Introduction to Wi-Fi Internet radios

Wi-Fi Internet radios are a relatively new type of portable radio that connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi so that they can receive Internet radio stations, on-demand streams and podcasts, and they can playback audio files that are stored on a computer. They're as easy to setup and use as DAB portable radios, but they provide much better features than DAB radios do.

Internet radio stations

Wi-Fi Internet radios can typically receive over 10,000 Internet radio stations, which includes Internet streams for all of the radio stations in the UK that are available on FM/AM and DAB, as well as hundreds of FM/AM radio stations from around the world. The majority of the stations that are available are Internet-only stations, though, which are typically small stations that are available on Internet radio portals, such as shoutcast.com.

One of the main advantages of Internet radio is that, due to the number of stations available, you can find stations that cover smaller niche genres which are either poorly catered for or not catered for at all on FM and DAB.

On-demand streams & podcasts

Almost all Wi-Fi Internet radios allow you to play on-demand streams and podcasts, but a few of them only allow you to playback podcasts. The best example of on-demand streams that Wi-Fi Internet radios can play are the BBC's Listen Again streams on the BBC Radio iPlayer. Podcasts also start playing straightaway rather than having to wait for the whole podcast file to download first.

Media player

One of the best features of Wi-Fi Internet radios is that they include a media player that allows you to listen to audio files that are stored on your computer, which the radio streams wirelessly over your home network (some Wi-Fi radios also have an Ethernet port for people with a wired home network).

The media players either use shared folders or UPnP music servers as a means to access audio files on your computer. Using shared folders is easiest, because you just tick a box in the folder's Properties to say you want to share the folder, but it's better to use UPnP (universal plug'n'play) music servers, because they organise the audio files so that it's easier to find the tracks you're looking for on the Wi-Fi radio's media player.

Better audio quality than DAB -- and better quality than DAB+ in future

Most Internet-only stations provide higher audio quality than is provided by DAB stations, and at the time of writing the BBC is about to improve the audio quality of its live and on-demand radio streams so that they will be at higher quality than on DAB. GCap Media, the UK's biggest commercial radio group, has been providing its stations at higher quality on the Internet than on DAB for some time now, and because Internet bandwidth continues to get ever-cheaper (the cost of Internet bandwidth for content producers falls in-line with Moore's Law), the other commercial radio groups are bound to follow suit at some point.

Also, the live radio streams will switch over to using multicast over the next few years (Virgin Media will be supporting multicast later this year when it launches its 50 Mbps cable broadband package), and that will allow the BBC's and commercial radio stations to provide higher audio quality Internet streams than we're every likely to receive via DAB+. Multicast is very bandwidth-efficient, so it allows the broadcasters to use high bit rate levels in combination with modern audio codecs, such as AAC and WMA, which is why the audio quality will be so good.

Easy to setup

Wi-Fi Internet radios are very easy to setup. The setup process consists of the following three steps:

1. When you switch the radio on for the first time, you're asked if you want to scan for networks, so you press OK
2. The radio then scans and finds your Wi-Fi network, and asks if you want to use it, so you press OK
3. You then have to enter your wireless network's password

The Wi-Fi radio deals with any other technical details automatically without you having to do anything, so you're then able to access Internet radio stations straightaway, and the whole process takes about one minute to complete.

Setting up the Wi-Fi radio's media player to access audio files on your computer is a little more involved than getting Internet radio to work, but it's still pretty straightforward, and the manuals should tell you what to do.

For instructions on setting up Zonealarm, the popular free software firewall, to allow a Wi-Fi radio to access audio files on your computer, see here.

Easy to use

Once you've set up a Wi-Fi radio, you then register the radio on a website that will be listed in the manual (these websites store the database of Internet radio stations that are available on the Wi-Fi radios), and you can then enter the Internet radio stations as 'favourites', and these stations then appear in the Favourites menu on the radio itself the next time you use the radio.

The benefit of this is that you don't have to search through long lists of stations every time you want to listen to one of the stations you normally listen to. And once you've entered your favourite stations, Wi-Fi radios are easier to use than DAB radios, because the list of favourite stations is likely to be shorter than the list of stations on DAB. Wi-Fi radios also usually have station preset buttons on the radio itself, as do most DAB radios.

As well as your favourite Internet stations, you can also enter your favourite on-demand streams and podcasts via the same website as mentioned above, and they will then be listed in a sub-folder under the Favourites menu.

Upgradeable software

Another great feature of Wi-Fi radios is that their software can be upgraded over the Internet at the press of a button -- simply select 'Update software' or 'Update firmware', and the radio contacts the same database that stores the list of Internet radio stations, checks whether there's a newer version of software available, and if so, downloads and installs it without the user having to do anything.

To see why this is such a good feature, you have to look no farther than the issue with DAB+ where DAB radios can't be upgraded to receive DAB+ stations. The ability to upgrade the software that operates the radio itself means that new audio codecs can be added as and when they become widely used, new Internet technologies can be supported, such as multicast, the user-interface can be improved, and bugs in the software can be fixed.

Combined Wi-Fi / DAB / DAB+ / FM radios

There is currently one portable radio in the shops, called the Revo Blik RadioStation, which can receive Wi-Fi Internet radio, DAB, DAB+ and FM, but there will be a lot more combined Wi-Fi/DAB radios available later this year, and they will probably become the digital replacement for FM/AM radios in years to come.

You don't need to have the computer on

Wi-Fi radios can access the Internet on their own steam via a wireless router, so you don't need to have your computer on if you want to listen to Internet radio stations, on-demand streams or podcasts.

Setting up Zonealarm firewall to allow Wi-Fi radios to access audio files on your computer

First, find out the IP address of your Wi-Fi radio -- the IP address will be listed in the settings or configuration menu (or whatever it's called on your specific radio) on the Wi-Fi radio.

Open Zonealarm, click Firewall > Zones > Add > IP address. The Zone should already be "Trusted Zone", then enter the IP address and provide a description, such as 'Wi-Fi radio'. The radio should now be able to access the audio files on your computer.