Cheap holiday gift for e-book-lovers: The Aluratek WiFi clock radio—just $89.99 from Amazon and J&R

By David Rothman

Remember my quick little mention of the Aluratek WiFi radio sold by the same people behind the e-reader with the same name?

I actually bought one—for about $79 and shipping from J&R, via Amazon, as a Black Friday special—and on the whole I’m tickled. Paul Biba, TeleRead’s co-editor and once Classical Music Director of WKCR-FM at Columbia University, is thinking about getting his own. I’ll share with you the lowdown I gave him.

Even at $89.99 plus shipping, the current price at both places, the Alurtek Model AIRMM01F is a helluva a deal. And you can get a USB version for a fraction of the cost. Here’s why I like the AIRMM01F itself.

1. Without any fuss, I can tune in a public radio station in Montana or California and hear the news program I might have missed earlier. The Alurek is said to be able to pull in more than 11,000 stations online, selectable by country, state or genre.

2. I can listen not just to classical music period but to hundreds of stations in that genre, many with specializations such as baroque. Just the right background for reading many public domain classics!

3. The built-in speaker isn’t that terrific, but with a standard earphone cable or RCA connections, you can hook up the Alururatek to a decent radio and hear hi-fi or near hi-fi—depending on the audio quality of the station and connection. No need to worry about radio reception!

4. The WiFi connection took a half an hour or so to make, the hassles could have been worse. The time was worth it. Based on the reviews, most people shouldn’t have the same trouble: it might have been my particular WiFi setup.

5. I could hear Net radio through my desktop, but this way, the “radio” isn’t hogging any of desktop’s resources.

6. Besides, the Aluratek approach is more convenient. The Alurek lets you set up everything for pushbutton access. The drill could be a little simpler, but it’s not that big a deal once you get used to it—better than cluttering up your desktop or laptop or “tuning in” Net radio stations via software

7. I can stream MP3s over my WiFi from my desktop to the Aluratek.

8. The Aluratek supports at least some HD stations and requires no subscription fee. Net classical stations have refreshingly few commercials.

Just one of many WiFi radio choices

The Aluratak is just one of many WiFi radio options, and I’d urge you to use Amazon and other sites to check out others, but this would be one of the cheapest and maybe even the cheapest. I’d love to get opinions from other Aluratek owners: both the positives and negatives, especially the latter, so no one goes into this blindly.

Some flaws

Granted, my Aluratek is not perfect. The other day, it mysteriously rebooted. As one owner has written, it’s a computer and isn’t as stable as a conventional radio. In around five days of heavy use, this has happened to me only once.

Another problem is that stations may come and go because of the vagaries of the Net and other variables. But in most cases I’m able to listen to stations for hours and hours without interruption.

In the past some Aluratek customers complained of not easily being able to turn off the light from the Aluratek’s clock, but that’s no big deal these days with the Aluratek remote control, which can also dim the clock light.

Check out the Amazon customer comments for the best collection of pros and cons. Also see the datasheet, manual and quick start guide (PDF alerts).

The clock function

No, I have not tested the alarm function. I’m not sure what happens if you set up the Aluratek for a radio station that—because of a Net problem—is AWOL when you’re expecting it. Will a regular alarm or other station kick it? Perhaps the answer is buried somewhere in the documentation.

Tip: Update with the latest firmware

Be sure to do the firmware upgrade, since it could make a real difference in the performance of your Aluratek. With a USB key and your desktop or laptop, copy the update from the Aluratek site. Then plug the key into your radio and go for the update function—see your documentation for the details. No traumas.

Discloure: In this post, there are no affiliate links that directly make the TeleRead money—I’d rather separate editorial and advertising. This is a from-the-heart post, like the others here. If there’s interest, I will experiment with a stand-alone Aluratek Amazon ad for the convenience of TeleRead community members. Let me know your wishes.

Related: Aluratek Home Theatre radio and the $19.95 jukebox version.