Many of us listen to internet radio on our phones and there are several apps available in the market for free for this purpose. Many of us also listen to internet radio on our computers. However, some of us only listen to the radio while driving our car. For connecting our phone radio to the car, you need an auxiliary In jack. However, many cars nowadays do not provide these jacks. That’s where this new product, the Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit, brings in hope for people who enjoy listening to the radio.
What is it?
The Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit connects to your iPhone in a wireless manner, receives an internet radio signal from the iPhone and passes it on to the FM receiver of the car stereo. The controller is placed on an adjustable stand which further connects to your car’s 12 volt adapter. With just one touch, the kit finds out available frequencies and channels on your stereo’s FM receiver, which you tune and store on your receiver.
Key features
Mainly, you can download the free car internet radio app available on the Apple store for free on your iPhone. Pair your iPhone with your Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit and you can now listen to up to 45,000 radio stations for free. You need not download only this particular app, you may use any other radio app that you wish to use on your iPhone. Hence, you can start using your iPhone connected to the Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit and listen to radio and internet radio in your car.
Whatâs innovative
The Livio Car Internet Radio app is available for Android and iPhone platforms. Features are same for both the versions of the radio app and with these, you may stream many varied internet based radio stations using only your phone’s connection. You may search stations based on music genre and also find talk show and drama stations. The app has a pricing structure. The free version of the app can access a few thousand Internet radio stations, but using the paid app allows access to over 45,000 local and global AM, FM and internet based radio stations.
Price and availability
Starting at $99.95, the price of Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit goes up to $119.99. The kit is available online through various e-commerce websites like Amazon and even on the Livio Radio website. There are other such devices available in the market, but this one uses internet radio for free.
The up side
The Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit is very flexible because of its stand and so easily positioned as you like it. One can also utilize the radio kit to make phone calls and receive phone calls as it has an already inbuilt microphone. You can also make use of the kit as an iPhone charger in your car through the USB port. It also is not too expensive in terms of pricing, as most of its competition models are more expensive and not so user friendly.
The down side
The facility to make calls is available on the Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit. However, it is not very good in performance and the microphone does not easily catch the voice of the user. So, it becomes scratchy and inconvenient at times to talk on this. The driver tends to pay more attention to the call then instead of looking at the road. The app that is available for download only offers limited access to a few channels. You have to buy a paid app to get all the frequencies and radio stations.
The bottom line
The device in question does not offer too many features and its calling is also not great in terms of performance. However, the Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio Car Kit is a convenient and fantastic way to bring internet radio for your listening pleasure in your car. A buy worth the money, if you really love listening to the radio in your car.
