I am studying German and have been told that it helps if you listen to German radio so I ordered the Logitech Squeezebox Radio on the recommendation of my friend Scott. I find the Squeezebox Radio to be perfect for the night stand, where I will be listening to the radio before I got to bed.
I set the presets with Berlin radio stations and linked via Wi-Fi and it sounds great in both spoken word and also music.
PRO: The set up was so easy and it even made the WPA/WEP key entry for my Verizon FIOS Internet.
I was also able to easily find all the stations I listened to in Berlin when I lived there and I was also able to find local stations and I could easily “install” BBC and CBC and even a Facebook and a Flickr applet. I am very pleased. I got a red one.
The date and time is awesome because it is updated via Internet so I didn’t even need to set the date or time — so I also have myself an atomic clock, I guess.
There are multiple alarms and also a line in so I can run my iPod and my iPod shuffle through the device, too, which is great for my German homework (a CD I burnt to MP3).
CON: A little expensive but you get a lot more than just a radio. It doesn’t come with a rechargeable battery pack or the remote — an additional $50.
BOTTOM-LINE: Small and deceptively powerful — it is basically a little Linux box in a small boom box/Internet clock radio — and it is the most modern of the Squeezebox line so you can do very cool stuff with the device. Easy to set up and to start using.
It can work as simply as a clock radio with presets or you can get all geeky and install apps and podcasts and you can connect to SIRIUS and all those other paid streaming services. I love it. It is my new favorite thing.
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OOOOoooooo shiny!
Sounds like a fun bit of tech. :)
That’s pretty cool! You should go one better with your listening and study the transcript of what you are listening to so you can understand the parts you miss when you listen the first time. I know you can’t get transcripts for radio but I invite you to take a look at our site at LingQ where you can find lots of German podcasts all with transcript. The problem with radio is that you only hear it once and then it is gone. The parts you miss are gone forever.
On LingQ, you’ll be able to look up the vocabulary you don’t understand, review and learn it and then re-read and re-listen to the audio. It’s a great, enjoyable way to dramatically increase your vocabulary. I would love if you would give LingQ a try and review it for your readers.
Good luck with your German!
That’s awesome — I am going to go check it out — these are the German podcasts I have collected: http://cabraham.com/german-language-podcasts
That’s a pretty thorough list! You’ll find our podcasts quite different from your list. Most of our podcasts are not “learn German” podcasts. They are podcasts meant for native speakers. It’s all good but I think you’ll enjoy the change!