I don’t know about you, but I’d have trouble laying out a few hundred dollars for a WiFi Internet radio. Yet that’s what Sangean is asking for its WFR-20. What exactly does that get you?

According to the product description, this radio offers direct access to 6,000 Internet radio stations in 250 locations from 60 genres. (Maybe it includes my personal favorite, KVMR.org, the community radio station that broadcasts from my little town, Nevada City. If it doesn’t, the company says I can get it added with a request.)

Apparently, you can find your favorite stations and upload them to a My Stations folder on a special website. Once the stations are there, you can play them from the radio. If you don’t have a computer, it works as a stand-alone unit, but the advantage of tying it to your computer is that it can play the music you have stashed on your hard drive. All you need for either set-up is an Internet connection and a wired or wireless router.

It includes a socket for plugging in your iPod or other MP3 player and another socket for a headset.

But we’re talking truly geek in design. It looks like something your great-uncle would crouch in a kitchen chair next to and listen to the ballgame with — except because it comes with a remote control, he can flip stations without sitting up. It comes in a “high-gloss piano-black finish,” includes a “large, easy-to-read line display,” and weighs in at whopping 6.1 pounds.

Didn’t anybody tell these people that Moore’s Law mandates that technology is supposed to get smaller? Aren’t we supposed to be able to fit our devices in our pockets these days?

So what gives? Is it the audio quality that’s spectacular? Is it so bleeding-edge, I’m incapable of appreciating its inner beauty and elegance? Could it be that I don’t listen to enough music that the idea of paying more than 99 cents for a song grieves me? Dear reader, if you can explain the magic and charm of these machines, I’d appreciate an education. Add your comment below.

Posted on May 3rd, 2008 by dian