I used to have an internet radio in our kitchen. In fact, 10 years ago I wrote about it as Orange (the network that us “old people” used before EE) was selling them. It was a good solution, but the system which provided internet stations and their stream locations got discontinued.
Fast-forward to 2018 and things have really cranked up a notch. Every radio station has a stream, and most people use their favourite radio app or solutions like TuneIn to get their fix. There’s also on-demand content, podcasts and many dozens of DAB radio stations adding to the mix. For me, that’s great, because the choice of FM stations here in Staffordshire is positively pants. It’s all a bit “samey”.
Now Pure, the people who made the Move T4 we reviewed, have come out with the IR3 and IR5 internet radios. They both have Spotify Connect but there’s the addition of Bluetooth on the IR5. The Elan IR3 is £84.99 and IR5 is £99.99, available in black or white, and they’ll soon be available from Amazon.co.uk.
Internet radio give you access to over 25,000 stations from around the world plus “listen again” content. You can search easily and there’s 12 station presets. With Spotify Connect, Premium subscribers get to listen to their playlists, albums and songs over the Elan WiFi connection. You then use your Spotify smartphone app as a remote control.
Each radio has a full colour screen with station information and album artwork. You can also set alarms, timers and use 3.5mm audio input.