[opendtv] This Shark Is Missing Some Teeth

MARCH 28, 2005

PRODUCT REVIEW
By Stephen Baker

This Shark Is Missing Some Teeth

Griffin's gizmo records and downloads audio broadcasts. But it can't 
handle Internet radio, so you're limited to local fare

The Good Like TiVo for radio, it records favorite shows
The Bad Reception can be iffy, and program slows the computer
The Bottom Line Improvements are needed before it's ready for 
mainstream listeners

A sleek white fin rises from the clutter on my desk. Salsa music 
pours out of the computer speakers. Only five minutes after unpacking 
Griffin Technology's RadioSHARK -- a TiVo-like service for radio -- 
it's up and running. Great start.

RadioSHARK, which retails for $69.95, promises just the type of 
time-shifting service that radio-lovers have been clamoring for. It 
captures radio signals the old-fashioned way, through that fin-like 
antenna, and its software puts a radio tuner right on the computer 
screen, whether it's a PC or Macintosh. It records programming on a 
hard drive and even dumps it into iPod and MP3 music players. In 
this, RadioSHARK mimics podcasting. That's the current rage in audio, 
in which listeners download programming from the Internet and listen 
to it on the go.

What's not to like? Unfortunately, a few things. The biggest problem 
is that RadioSHARK relies on over-the-air signals for its feed. This 
means that reception is only as good as it is on a normal transistor 
radio. On our 43rd floor office in Manhattan, the FM signal is 
strong, AM picks up nothing. No Yankee broadcasts for me.

...

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2005/tc20050328_5522_tc117.htm


 
 
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