C. Crane CC WiFi 3 Internet Radio with Skytune, Bluetooth Receiver, Clock and Alarm with Remote Control, Access to Thousands of Radio Stations Worldwide

I've wanted to purchase an internet radio for quite some time. After doing a lot of research, I opted to buy this terrific radio. So far, it hasn't disappointed me. Although this was my first internet radio, setup was extremely easy, and I was up and running in minutes. Skytune has plenty of stations, and I had no problems going from station to station. The radio was very responsive, and the sound is the best I've heard from a radio this size with a single speaker, which is excellent. It really is a lot of fun playing with this radio just to hear what people in other countries are listening to! I also tried the Bluetooth feature with iHeartRadio, TuneIn Radio, and Radio Garden; it worked perfectly with TuneIn Radio and Radio Garden, but iHeartRadio inexplicably didn't stream over everything. Not really a big deal, and I suspect it had something to do with the iHeartRadio app not playing nice with the radio. Setting up Skytune presets in the radio is very easy, but I was more interested in setting up presets that were not dependent on having Skytune service. After all, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared should the service suddenly not be available! Well, that proved to be quite challenging, because the radio stream url information for most radio stations is very difficult, if not impossible, to find. Nevertheless, I kept at it, and eventually was able to successfully locate this information for many stations and add several preset stations. Patience and persistence are the keys, and you’ll be able to easily do the same thing with no difficulty for a lot of radio stations. Are there areas for improvement? In a word, yes. For example, the radio does not come with a built-in rechargeable battery, nor can you add batteries to the radio. Not a big deal, but if you want the radio to be a truly portable radio you’ll have to get a power bank. If you don’t have one already, a good one will set you back about $20.00. Additionally, having another aggregator service besides Skytune, and/or having iHeartRadio, Spotify, Pandora, etc., available in the radio itself, would also be nice. Don’t get me wrong, Skytune seems to provide an excellent service. But if Skytune shuts down, most of the functionality of the radio for the majority of users goes away, leaving you with a pretty black box. The remote control is functional, but the buttons feel a bit “mushy”, and overall is not up to the same build quality as the radio itself. Finally, it would be great if the radio incorporated an “old school” radio to listen to local AM and FM radio without the need for WiFi connectivity. Not only would this give users an additional option if Skytune was unavailable, but it would also be useful during emergencies when power was unavailable. So, even though I have a “wish list” of improvements for the radio, at the end of the day it is a great radio. It works flawlessly, my list of improvements are relatively minor, and I can get nearly all of my suggested improvements from other radios and equipment I’ve purchased over the years. Maybe the next generation of the radio (WiFi4?) will have some of these additions, but as it stands this is a great radio that’s easy to use and will put a smile on your face.

I can't fault the price given how easy this radio is to use. Good instructions, responsive controls, two alarms, easy-to-set presets. I was wary of the screen before buying, and it's not my first choice, but the menu system and navigation is easy to use and well thought out. Especially if you are used to rotary controls and buttons. To turn off the screen when the radio is sleeping, you simply turn the main knob to the left. Finish is good, no defects. I like the size and weight, and it comes with a DC barrel-to-USB cable and can run from a battery pack. 3.5mm line out jack works very well. The internal speaker still works by default when the line out jack is in use. I don't know if it can be turned off. It has two alarms. If the radio can't connect, the default alarm tone sounds instead. This occured once after I changed the buffering speed to two seconds, which I guess wasn't enough time for alarms. Changing this to ten seconds worked. I read CC Crane's response to the Reciva aggregation site was good, and they now use Skytune. They also allow you to connect to the radio via network IP and input the stream URLs directly, which is great and should be standard on all radios as with internet radio programs and plugins on computers.

4 stars so far...works as designed, now I can get rid of Xfinity at+$200 a month. Good quality, feels a little flimsy but seems to be well made. Relatively easy to use and set up as well.

I have an airplane hangar that is so well sealed that NO radio waves can get in. No cell, no internet, nothing. So I missed my tunes. I finally installed a WiFi antenna that gets a signal and connected this radio to it. YAY! Tunes!! Way more stations than I expected. I found a good 80s station that has very little talking. Just the right thing to pass the time. Easy to connect, easy to set up. I haven't ever used the remote since you can do everything from the front panel. Neat little radio.

I once owned a Logitech Squeeze Bos and missed the experience, so I purchased the CC. CRANE 3. EXELLENT RADIO AND FANTASTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!! Patched into my stereo and the sound is exceptional. The ability to add your own URL STATIONS was a game changer.....Must Buy

The radio set up is easy. For a small speaker the sound is good. All the features work as described. The EQ provides a bit a adjustment for sound preferences. The only let down is the bluetooth. It is receiving bluetooth not transmitting, so you can’t use this with a bluetooth speaker or stereo system. I wouldn’t think of using this as a bluetooth speaker for something else. It just doesn’t have that kind of sound. Pity, can’t use my bluetooth headphones or amps with this. Doesn’t make sense. This radio needs a bluetooth makeover! Blue tooth speakers are a dime a dozen and this doesn’t sound as good as a modest one. Another poor quality bluetooth speaker is not needed. Let us pipe it to a better one. Needs transmitting bluetooth to be a useful internet radio.. There is a 1/8 audio out to hardwire to a speaker or stereo if you’re still into wires. It is a nice unit if used within its limitations.

Trying to replace my 2 Logitech Squeezebox internet radios, which no longer function after Logitech shut down the server providing access to the streaming radio channels on the Internet, proved to be quite a difficult task. The reviews for the C.Crane model looked promising, and the price is reasonable, so I bought one and have used it for 4 days now. So far I'm very impressed with how well thought out the radio is and how quickly it loads the various channels. I am particularly pleased that I can bypass the horrible Tunein Radio front-end that I was forced to use on my Ipad in order to listen to the free CNN and MSNBC audio feeds, important to me because I am a cord-cutter and no longer have access to either of these news channels on my TV. On Tunein using my Ipad, you are forced to listen to a minute-long commercial every time you called up either of these new channels, and the commercials that played during the regular network commercials were repeated and repeated, often stringing together the same commercial 2 or 3 times in a row just to work the listener's last nerve. The C.Crane uses the Skytune server, which I'd never heard of, but it works smoothly and, so far, no commercials when loading the channels. There are a few cons, but they are mostly minor. The screen font is too small for my aging eyes without straining, and the volume of some channels (including CNN and MSNBC) is too low. What I decided to do was to bypass the weak volume on the C.Crane by using the Line Out port on the C. Crane to output the audio to a AC powered speaker (most available powered speakers use batteries, which would require constantly recharging batteries, something I did not want to do). This required quite a lot of research, but I finally found the Creative Labs GigaWorks T40 Series II Speakers, which come as a pair and cost around $100. This obviously raises the price, but the audio is now almost as good as the Logitech Squeezebox, highly regarded for its built-in stereo speakers, not a small feat. Even better, the C.Crane has a Sleep feature which shuts down the radio after a selectable number of minutes so I can listen to the radio as I fall asleep in bed, and the Creative Labs speakers automatically shut down after 10 minutes of silence from the connected radio, so both shut down as I go to sleep, although it takes the speakers a little longer to get the message and shut down. Result: very happy customer.

Overall quality and build is fine. Set up easy, turning the knob to enter password took a little practice. Like the remote. I'm a slow learner, but finding the ins and outs is easy. Audio quality better than expected. Only "maybe" downsides, LED screen could be bigger, remote could hold more than ten presets (not realistic) EQ is nice. Sleep timer and alarm are nice. Although not a battery portable, you can move from power location at will. Radio remembers your information and reloads. I enjoyed writing this review! Thirty days in I still like the radio. There are a few cons, so I downgrade stars to 4 from 5. 1. The display is just to small. Speaker does not have enough volumn. Search is clumsy, littered with useless station. Not able to load. Chinese after chinese. All that said I'm keeping the radio. I've come up with 10 presets out of a claimed 20,000.