is, Japanese are madly in love with region locking.

[@russkisteel]

Plenty on JCBA that works outside Japan.

[@manestrak]

Well if you enjoyed the stations from Tokyo, note that the first few stations labeled "Asia Dream" are from Toronto

[@ChaoticAphrodite]

@James Ward that’s awkward to read from hongkouver

[@chudite]

I'm from Toronto :)

[@dustyoldhat]

​@@ChaoticAphrodite I thought it was just us here in Ottowasaka

[@Tardisntimbits]

​@@chudite Down the highway from Toronto, o/

[@chudite]

@@Tardisntimbits orangeville? brampton?

[@sbeers88]

I grew up a farm in North Central Montana, very near the Canadian border and remember being able to pick up Canadian AM radio stations at night. It was pretty cool being able to hear news and music from another country, even if it was Canada. On some rare nights, I could even pick up Vin Scully announcing Dodgers games from LA.

[@lajya01]

What would be a good idea is putting a normal tuning knob with the FM band but you can choose the city you want to "put your radio in". Simulating what it would actually be like if you actually brought your normal FM radio in that location.

[@clkbateman]

Radio Garden online based radio is the pinnacle if you want almost everything

[@walsingham-xxiii]

I’m looking forward to them sorting out their UK copyright issues.

[@bluemeannie]

It stopped working for me a while ago, I can’t get any satiation outside the UK?

[@clkbateman]

@@walsingham-xxiii I have just discovered this with UK copyright issues, absolutely gutted. We are not free. I read a reddit post and used VPN just to connect, then after that you can turn of VPN and it still works

[@ThisUsernameSystemF-ckingSucks]

@@walsingham-xxiii Wait really? Just linking to a radio shows live broadcast violates copyright? Copyright laws are fucking bullshit.

[@theinterruptor]

Came to the comment section to recommend the radio garden app.. 🤓

[@JMcMillen]

I have to agree that what kills it for me is having to tie it to a phone just to listen to it. Even trying to use it with an old phone (no sim, Wi-Fi only) or some kind of computer running Android would still have the annoyance of having to have that device running just to listen. Configuration stuff is one thing but they really need to get the thing to play without connecting to another device.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

stupid thing is it's completely unnecessary to build it this way. It costs more to develop and maintain the app than stick a RaPi in the unit, which can run whatever you want and independently connect to the internet and play the radio stations, and doesn't need to be constantly updated because it'd be a helluva lot simpler than an app that has to work on dozens of different devices

[@KLondike5]

Then one might as well use an old phone to run the Radio Garden app. Browsing the globe is dead simple via an interactive digital globe.

[@existence3585]

@@thesteelrodent1796 You say that like they're going to update the app, they're probably just going to abandon it in a year or two like all the other cheap app-based devices.

[@GodzillasaurusJr]

Our radios when I was growing up didn't have any names of cities, but exploring the MW and LW meant you could hear foreigners talking and everything, which young me thought was very cool!

[@theol1044]

In the 1970s in Germany, Telefunken made a pair of portable transistor radios (called Partner 600 and 700) that had a green "Luxemburg Button", which was advertised as one-touch access to "Europe's music station no. 1". It was the only station that got such a special treatment, and there was no way to store other stations. I don't know whether it was FM (presumably) or AM.

[@dominikrathgeb361]

AM Medium Wave

[@MarshmaloWarrior]

Up until the point where I learned it was essentially a glorified BT-speaker I was really interested and seriously concidering getting one for myself. I have an old 80's boombox in my kitchen that I listen to whenever I cook dinner and I've always been looking over at the dial with various city names on it wishing I could just tune in. Sure, there are apps and websites for this but there is just something special with the concept of this device that really appeals to me.

[@TheMajkla]

Ten years ago I had a simple WiFi internet radio - just a small cube which you programmed via USB cable then each side of the cube was assigned to your favourite station. Motion sensor allowed changing stations by flipping the cube to different side. Volume was controlled by tilting forward/ backward. Q2 Wi-Fi radio Simple to use - no buttons Four presets, just tip over to change Tilt it forward or back to raise or lower the volume Easy setup via PC or Mac Receives radio stations from all over the world Plays podcasts Re-chargeable battery and mains adapter Headphone/line out socket Dimensions of 10x10x10(cm)

[@RoyWiggins]

I broke down and finally bought an Ocean Digital radio, which seems to be the last company out there making internet radio devices. The UI is awful compared to a boombox but it does work and is pretty cheap. The WR-336F can do FM as well as internet radio, so it's pretty versatile.

[@Kyller3030]

@@RoyWiggins wym the last company? there seems to be a lot of them around. Or are you referring to the embedded "Frontier" system on chip inside a lot of them?

[@amndk34]

I agree with you and many here in the comments. A true city radio, standalone device, would be really interesting and appealing. Understand you were a bit disappointed to learn this was just a Bluetooth radio with an app. Still has a little charm, but standalone would be much better.

[@RealNovgorod]

Get a cheap old Android phone and put it inside the radio - there's more than enough room and it will become standalone...

[@grymkaft]

​​@@ivok9846 When working, relaxing, vacuuming, doing dishes, working out etc. What do you mean?

[@chaos.corner]

@@ivok9846 As Matt pointed out, there are a lot of free streams out there. Not all of them will be the ones you want though. If you accept that, you could put together somethink like that in a few days. Make the UI however you'd like it.

[@AlexanderNash]

@@ivok9846 Literally exactly what this product is now but put whatever duties the phone and app handles directly into the device.

[@alex15095]

@@ivok9846 Initial setup would have you enter your WiFi details, the radio would connect to your WiFi, and then it would play those Internet city radio streams itself without a phone

[@allissondiego1989]

Thank you for pronouncing São Paulo with the proper nasal sound. Very rare for native English speakers to take that difference into account.

[@countenanceblog]

The other problem for the old kind of dial shortwave radios that had cities printed on their dials, is that the location of the cities relative to the frequencies were based on known allocations at the time. And, eventually, allocations changed.

[@ybergik]

I have fond memories of being able to tune in to Radio Luxemburg back in the 80s when I was visiting my grandparents in the south of denmark as opposed to the middle of denmark where we lived.

[@Blitterbug]

Wow. A pricey 'radio' that turns into a brick when you leave the house. That'll please the missus.

[@SnatchNuman]

This is by far the prettiest software dongle I've seen in the last twenty or so years.

[@KevinDC5]

I remember having a Sony Walkman circa(1998) and I remember thinking how awesome it was that you could tune into local TV station/channels and get FM quality audio of the TV broadcast.

[@TrapperAaron]

Luvs it! My dad loved radios, when internet radios first came out, we got him one for Xmas. It was a real pain to get setup, but once we programmed it for him he was listening to radio stations all over earth. Yes its so much easier to just Google the programming you want, but my dad never owned a cellphone. But he loved his internet radio!

[@ct1660]

I think the dealbreaker for me was the fact that the app pretty much revealed the CityRadio is basically just a bluetooth speaker with some buttons for presets. And at least from what you've shown, the radio station selection seems rather limited. Even then, it would have been nice if they had some blanks where you can put your own city label there - for example, If i wanted a preset for Los Angeles. Even in its current iteration, it would have been nice if they had integration with other services from around the world, such as iHeartRadio and Audacy (2 of the major radio station networks in the USA), to have an even larger selection of stations to listen from. It would have been nice to for example have a custom label for Mexico City, and have it configured to actually play a real radio station from Mexico City, or even Los Angeles, configured to play KLOS, a local radio station there (most local stations do have an online stream, after all). It's an interesting concept, but could be made way better. I currently use my 1970s console stereo (or stereogram as you guys call it), a Lear Jet Stereo 8, as my "CityRadio", connected to an Amazon Echo Input to be able to listen to any radio station throughout the world. And even if the internet is down, at least I can still use the AM/FM tuner, the record changer, or use the Echo as a bluetooth receiver.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

the fact it requires an app at all should instantly tell you that this isn't a radio at all. Any smartphone is more than capable of playing internet radio and there are lots of apps to do just that, and these days you can't go into the supermarket or electronics store without tripping over bluetooth speakers.

[@ethanpschwartz]

I looked at the website, and yeah, their "service" is only available in the 18 cities they provide in the box. And like someone mentioned in another comment, most of the Tokyo stations aren't even in Tokyo, let alone Japan. This device just boggles me.

[@eddthirty4065]

I remember a radiogram we had, had Berlin, BBC Light, VoA on short wave etc. It had a magic eye for tuning. The SQ from that was pretty good, it had a nice tone, especially for spoken voice.

[@MultiVogon]

Holy moly - I think we may have had that exact Grundig radio on the side in the kitchen when I was growing up. I remember sliding the plastic sliders up and down as a kid. Probably to the annoyance of my dad 😀

[@Gadgetonomy]

I can't believe that this costs £90 for what is a pretty basic bluetooth speaker. You could get a decent smart speaker for that. Still I enjoyed the video as always.

[@foxmachine8271]

Google Home devices regularly go on sale for under $50 even, that includes the one with a screen.

[@alliejr]

@@foxmachine8271 Similarly Amazon smart devices.

[@caramelldansen2204]

@@alliejr I love being spied on.

[@izimsi]

that's at least 5x too expensive just for a Bluetooth speaker with extra buttons. I'm pretty sure the cost of making something like this in China would be like 5 pounds or less.

[@jpdemer5]

£10 for the device, £80 for legit access to the content. (Which will disappear once they've sold all the devices they can.)

[@ar_xiv]

I’m sure the designer had an idea like what you thought it was going to be, but they had to work with engineers under a budget. No doubt this took a lot of time and a lot of thought to develop, and one by one concessions were made. It feels like they could have had rfid tags for each city magnet so you can at least switch them out without programming in the app

[@freekfaro5606]

To be completely up to date, even when I'm 70, I downloaded the Radio Garden app (free!) to my Android tablet. Which streams via Bluetooth to my DAC, and then the amplifier of course. The whole world at your feet! Mostly fm stations, that of course also use the internet. Remarkably entertaining, but it does make one realize how few languages one really understands .... Oh well, music!

[@CubeAtlantic]

Hearing different cities & their interconnected stations is kind of unique & relaxing.

[@davidwayneprins]

I too expected a standalone type unit that was basically an internet enabled version of a shortwave radio. Would be neat if one of the big media companies (eg iHeart and Townsquare here in the states) had something like this where you could listen to stations they own that are located out of town without having to download multiple apps. Flip between stations at the touch of a button like a car radio.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

internet radio radios do exist. They're just super rare and more often than not it's a feature of DAB radios and receivers (because they both require very similar audio processing), and only mentioned as a footnote because few people even know it exists

[@gabrielv.4358]

I bet someone could hack this radio to have a built in display on the place of the buttons and with it use as a cellphone radio or something like that!

[@RoyWiggins]

Internet radio appliances are an almost dead category, but I did buy an Ocean Digital one and it does the job. It really beats fiddling with your phone.

[@ccricers]

I would've expected a traditional radio underneath and have the swappable buttons act as jumpers to enable different frequencies to access.

[@bland9876]

When I want to listen to music from around the World I usually just type in "Putumayo World" and listen to them talk about songs from around the world. I found a CD from them at a thrift store and looked them up.

[@BloodyIron]

Yet another a really neat video. And your quality is quite consistent! Really digging it, as usual :) ❤

[@greeftish]

This really is your classic solution looking for a problem to fix.

[@stephenbull2026]

It’s a app controlling device. A sort of radio joystick 😄

[@WooShell]

So it's just a mono bluetooth speaker with an unnecessary app tether and a price premium for the buttons.. what a waste of space and money.

[@jesuschrist711]

unfortunately thats most things now

[@linusimbayi7918]

7:44 I was so excited when you connected to my city Nairobi 😊

[@Headwyres]

3:43 "The instruction here those are all in Italian..." #THROWSAWAY😂😂😂

[@airattoz]

I heard that cities that are listed on AM radio came from early plane navigation. Every major airport had its own frequency for radio beacon that plane can tune on to and find the direction to the airport. Someone decided to broadcast music instead if beacon beeps, and so became a radio stations that were listed on the dial

[@TheDanno210]

Mat - as always, you manage to make something interesting as heck no matter what it is. Any puppets on the horizon? A significant section of your audience do miss them and appreciate your effort with them. Cheers

[@peoplethesedaysberetarded]

FREE THE PUPPETS.

[@JaredConnell]

I think he said the puppets are too much of a pain to set up and shoot and he ran out of ideas for them, plus the data shows most people skip past them anyways. I enjoy them myself but if they aren't there I don't miss them too much.

[@benitomgomez3290]

Indeed so. ! 😎

[@absalomdraconis]

He's already talked about it, he leaves them out to avoid getting categorized as "KZbin Kids".

[@MetalTrabant]

@@absalomdraconis Yeah, but he could make a kid-friendly separate channel for the skits, and link the appropriate videos at the end of the main video they would be relevant for. Still better than nothing...

[@kekchanbiggestfan]

I’m a landfill manager and I love this device!

[@tapatton9]

Thanks for making my Saturday mornings a little better, Matt!

[@R2k2]

We also used to own one of those radio’s with the city names on them. But just like you said, we would only receive the local stations because of the station’s range of transmission. I also liked the fact that “Hilversum II” and “Hilversum I” appeared on the radio you showed in the beginning, just because I come from that neck of the woods. 🙂 Nevertheless, once again, it was a relaxing and funny video to watch, although you considered it to be a mistake. (And if you think this video is a mistake, please make more of them). 😁 You end with: “Thanks for watching”, Let me end with: Thanks for filming! 👍

[@svenjansen2134]

Hilversum 3 bestond nog niet.

[@R2k2]

Maar ieder had zijn eigen stem.

[@daveys]

I wonder what was going through the minds of the people who designed that thing. I guess not “who will buy this thing”! Great review as always Matt.

[@umbrellacorp.]

I appreciate Techmoan reviews. He's the best with these tech stuff. Give me a normal radio anytime, I prefer just the stations in my country anyway. 🇩🇪

[@AntigenoProstatico_m]

As a paulistano, I felt very happy you chose São Paulo as one of the options.

[@ciguitv3314]

It would be interesting to talk someday about japanese FM radio, which uses lower frequencies (about 60 - 87 Mhz) and that is the reason why some radio devices in other countries were able to tune VHF TV channels.

[@TrondBrgeKrokli]

Thank you for the useful review, pointing out the limitations of this device. I agree, the idea of having named buttons taking you to radios specific to other parts of the world harks back to those days when our grandparents had big old radios with dials reading Luxembourg and some of the capitals around the world. If it had been a stand-alone device, I might have considered buying one, but I don't need a bluetooth speaker for my phone. I would rather use earphones if I wanted better sound quality than my phone speaker. As budget goes, though, I think that device is way overpriced for its usefulness, because it seems to advertise functionality which just isn't there.

[@Cartocopia]

Looks like an ideal accessory for an old/unused phone without an active phone service. Suddenly gives it useful life...

[@Kiwi_As]

I hate it when I have watched all your videos and have to wait for your next epic video. You need your own TV show Matt!

[@bepowerification]

I got my first portable radio in 1987 and it was an amazing experience. Now you can have all of this on your smartphone and its kind of boring. Maybe because I am old but being able to accesss pretty much everything on the phone makes it all less interesting..

[@HebaruSan]

Now, rather than overcoming technological limitations, the challenge is finding something that's not crap.

[@davidshepherd265]

Yeah, same. I remember the excitement of being able to tune into a station a long way away and get even a crappy signal as a kid. Now I can listen to radio from anywhere in the world in crystal clear quality and its boring lol.

[@sarkybugger5009]

If you got your first portable radio in 1987, you're not old, you're now approaching middle age, or a late starter. 😉

[@RobotPorter]

It's not boring. It's just about listening to something because you want to, rather than simply because you can. For example, I love BBC Radio 4. I listen to it all the time. Before the internet, I could get the World Service and that was it.

[@circattle]

It is because the one thing that was attractive about tuning your radio on the Short Wave bands was the serendipity of it all - you were actively discovering what was potentially out there, and you never quite knew what you were going to get. With your phone and Internet radio, you are just picking stations from a list.

[@deementia6796]

New York, London, Paris, .. Berlin? Techmoan's not talking 'bout Pop Musik! Now, I am sort of wanting to hear Mat cover a version of that classic song by M. Maybe have the puppets make an appearance too?

[@peoplethesedaysberetarded]

FREE THE PUPPETS.

[@DukeOfKidderminster]

Exactly what I was thinking. 😂

[@joshuasprucie8933]

I can imagine him singing it through a strange karaoke machine in a monotone voice 😂

[@Gazdatronik]

Im sure the YTP folks could extract enough prior techmoan soundbites to string together a passable version

[@perrybarton]

I would want him to do a mashup of that song and “Up All Night to Get Lucky.”

[@_techana]

This brings out memories! I grow up listening to BBC Int'l and Montecarlo SW radio stations.

[@bbartky]

KZbin recommended this video and I was so enthralled by the outtro of the video I instantly subscribed. 😀

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

I remember listening to Radio Tirana in the 70's. I think it was on Medium Wave. Broadcasting from Albania to Britain on MW would have been insanely expensive, but Enver Hoxha was insane.

[@Johnyisme]

Lol

[@AlRoderick]

It could be a useful way to recycle an old Android device if you have one lying around, like an old smartphone that no longer has a SIM card or battery that can hold a charge but can still connect to Wi-Fi and run while it's plugged in.

[@paulstubbs7678]

I wondered about sticking an old phone/tablet on the back with double sided tape.

[@jimjam6958]

I'll bet the app won't run on anything but the current versions of Android.

[@barbudoru]

My version of recycling in this case is an old iPod/iPhone dock and an iPhone 4s on it - TuneIn still works and I'm pretty sure the sound quality is better than this speaker, not to mention stereo.

[@njinblack]

A great product review you gave. Very honest, Thank You.

[@RingwayManchester]

Not what I was expecting but another flawless review. Thanks Matt!

[@kenfuller9907]

Isn’t there a Munich button? Cos ……you’ve got New York, London and Paris………

[@trevorbrown6654]

When I was a key d in the 1970s and 80s you could buy build your own crystal radio kits that allowed you to pick up some stations from other parts of the world. There was no battery involved and the output was very low power, often needing just an earphone, but it was fascinating to hear it. This product vaguely reminds me of that for some reason.

[@freeculture]

This is nothing like shortwave radio, its almost a scam. But a device like this could be truly made capable of playing stream audio from all over the world. Better one open source and not tied to any companies, so that people can add their own streams sources and no one gets sued. You can do that already with a pc/phone, this would be just a preset device maybe useful for the elderly.

[@trevorbrown6654]

@@freeculture Actually you are quite right. The buyer would actually be better off buying a decent SW radio although I don't know how much this gizmo costs. I was given a really nice second hand one in army green when I was about 12 and it had UHF so I could listen to air traffic too. Wish I still had it to be honest.

[@MrL0rn3]

To be clear. The product was a mistake, the video was BRILLIANT! Loved this

[@douglassmith5232]

It wasn't a mistake, just trial without any real error,the information is still of important nature, Good Job Matt!!

[@encodersofia]

The cities on the tuning dial reminded me of a vacuum tube radio/record player. It's called Rigonda, it was made in Latvia and was quite common in the eastern bloc

[@rtechlab6254]

We used to get Rigonda TVs over here in the uk

[@padraigcollins6525]

Matt, even your mistakes are a thousand times more interesting than most things on KZbin.

[@phatboi202]

Stuff like this is why I love the euro truck multiplayer mods. There's a mod so the radio station is playing from the local area. Good fun doing eastern Europe as hardbass when doing some miles 😅😂

[@BrayTube]

Perfect for me because I don't have wifi at home! I remember many late nights in the early 80's (in my early teens) with a bulky, yellow, headphene radio. it could pick up LW and I'd turn the dial from end to end, micrometrically, chasing Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, Madrid etc, from my bed in Ireland. Fun times.

[@scottvogel8477]

I love the idea of this. If they made a stand alone version you could hook up to speakers or headphones. Id totally buy it.

[@R_C420]

If you could mod the feature set and make those buttons into customizable shortcut keys it would be kinda handy. Especially if you add a long press function.

[@louisdisbury9759]

Great piece ok Kit and nice retro colour reminds me of the first transistor radios

[@batmandestroys1978]

Brilliant Video! This was not a mistake! You have saved people money again Sir Techmoan! Thank you!

[@ianmaddrell2247]

It seems like such a good idea as a standalone device. I wonder if the next revision would have the standalone capability?

[@Blitterbug]

Doubt it. That would require a fundamental redesign and triple the price. It's not as simple as chucking in an extra chip and amending the phone app. Internet radio users will understand; a full-blown LCD screen and an operating system is needed just for starters, whereas this is a completely dumb BT speaker.

[@bland9876]

​@@Blitterbug the stupid having to change the buttons in the app is the worst part.

[@rijjhb9467]

@@Blitterbug yes, you need a full soc in order to be able to do it. A device like that would have to cost at least 100/150 euros.

[@Jehty_]

@@Blitterbug why would a LCD be necessary? For the basic function all you need are the buttons that are already included. And if you want to change the country-buttons you could still do it via smartphone. Same as if you want to know the name of the station.

[@resneptacle]

​@@Blitterbug Software would be the biggest chance, you'd only need one extra uIC which integrated micro processor and wireless hardware which are around plenty like sand on a beach nowadays, hook that up to the DAC from the bluetooth module for sound and have the app configure 9 stream URLs ono the MCU for the nine buttons on tge face of the device, alongside wireless SSID and passphrase

[@bagnome]

I like to try to tune into international radio stations, but i like to scan for them on my shortwave radio and see what i can pick up. Doing that's just as enjoyable as listening to it on its own.

[@nicwilson6587]

Brilliant a Saturday TechMoan 😍

[@ChavezAlexis]

I can just imagine Tuong Lu Kim from South Park saying the name of this radio 😂😂😂 he wouldn't be wrong though 🤣

[@Embassy_of_Jupiter]

The "as a service" model is scourge on humanity.

[@yoymate6316]

welp… maybe that’s why it was secondhand. i know i’d put it on ebay as fast as possible also i must say this video was a small roller-coaster for me lol. “there’s no way my city is there but imagine if it were” -> “holy shit my city IS an option” -> “pick my city mat pick my city mat” -> “YES YOU PICKED IT UP” -> “click the button click the button click thYES”

[@Techmoan]

How is Nairobi this time of year?

[@yoymate6316]

@@Techmoan i have no clue, but são paulo is getting windy >u0

[@P61guy61]

Thank you for posting.

[@bobblum5973]

Real-world product, getting a real-world review. Thanks, Matt!

[@vileCR999]

This is a shame because for once, the app looks quite good! Minimalist, fast and the radio streams sound clear and connect fast!! I honestly would use the app but I don't want to have to buy another bt speaker!

[@medes5597]

Full edit: the app used to work without it. It was wired reccomended app for the month in January 2020, where they show off its old interface (a world map that let you browse around or use a list of cities, very simplistic and pretty looking). I played around with it at the time and while I liked the concept, stuck with boring old VRadio for my web enabled listening. Apparently the success of the free app was too much for the design firm and they trashed it in favour of an app that just passes Bluetooth trough to their product. You can still find reviews and reccomendations for the old app with a bit of digging (a cool tools article, a defunct Google play store page, some word press blogs) I can't believe they destroyed their own product. Idiots.

[@brianargo4595]

​@@medes5597 no it doesn't. Mat specifically showed this in the video.

[@medes5597]

@@brianargo4595 yeah i saw after my comment. However the old app did function without the device. And was better in my view, it gave you a map to click on cities and let you skip around stations easily with swipes. It made a few tech blogs in 2019/2020ish, you can still find references to it. Cool Tools reccomendo newsletter is where I came across it and I remember it showing up in Wired around the same time. Apparently they ditched that version of the app in 2020 to try and force sales of the device. So yeah they've literally reduced functionality of the app.

[@maccate6868]

An interesting tool I listen to is Web-Sdr. It brings back memories of tuning through MW and SW. You can pick up radio stations around the world based on where the aerial link is. It all runs through SDR websites and you also pick up like number and code stations from across the world, morse code, signals that mean something to some equipment somewhere and amateur radio

[@petecoo1978]

Just got myself a Pure Elan Connect+ Internet radio, best thing I've bought in ages

[@Arthur60]

Reminds me of my Q2 internet radio cube. It's really stand alone after you configure it with the help of a little Windows application, via the USB cable they supply. It's WiFi dependant but doesn't need your phone to be nearby in order to be operated. It's not "city" oriented but you got 4 presets to choose from, enough for most usage IMHO. You just have to rotate the cube to the right or left in order to switch stations. Volume is lowerable by tilting it towards you, it gets louder if you tilt the cube the opposite way and shuts down if you face the speaker on the table. More, it has a surprisingly very good sound quality. It's been almost ten years since I bought it for my mother that became blind. She had no harm to operate it, no need to see where controls were. A little off subject comment, sorry. Have a good day!

[@2000vitaly]

As an option, an amazon echo device could be used to play radios from different cities, which is standalone.

[@ToTheGAMES]

But that is an Amazon device, NSA pringles can. No thanks!

[@yjk_ch]

Making it as standalone unit would've required SoC that is powerful enough to decode audio stream coming from the network. So it is understandable, but it sounds a bit disappointing at the same time, especially if you consider how much price they are asking for.

[@paulstubbs7678]

There is the odd Raspberry Pi zero project out there to do this, so it's not that hard. Considering the size of the mobile phone market, the place is awash with cheap arm chips, so should be easyish

[@3rdalbum]

This device is already decoding an audio stream (over Bluetooth), so perhaps it isn't understandable?

[@yjk_ch]

@@paulstubbs7678 Yeah, I totally forgot about Pi Zero. Yep, it is totally doable without too much expense.

[@freeculture]

Do you remember the mp3 asics? Korea sold the first portable mp3 player so you must know, then China sold millions. Those were cheap and capable of playing mp3 streams. The same exists for other codecs, but even an underpowered cpu like that of the $6 raspberry pi zero can easily playback audio streams from all over the world. Heck, bluetooth is more complex as it often involves encoding the audio again. Yes, a $6 raspi is superior to this, and you could even add the speaker, the battery and the buttons and still come out cheaper.

[@fredashay]

What I really want in a wireless internet clock that adjusts itself for daylight saving time automagically. They make them, but they're insanely expensive.

[@roxcyn]

I didn't even know this was a thing. Thanks for introducing me to devices like what you got and devices you thought you were getting.

[@dannyseville2543]

By the time you had got to setting the app up, it seemed pretty obvious that it was little more than a bt speaker. Its probalby not available in most places as they would be up on trade descriptions or similar.

[@chaos.corner]

Well, Bluetooth does use radio waves, technically.

[@fhwolthuis]

Interesting concept, it makes navigating the thousands of channels on the internet easier and gives it indeed a bit of that old school nostalgia.

[@SheeplessNW6]

This took me back to the 1960s as a kid! Messing around with my family's big old valve radiogram, with the softly glowing dial listing exotic (to me!) places like Hilversum. Trying to find something interesting, and usually (after dark, anyway) settling on Radio Luxembourg at 208 metres medium wave.

[@Kalvinjj]

Such an incredible device, they managed to add EXTRA BUTTONS! to a standard Bluetooth speaker. I wonder when the whole Premium Breathing app/subscription craze will end.

[@ab1dq593]

Kind of a clever idea. Thanks for including the Grundig Ocean Boy in the video. When I was a young teen around 1980 I came across the same radio in my grandfather's closet. Like you, I was intrigued by the dial markings with the city names, and of course all the dials and knobs, and the Grundig sound was spectacular. Discovering international broadcasts with that radio launched me into SWLing throughout my teen years, collecting QSL cards and getting my letters read on the air on Mailbag programs. Now it's 40+ years later, the internet has silenced the SW bands, and although I tried Internet radios (CCrane), it was never the same as what was. Nonetheless, I cherish the memories and still enjoy radio today as a ham. While not an internet radio, this little device does evoke some fine nostalgia. Thanks again, keep up the good work - your videos are a Sat morning tradition with coffee. Cheers/James.

[@sphinx3r]

What a shame. This is exactly the kind of product I'd buy for my mother. She'd love checking out radio stations from around the world, but having to use an app for it completely ruins it as it'd be too complicated for her.

[@Veso266]

Just buy her a real radio She could take a walk at night while listening to stations from all around the world

[@braidena1633]

There's another thing I saw earlier called radioglobe

[@kevinfarley6981]

Thank you for this video! By sharing your purchase and experience, you spared many of us the fate you suffered by buying this cleverly disguised Bluetooth speaker. Cheers!

[@Jawst]

KZbin used to always recommend your videos to me, but for some reason, I haven't seen one for a very long time!