Rating: 
Summary: Buy It Anyway
Review: 3 stars because it could do everything better.... 5 stars for being the only product like it. You will find that you want another so that you can use one to listen to live and be able to record unexpected bits here and there and playing your pre recorded broadcasts, but then your missing recording your other programs!
Simply put, the Radio Yourway is worthwhile buying if only for the timed VCR like radio recording ability.This is its main feature in my opinion. I dont know of any other way to do this... there are programs that record from computer recieved radio or program broadcasts, but that is too limited for me. There are radios with better reception and sound quality, with more features like backlight and namable tracks, but they dont have AM reception and they dont have timed record of more than one preset time.With Radio Yourway you can record many different stations and times all in one day or spread out over the week. The radio automatically comes on and shuts off by itself for each recording. The removable media makes it nice if you want to use them like cds.... have one for country, one for rock, one with radio programs, books on tape etc. I wanted a digitally tuned am/fm pocket radio with many station pre-sets and a built in speaker, (I dont like wearing headphones, BUT I do have to wear them a lot to enjoy my radio at work so I use a headphone that has seperate left and right, hook over the ear earphone speakers that also have the ability to swing away from the ear... this is a really cool feature because I can use one ear alone and still be aware of sounds around me or even flip it out away from my ear for even more awareness and still be able to hear the radio!).(These earphones DONT come with the Radio Yourway)! I tried the Sangean which also had tv and weather but poor speaker sound and poor reception, but DOESNT record. Radio Yourway is quite a bit better in every regard. It also seems to be quality built, solid, firm metal buttons..(dont judge by the battery door that threatens to fail). The neck cord detaches from the radio easily for quick playing adjustments then snap it back on, I found this to be a must have. Dont trust the auto seek feature because this misses many playable stations but step through each frequency to find stations allowing you to move the radio or antenna for better reception. The built in speaker is just adequate, should sound better and have more volume. For SOME windows XP Home users,the software "explorer" type utility only works in windows 98 compatability mode and then only to get the programs from your yourway to your computer/computer to radio... If I play them in this explorer they lock my computer up... but I can then copy them to a folder and either convert them to mp3 or wav files.(Pogo says it is unknown what causes this but it DOES aknowledge a supposedly small number of XP users encounter this.).You can fast forward or rewind a minute per second from stop but dont be fooled like I was when it takes up to 3 seconds to initiate... Poor battery life but get yourself a 2 D cell battery holder from radio shack, a cord and a mini plug compatable with yourway and you will have MANY hours of stationary listening on your desk or in your car. Plus, with a Belkin TuneCast II FM Transmitter (Wal-Mart), you can play it through your car radio.This is NOT a TIVO for radio/ more like a VCR. If you want to have multi-timed recording, if just ok to good sound quality is good enough, and if you want a built in speaker with FM AND AM reception with many pre-sets, then you have to get this.
Rating: 
Summary: The product works for me
Review: After extensive searching on Internet, I bought the gadget from Amazon before Christmas, primarily because it is the only MP3 player that can record AM radio (and in addition to the common MP3 features -- play/record/FM radio). I record Bob Brinker's Money Talk during the weekends and listen to the playback when going to gym during the weekdays. The quality of the sound is very good that I can't tell if it is a recorded program. I also use it for my favorite MP3 songs some times. The product works great for me and I've no problem with the software on my WindowsXP Professional and Home Edition. The only issue with the product is the battery life. I'd wish they use AA batteries instead of "AAA"s. For that, I have bought 4 "AAA" NiMH (700mAh) and AC/DC adapter for $20. ("AA" NiMH would have 1600mAh if it uses the bigger battery.) Now, I'm very happy that I know I won't miss any of my favorite talk shows (Hint: plug in the AD/DC adapter if you are not using the gadget, or the battery may run out before the end of the talk shows and you will kick yourself :)
Rating:
Summary: Tivo for the radio! A must have for Talk Radio fans!
Review: After reading some of the negative reviews about this product, I almost didn't buy it (battery and quality issues etc.). I am very glad that I ignored those reviews and purchased this product! The battery life is fairly short but it does not affect my use of the product since I use the AC adapter in the car which is no hassle at all. With this radio, I am able to record radio shows nightly that I could not otherwise listen to. You can pause, resume, fast forward and rewind your recordings. I use this radio every day and love it!
Rating: 
Summary: uh-oh!
Review: Alright guys, this is basically the same story as the other mp3 players. The reviews promised something so wonderful, i couldnt pass it up. Well, I am a VERY picky buyer, because i have to save every cent for my car. Ne how, I bought this because of the audio in jack that it offers, so thati could plug in a friends cd player, start playing it through the built in speaker in my player, and press record. So i'd directly transfer his music to my player. I ended up e-mailing the company directly with my questions, simply because in one day, i sent 3 emails and got 3 answers in 1 day. very rare. The only problems i've seen, is when you record anything, it goes into some weird format, so i would have to transfer this to mp3, and put it back in the player. I recieved the player this afternoon, and started playing with it, I was very impressed. And I realized, it tracks songs by number, as opposed to by name. It also appears it is limited to 99 files, simply because there isnt room. And It only has 32mb of on-board memory, which wasnt a problem for me, cuz the rest of the player was so above standard. I'd buy expansion cards, no big. Its cheap enough to afford that. All the good parts:
it has a speaker in the back! SURPRISINGLY good quality sound. Not much bass, but to be expected. The ear buds that come with it have an fm tuner built in, and if you're using the speaker, it has an external fm tuner, dont worry. Its just a wire, and it gets ok reception either way. SO if you dont need many songs, and dont mind having the tracks shown in numbers, it is the BEST PLAYER OUT THERE. and amazon is the cheapest and best return policy. lolz
Rating:
Summary: My experience with Radio Yourway
Review: As did another reviewer, the record feature stopped working after 3 weeks. Up to that point, I really liked the product. I'm in the process of replacing it. I found that when using NIMH batteries the use time was quite short, no more than 6 hours. With the expanded memory card the NIMH batteries don't last 2 hours. I use the external power supply to record and batteries only when listening. The speaker is for emergency use only. Reception is OK. I use it to record "Coast to Coast".It is the only product out there that does what is does and I'm sticking with it until something better comes along.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful, but needs bigger speaker
Review: As noted by other reviewers, this is a great device for talk radio lovers because it can be programmed to record shows, you can up/down load files to your PC, etc. For most people, the ability to easily & automatically record from radio is the key feature offered by RYW. Abilty to download mp3 files is also important, because many radio shows are archived on the web in a format that can be captured to mp3.
I am reasonably satisfied with RYW, but have some complaints: The speaker is too small and tinny sounding, and is not nearly loud enough, even at full volume, for outdoor use. In general, I think the RYW is too small. It needs to have a bigger speaker, ability to take bigger and therefore longer-lasting batteries, a real built-in antenna, and a built-in power supply. When I listen to talk radio, I typically am doing some project around the house or yard, so I need the device to be rugged, portable, and loud. I'll keep the RYW, but will probably velcro it to a separate 4" battery powered speaker -- not exacly what I want, but better than anything else currently available.
Rating:
Summary: Works OK for Talk Show Recordings
Review: As stated above there are positive and negative aspects to this product. Don't buy it to record music. - Converting the "special" RVF audio format to standard MP3 format may be done with a simple program that a user discovered at: http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~y-katow/rvfmp3.html (See also the Yahoo! Group "RadioYourway" that was setup for various other points and views.) - Battery usage is high (especially since it uses only 2 AAA batteries rather than AA ones), so creating an external battery pack or using an adapter is almost a requirement. - When batteries die during playback you get to search to find your place again, since it goes back to the beginning rather than pausing prior to turning itself off. - Once playback begins fast forward only occurs at a slower speed, making even getting through commercials a pain at times (can be lived with though). But it is certainly a small compact portable design and is at the moment about the best thing that you could come up with for recording talk radio into an easily portable digital format.
Rating:
Summary: Works OK for Talk Show Recordings
Review: As stated above there are positive and negative aspects to this product. Don't buy it to record music. - Converting the "special" RVF audio format to standard MP3 format may be done with a simple program that a user discovered at: http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~y-katow/rvfmp3.html (See also the Yahoo! Group "RadioYourway" that was setup for various other points and views.) - Battery usage is high (especially since it uses only 2 AAA batteries rather than AA ones), so creating an external battery pack or using an adapter is almost a requirement. - When batteries die during playback you get to search to find your place again, since it goes back to the beginning rather than pausing prior to turning itself off. - Once playback begins fast forward only occurs at a slower speed, making even getting through commercials a pain at times (can be lived with though). But it is certainly a small compact portable design and is at the moment about the best thing that you could come up with for recording talk radio into an easily portable digital format.
Rating:
Summary: My new best friend
Review: Being a public radio addict, I've been waiting for a product like this for a long time. Now I get to record and listen to all my favorite programming that I might otherwise miss. Life is now very very good. While RYW by Pogo is not perfect, it's pretty dang good. At first I deemed it my new best friend but now that I understand better how to make this product work - I realize it's more like my new favorite pet: this product does require a bit of care and feeding. Let me say first that I have not used this product for anything except recording radio programs. I can't speak to the MP3 capabilities or voice recording at all. While I may eventually use these capabilities, I am having too much fun listening to my favorite radio programs to care much about anything else. I recommend that you immediately purchase a few accessories to enhance this product. Buy the leather case and the a/c adaptor and purchase additional memory. I dropped my radio onto cement twice before I bought the leather case and altho the leather case is not as cute as I'd like it to be, I feel much better knowing the next time I drop it, it will have significant protection. Recording really sucks up the power and I found that recording would sometimes stop in the middle of a broadcast unless the unit has good fresh batteries. Since the majority of my recording occurs during the weekend, the a/c adaptor has significantly improved performance. As soon as I ordered my unit, I went on line and bought a 256 mb memory card. I had initially thought I would need more memory than that but the card has turned out to be more than sufficient. Being a non geek type it took me a while to figure out how to make this unit perform optimally. Having played with it for over a month I have learned:
1) Always check the clock on the unit after changing an energy source (either replacing batteries or plugging/unplugging a/c). Successful recordings depend on this key element. Check to make sure your memory source is correct too.
2) Ensure the unit is receiving an optimal signal during recording. I've found it's best to use the external antenna if I'm recording a station with a weak signal. (Overall the reception on the unit is very good.) The one down side to this product is there is no way to "book mark" your place when you have to stop in the middle of listening to a recorded program. The good news is it's easy to fast forward to any place in the program so I'm getting better at remembering exactly where I left off listening to a file. The only other problem with the unit is the battery cover. Mine has already pretty much broken but since I have the leather cover, it really doesn't matter. In general I have found the unit easy to use and the controls are intuitive. It is easy to remember how to set up and use the different functions. If you are as addicted to radio programming as I am, this is a great toy to have.
Rating: 
Summary: No Reception!
Review: Bought this for recording NPR shows, and I live in an area where the radio signal is very strong. I cannot get reception for more than one (unidentified) FM channel, so this is worthless to me. You would think for the price that they would pay attention to the quality of the radio they include in the device, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I was VERY DISAPPOINTED, guess I will wait for a newer generation version from another manufacturer, and stick with my iPod for the time being.
|
