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Griffin RadioSHARK Exceeds Expectations
reifman writes "Picked up a Griffin RadioSHARK (think TiVo for radio) at the Apple store this evening: It exceeds all expectations. The user experience is simple. The iPod synchronization is seamless. The RadioSHARK is a counter-attack on the recording industry and its draconian file sharing lawsuits. I'm glad to see Griffin had the balls to release this product. ."
I wish it featured an external signal input. Thing I get very bad radio reception at my place but I get near-digital quality (and free) radio through my cable TV outlet (there's 2 connectors, one for TV one for radio).
Nice gadget anyway!
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
well, hate to be a bit of a whinger, but call me back when they do a DAB version for the uk- AM/FM? Welcome to the 20th Century!
Anyone want to take a guess on how long it'll be before the crackdown commences?
Actually, I just went to RIAA's website for the first time... all of the "latest news" articles on the main page are about lawsuits they've filed. Nice!
Don't they realize that something is wrong with their business when their news is about lawyers, and not musicians?!
Visit the Game Programming Wiki!
Looks cool but..
What's a "radio"?
Griffin RadioSHARK Exceeds reifman's Expectations
He never actually mentioned what his expectation were in the first place though so its hard to tell what was actually exceeded.
Peosonally I think more than one person needs to be impressed before you can write headlines like this, some guy scribbling on his blog is not a sufficient indicator for me.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
"I'm glad to see Griffin had the balls to release this product."
I don't see how releasing this required any balls. FM broadcasts are horrible when compared to the AAC streams from XM.
The RIAA have written off FM copyright lawsuits because any kid with a boombox can swipe a low quality song.
I've been doing this for two years using a TV/FM tuner that costs about the same as the Radioshark - and the bonus is I can record cable TV so now I can have low quality video too!
I mean, c'mon, you're pairing something with the sexiest, sleekest portable music player on the market. Any clunkiness or loose ends would stand out like an albino at the Apollo.
a te/], I wouldn't expect anything less than a well-executed product.
Then again, the RadioSHARK probably would have only met--not exceeded--my expectations, as given Griffin Tech's batting record with Cool New Things(tm) like the PowerMate [http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powerm
We're gonna need a bigger iPod.
Are the expectations exceeded because it is an iPod?
I ordered mine in July of 2003 and got it last week.
The application (at least on OS X) leaves a lot to be desired. It does not behave like a typical OS X application in many ways, have no way to edit a preset- if you want to go back and put in the radio station's call sign or a genre descriptor you have to re-add the station as a preset and then delete the first instance of the preset, there are no menu options (and thus no keyboard shortcuts) for many of the really important GUI elements.
The time shift feature is a good idea, but is poorly implemented. You can set a number of seconds to move forwards or backwards (defaults to 10 seconds) by pressing the left and right arrow or you can drag the slider around forwards and backwards in the time shift buffer but these 2 methods are either too granular or too coarse to help you pinpoint a precise location.
It would be so cool if Griffin Technologies opened up the API... since the GUI and user interface are just so lame.
This would be great if it could interface with XM or Sirius satellite radio, plain and simple.
Macs as a fetish property
When was AIFF ever more compact than AAC? Isn't it, in fact, the least compact format possible?
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
His glowing review almost convinced me, until I got to the end where he similarly praises the Griffin SightLight.
The SightLight is one of the most poorly-conceived products on the market. It's a light for the iSight webcam; it's a ring of white LEDs which mounts around the iSight lens to illuminate you so that people can see you when you're using the webcam in an otherwise dark room. Sounds clever, right?
Except that using the SightLight is like trying to talk to an automobile headlight two feet in front of your face. And you'd think that in return for being blinded, you could at least be seen better by the person on the other end of the conversation - but no, that's not true; for as retina-piercingly bright as the SightLight is, it does a terrible job of actually lighting you up. A face lit by the SightLight will look ghostly pale and near-dark to the person on the other end, and the user has to be very close to the light to be seen at all.
And all this for $39.95!
I returned mine the very next day, and I now approach Griffin products with skepticism.
The only problem I see with this though, is that your average geek will simply not need one of these. I have a CD changer in my car. I have my iPod hooked up to my car stereo. I'm literally surrounded by computers at work. I have a stereo at home, that my iPod and one of my computers is hooked up to.
With regard to my "music needs", I guess I'm pretty much covered. I guess this is really useful if you're into talk radio. But to me, the radio is something I use when I'm on the road and want to listen to a ballgame or when I'm working on something outside and don't really feel like listening to my iPod but want some background music. The radio just isn't something I pay a lot of attention to.
The reason TiVo is such a huge hit is that it fundamentally changes the way we watch TV. When I'm watching TV I usually do pay attention to what's on - it's not just some random background noise. I find it hard to see how this could work for radio. Except, of course, skipping commercials. That would indeed be nice (but not all that useful, since most commercial stations already do 30-minutes-without-commercial stuff).
The problem is this: I, and I can only speak for myself here, don't really care what's on the radio. To me, it's random stuff. Turn it on, listen to some music while doing something else, turn it off when you're done. TV's different: I care what's on. That's why I'm watching in the first place.
Can it record to MP3 or Vorbis?
Actually, I'd like to be able to supply my own encoder and parameters (ie. LAME MP3).
Ok, as I understand it uses USB to transfer audio data to computer. Convient, but what about the sound quality?
Unfourtunately it's not yet available in my area, but if anyone can comment of this, I would be glad to hear about it.
After all, it's a radio. I don't care if the user interface is lame or good, I dont give a shit about timeshiftrecordingmadness, i'll just be happy to buy it if it does it's main task good!
Unfourtonately, lately, this rarely seems to be the case with almost every manifacturer. Price and marketspeak comes first.
Now I can listen to Rush Limbaugh yell at me all day long!
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
I've been using mine for a few days now, I and love it. Here's my raves:
- 64kps AAC sounds great for npr shows, and the files aren't too big.
- After recording, it automatically puts the file into an iTunes playlist, so you just need to dock your iPod each time to get the updated recordings.
- You can set the time-shift buffer to any length you want. So at any time you can go back to listen to any broadcast in the last day on a station.
- The hardware is solid high quality.
- It records even when the application isn't open. It appears to have a daemon process running at all times, still recording to the buffer.
- You can preset stations with names, and then switch between them using a dropdown.
- The interface is really slick.
Here's what could be improved:
- The filenames for repeat recordings should have the date in them to make it easier to pick from multiple recordings of the same show on the iPod. ID3 tags would be nice, too.
- There should be an option to record shows only on the weekdays. To record a weekday-only show, you need to set up five identical recordings, one for each day.
- The blue/red light on the unit glows like three night lights. Having it in my bedroom lights up the whole room. Where's the dimmer?
- It would be a cool feature to be able to schedule recordings remotely without using VNC.
Now if someone would only come up with a good time-shifting TV tuner of this quality for the Mac.
Yes, you can record the radio on your $10 boombox, just as you can record it on your computer, but the similarities end there. Once you've got the song on your computer you can then share it with thousands of other people on the internet in a matter of hours. Can you do that with your casette tape?
Visit the Game Programming Wiki!
Legal issues? Don't make me laugh. You can do the recording part with line-out/line-in, this just makes it more convenient (with scheduling) and adds pause/rewind
I don't know how all this works.
But, if you want to record broadcasted music into a mp3 file, wouldn't it make more sense to rig your computer to record music being broadcast over the internet?
In fact, aren't there services that will broadcast songs at your request? I suppose you could record whatever songs you wanted with a service like that.
At least in my area, there is little on the radio id want to record anymore.. it it all pop/top 40 noise..
Even the so-called 'aternative' stations just keep repeating the same stuff... after 3 days you have heard it all..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This way, I can record CD quality music (from SIRIUS none the less) off my dish network receiver.
If I didn't already know they ( supposedly ) represented artists, by looking at their web page id swear they are just another attorneys office..
Man.. Good way to scare away business..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Select A Tenna. I have one of these, and it really works well for pulling in weak AM signals. And no physical connection required.
In the alternative, you could hook the radio output of your cable outlet directly into the audio input of your computer and write scripting software to capture it. For tuning, you'd have to hack something like a cable mouse (an IR emitter that you'd have to write software to drive with the appropriate signals to command the cable to change radio channels). A lot of work, but it could be done.
I'm curious (assuming the original writer is reading this) about how that writer would respond to Mossberg's criticism.
First, not everything on the radio is music. There are a number of NPR shows that are on while I'm at work that would enjoy listening to.
And as is usually menitoned whenever someone reviews this thing, some people enjoy listening to Howard Stern, but can't for various reasons. Now they can, at least for a year or so.
And there is plenty more talk of varying quality radio out there.
And where I live there is a space music show called Echoes. Runs between 10 pm and midnight. More often then not I'm doing something else. Now I can record it, load my iPod, and listen at work.
SteveM
What's a "radio"?
:) Utter hype when I was born!
Ancient, steam driven device to pick up sound from the air
CC.
TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
According to this MacCentral page, the audio output jack of the RadioShark also doubles as an external antenna input. Not sure of the wiring or input impedance.
No it's not. Its a radio receiver not a p2p app. Settle down. It is less of a threat to the evil RIAA than Audio Hijack Pro.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Most good radio programming is streamed on the Internet. A lot of shows, particularly those on public radio, are even archived. And music services like Rhapsody allow one to pull up almost any tune imaginable.
A lot of this stuff is (pathetically) protected, so it can't be copied directly to a portable device: however, we all know that it's utterly trivial to use an audio-capture app (e.g., GoldWave for Windows) that will allow any protected stream to be captured. This takes a little time, but no more time than capturing a stream from radio. And no distortion from radio interference.
I believe that the RIAA is not that concerned about this product because of the quality of a radio broadcast. They don't mind people copying less than CD quality audio (or close to it with mp3). The source is low enough quality for them to allow it. However, Howard Stern might be upset about this (at least for the next 15 months before he moves to Sirius). People can now auto-record his show, and throw up a torrent file. It's talk radio so the quality won't be an issue. Shouldn't be long before the Stern downloads begin.
The Windows drivers suck, to put it mildly. They don't use DirectInput, so there is no games support, regardless of what the marketing brochures and manual say, and the USB integration is so piss poor that every time you plug the PowerMate in it installs another copy of the drivers, regardless of how many previous copies might already be on the system. At first I though it was just mildly stupid and wanted a new driver for each USB port. Nope, it will reinstall/add drivers ad infinitum if you just keep plugging it into the same USB port.
Griffin acknowledged the problem to me in email about 2 years ago. Not after a long story from their engineer about how driver writing is "hard" and I should just be happy it works at all and shut up. They said 6 months out there would be better drivers. The version number hasn't changed from 1.5.2 in over 24 months.
It's a piece of junk and I suspect, based on other reviews I've read, that other Griffin products are of the same poor quality.
Now I wouldn't expect the RadioSHARK to have the sound quality of a high-end dedicated tuner, but where does it stand? Is it great for convenience only or does it actually deliver the goods as far as sound quality goes.
Then again, I don't expect that any technology that relies on compressed audio (mp3) to have sound quality as a primary design goal.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
I'm an elective eunuch, and frankly I'm just as bold as before. Just don't need to waste time with the hand.
-I am an elective eunuch.
I don't know if I could justify $69+s/h for a hardware device with no way to boost signal reception. If you already have a radio that has stereo out, you can cross connect it to your PC and use this software: Total Recorder. This enables you to schedule and encode the broadcast directly to any number of formats (mp3, aiff, wav, etc). It's only $12. This is from a Windows perspective, but I'm sure there is some Mac software out there that can do this.....but then again, if you listen to certain regularly syndicated radio show, you can snag eps of it from suprnova.org, I do this for Howard Stern.
... that there's been a lot of talk about "plugging the analog hole" in recent years. RIAA and its associated cronies have been talking about how they'd like every bit of the playback chain - from the sound card to the speakers - to be DRM digital.
Now, you and I understand that at *some* point the signal has to be turned into analog so that it can drive the coils in the speakers, but the average Joe is not going to take apart their speakers and hook up leads to the wires so that he can record into his sound card to an un-DRM-encumbered format with them.
+++ATH0
second!
...so there's no need for this gadget.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
It might be just me, but this almost seems like a blatant add. What is the news content in this? We all ready had the press release, why do we need another kool-aid dose for this limited use toy?
--WooooHoooo--
...just in case there are Mac developers who'll port this useful piece of software.
Unless you only have a Mac. I just threw out my old Dlink DSR R-100 a few months ago. Only FM but it worked. USB and recording too. But of course it was shaped like a regular attenna, not a fish's fin. Welcome back to 2002. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 0488VF/102-8380307-0047352?v=glance
OS compatability mentioned nowhere on the Griffin website. They just say Windows and Macintosh.
Does this thing have Mac OS 9 software?
I can't upgrade my current PowerMac to OS X due to memory constraints, and I certainly can't afford even a used Mac capable of running OS X decently.
Thanks in advance!
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
We all ready had the press release, why do we need another kool-aid dose for this limited use toy?
Not to mention miglia had an AM/FM PCI card for practically forever.
Because it takes "balls" to release a product already cleared by the courts with the dogpile on the VCR manufacturers.
There is no such thing as "balls for putting it out against the music-industry".
You are allowed to record songs played on the radio because,
1) the quality is bad
and more important
2) the station already payed for playing it via ether.
And if you record it on tape, you pay a second time.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that has to ask...
What the hell would you want to record off of radio today?
On a two hour long trip yesterday I heard one song that I might want to hear again. If I had been in my own car with a CD player available, I wouldn't have even thought about listening to radio.
AM talk radio is the only remotely listenable radio left and you really don't miss anything by skipping a day.
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
How is it ballsy, you can achieve the same effect by hooking up a tape deck to your radio. Choose your battles wisely, the headline just sounds retarded and immature. I don't see how it is a counterattack on the RIAA or the file-sharing lawsuits, it's the radio, you have always been able to record it.
I hate sigs.
The one reason I'm keeping on eye on this and consider getting the RadioShark, is that for certain radio shows like KROQ's Kevin & Bean Show, which don't have an internet stream and usually start earlier than I wake up, I can now record it and put it on my iPod so I can listen to it on my way to work.
This effectively time-shifts the show for me, which in the case of Kevin & Bean show, I think it worth it. They usually have entertaining or interesting discussions about all sorts of stuff from the weirdest news of the day to stuff like info on MPAA/RIAA lawsuits etc, artists interviews, and on occassion the Mayor of L.A. James Hahn (or a satire of him and other political and sports figures.)
Sure you can get much better audio quality for Music from other sources, but if you want to record a talk show on the radio that you are interested in, now you can.
.... ... }
int main (void) {
Your favorite NPR shows are all at npr.org, almost immediately after broadcast. In fact I listen to NPR more online now than on the radio, partly because of timeshifing, and partly because my local stations don't carry all the shows I like.
I got a Radio Your Way and use it to record talk shows. I later convert them to MP3 and I coded a WMP-based player that allows me to skip ahead/back by 1-minute or 5-second intervals, which lets me bypass commercials and news. It's great. Sounds like this device would eliminate the convert-to-mp3 step, could record up to the capacity of the hard disk (my RYW is good for about 16 hours using its internal memory) and it couldn't possibly have a worse user interface than the RYW. I've consequently ordered one of these dudes to either replace or supplement my RYW. It's sure a hell of a lot cheaper.
I have equipment with absurdly overkill Super-Bright LEDs in it too. The two solutions I have used are to put multiple layers of masking tape over the LED colored with a dark felt marker, or to put black electrical tape over the LED and put a pinhole in it. Either one will let you still monitor the LED without blinding yourself. Sigh.
Let's analyze this. "Exceeds All Expectations". What kind of "news" is this? This is an AD. Standard Apple brown nosing, been going on for years here. Yes, Slashdot sells stories. Maybe not directly, but they have some kind of a deal. Ok, now I spread my arms out and fall backwards as the moderators shotgun me into oblivion.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Wish they had them in mp3 or ogg, though. I'd love to be able to listen to them on my handheld, instead of having to sit at a computer while it plays.
This is slick, but get them while you can because this is going to be banned soon enough. The fact that it exports AIFF files only sweetens the deal.
I record them using WireTap and then listen to them on my iPod. Converting them to MP3 would be a cinch.
Now if someone would only come up with a good time-shifting TV tuner of this quality for the Mac.
Someone else mentioned the El Gato solution for this, but I would highly recommend the Formac Studio. It costs more, but it is also much more capable--it can take Composite and S-Video inputs as well as the regular coax for tv. Beyond that, I personally think it has much better quality (I tried both before buying the Formac). As well, there is a 3rd party app (Vidi) for the Formac Studio that I think is better than any viewing/recording app I have used on either Mac or Windows.
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
This is perfect for listening to college radio. The shows are the pinnacle of diversity interesting music. A lot of times they have specials on wonderful bands that time forgot.
postmodernsideshow.com
Picked it up last week, to use on Windows. Windows App doesn't have any AAC compression options contrary to the 'features' listed on the outside of the box. If they don't release this soon in a software update, it'll be a more serious case of false advertising than it already is.
I'm pretty sure that the lion's share of them are available in AAC format which can be played on Ipods and possibly other mp3 portables...
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
This shipped over 14 months late & 20$ higher price!
check all the press releases including the earliest.
its a fact
i started a competing project when ages ago i learned taht THIS would ship for 49 dollars and SOON
so i gave up
now after all this time i realize i should have shipped mine first and undersold their 69 dollar price
i like griffin a lot but they screwed up this project
There have been USB based TV Tuner/Radio capture devices for years now. So a highly stylized Mac product comes out that is overpriced and overhyped. How is this Slashdot news?
While this looks like a great geek gadget for the price I find it disturbing that both the review and the Griffin site totally neglect specifications. .2 Mhz spaced spots? (tv channel 6 sound is 87.775 Mhz, audible but not properly tuned on many digitally tuned radios)
1) Does it support an external antenna?
2) How free is it from spurious responses in the presence of strong signals?
3) How sensitive is it?
4) How is the adjacent and alternate channel selectivity?
5) What's the signal to noise ratio for strong and weak signals?
6) How's the A.M. rejection?
7) How's the stereo separation?
8) How's the distortion at various modulation levels? (including a bit above 100%, some stations overmodulate)
9) Can it receive S.C.A. subcarriers?
10) Is there software support to decode E.A.S. (Emergency Alert System) messages?
11) How's the frequency response?
12) Can it tune signals at other than the usual
Granted I don't expect a low-priced receiver to use a balanced mixer, but I'd at least like to see some clue that designers put some thought into performance.
I have a WinTV PCI with an FM tuner that I grabbed 5 or 6 years ago. What makes this product any different from what I(we) already have? Aside from looking like a shark fin....
Thank you for your time,
BBH
From their webpage.
...snip!...
This is very funny:
The principle that the work that one has created belongs to the creator and should be controlled by you is as timeless as it is global.
The copyright in the sound recording, i.e. the recording of the performer singing or playing a given song. This is usually owned by the record company.
The iRiver iFP-700 series flash-based MP3 players include an FM recorder function that can scheduled. The caveat is that it can presently handle just ONE station/time, so you can set it to record every Saturday at 6pm for an hour or whatever.
But you don't need your computer on (which I think you do with RadioSHARK but I RTFA and it didn't say), so no transferring to another device is necessary. It can record to your choice of MP3 bitrate and sampling rate.
I'm sick and tired of these hip, "ironic" sigs. This is an actual, honest-to-goodness no-nonsense sig!
Read closely.. i said it sux in MY area..
The fact YOU have radio to listen to doesnt negate the fact I have none..
( talk radio doesnt count, i was discussing music radio )
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This is slashdot. It's our job to not read the articles, and offer complaints about everything with which we interact.
But Herr Heisenberg, how does the electron know when I'm looking?
Isnt this product a little to late and little to expensive? I know there is a monthly fee with Satellite but its commercial free CD quality broadcasting. I am sure by next year a satellite receiver will be about the same price.
Griffin is incredible, they've come up with so many neat ideas! Actually, I've got another one for them: my idea on how to playback pictures through the iPod onto a television! Quick Griffin, do it before the next gen picture iPod comes out :)
Anyways, I "bumped" that post for three reasons: to get the idea more attention, to relate that I discovered a steganography program that could be useful for this project and also to plea for help in finding a program that can generate modem audio. Unfortunately google has yet to produce anything useful, besides this funny site. I think the people discussed in this article would probably be a good resource for it, but I think, for example, that the members of the band Information Society would be hard to track down now. So I figured that after Google I should appeal to Slashdot. So anyone got any leads?
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
Sadly, you are pretty wrong. CarTalk is real audio, streaming only. I hassled about with StreamBox to xfer the show once. Too much trouble to do regularly. Diane Rehm, same thing. All Things Considered? Real or WM, neither saveable in any way I can figure out in less than 10 minutes.
I'm not convinced I want to spend $70 to deal with this issue yet but there's no simple (much less scriptable) way to grab all those NPR shows and push them onto my ipod easily.
Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
and in related news... Tandy Corporation sues Griffin for copyright infringement on their choice of product names
Unfortunaly I'm drawing a total blank about the name of the service, but NPR's programming is provided on AAC by a third party company which works on a subscription basis. I looked into it a while back before the HD in my ipod went south. I wish I could tell you more than that.
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
Audible.com. But the price is extreme - to get CarTalk, for example, is $4 each, $10 a month, or you can buy the $45 a year plan. For 4 hours per month.
All Things Considered will set you back $70 a year. At that point I think a $70 shark would be a better deal, personally.
Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
So you aren't making a dime from a USB radio recorder because you "gave up," but Griffin is AND they're making $20 more than previously expected? I think it's clear to see who screwed up allright...
A shortwave version would be a great thing.
Shortwave just cries out for program control, because of the way that a given broadcaster may use different frequencies at different times of the day.
It would be handy if a program could jump to another frequency when, say, the BBC signal changes, and then jump to another frequency when the BBC goes off the air and Radio Netherlands is coming on.
It probably wouldn't sell so well in the US, but outside the US it might sell pretty well. Sony, for instance, sells a car stereo head unit outside the US which is just like the ones they sell in the US, but it offers shortwave in addition to everything else.