BT Voyager Digital Media Player
- Reviewer
- Stuart Miles
- Review Date
- 3 February 2004
- Manufacturer
- BT
- Price as reviewed
- £160
- Latest price
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Reader review
User: Simon, London
Date Posted: 12 June 2006
Review: I bought this player so that my Spanish wife and I could listen to Internet radio without being tied to the PC and it performs this task perfectly. The radio lives most of the time in the kitchen, which is about 15 metres from the PC, and the signal comes through loud and clear. A quick note on set-up: The default Internet radio station seems to have changed its streaming 'URL'. The first time I used the Internet radio function I was somewhat disconcerted to receive the message “error in media”. You should try the Ministry of Sound station to check that it is correctly set up. Adding new stations is easy - once you work out that the streaming 'URL' is not the same as the radio station's home page 'URL''!! If your main aim is to get digital music from your PC to your hi-fi, this will work but is rather cumbersome and has a few drawbacks. The player does not support AAC and Apple lossless formats and you can't scroll through lists on the radio display. You would probably be better off with something like a Squeezebox. The audio quality on Internet radio, fm radio, mp3 and CD modes is fine and what you would expect for this sort of price. It is true that there is a slight hiss close up and at low volumes but it really isn't noticeable for us as we listen to it in the kitchen where there are other background noises. In summary, I would recommend this player to someone looking for a portable Internet radio rather than an audio streamer to your hi-fi. The player is now available at the reduced price of £65 through the BT on-line shop.
Rating:
12 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Steve, Thame
Date Posted: 20 October 2005
Review: I set it up in 10 minutes. Pro’s and Con’s: * It will not accept winamp streams, only real player or windows media player. * I’ve had no noise in the background so far, but then it’s pretty deaf on normal FM. * Only has a small aerial. * Need to keep the USB transmitter away from the computer. * Looks and sounds just like a normal radio. * Mains and batteries, but takes 8 batteries so can be expensive but well worth it. Conclusion: A really nice unit if you want to listen to internet radio away from the computer.
Rating:
12 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Paul Steels, St. Albans
Date Posted: 9 September 2005
Review: I purchased my product some time ago and still have not been able to get the internet radio part of it working. The product is a nice design and feels solid. The sound is good but the software installed on the PC is not easy to use and certainly not intuitive. If the radio worked I would give it 7 out of 10. Instead it gets 5.
Rating:
11 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Baines, Staffs
Date Posted: 31 January 2005
Review: Mine works like a charm. It’s simple to install and use, mine was up and running within 10 minutes of it arriving, including downloading the updated software. As for the audio quality... it's a portable radio so don't go expecting concert hall quality. Having said that, connect it to the Hi-Fi and it's great. Solves the "MP3 anywhere" problem very nicely.
Rating:
8 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: David, London UK
Date Posted: 24 November 2004
Review: Excellent idea, but let down by poor build, weak signal, annoying whistle that is always in the background, software that gets confused, hissing and crackling on the unit when more than 5m away from the USB transmitter. I have sent mine back, which is a shame.
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mark, Exeter UK
Date Posted: 26 September 2004
Review: This product is not without its problems but is does provide some great facilities that are just not available elsewhere. Without doubt the best feature is its portability. I can pick it up and take it out in the garage or the garden and listen to my music. If I wanted to do this before I had this gadget I had to take my laptop! True you can get a little bit of FM hiss but some experimenting with the location of the base unit does have an effect on this. My only real gripe is the navigation. I have over 200 albums on my PC and to find something you want to listen using the controls on the unit is a real pain. I have found that the best thing to do is not to import all my music but just create six play lists to assign to the six preset buttons. This is a bit of a task with the bundled software but worth the effort. Even with its issues I think this product is still well worth the money.
Rating:
15 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Mel, Bristol UK
Date Posted: 15 September 2004
Review: I have found the Voyager to be a great product, although some of it's features leave a bit to be desired - especially if you have a lot of digital music. One thing that has made a big difference is this handy utility I found at http://products.f14help.com, which allows me to import my Windows Media Player Playlists. All in all, I like the BT Voyager.
Rating:
12 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Gordon Sapsed, Southampton
Date Posted: 1 August 2004
Review: Attracted by a favourable review here and another in the Sunday Times I bought one at the newly reduced price of £99. Result FRUSTRATION! The initial setup proved promising - it all worked. I added some stations I wanted to hear - it cut them each off ten seconds after connecting. The original stations started behaving similarly. The a lot more frustration as it slowly collapsed (aurally, not physically). I found updated software on-line and installed that. No change. I found that the BT helpline for the product was wrong and that the correct helpline had 'untrained operators' - 'there might be somebody in tomorrow who is trained on this product'. Nice idea - but ......a nice-looking £99 radio that works on FM only.
Rating:
18 people have rated this review helpful
Reader review
User: Jeremy, Bristol UK
Date Posted: 16 July 2004
Review: From my experience this is a clunky, over-priced piece of junk. With added detractor of poor sound quality: I give it 1/10. It has one major drawback that it streams all sound from your PC to the device - so it is no use if someone else is using the PC.
Rating:
12 people have rated this review helpful
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