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Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS to Brando for providing the product for this review.

If you’re like me wish to be able to listen to the local FM radio stations while at your computer but the local stations do not offer online streams, then you may be interested in Brando’s USB Radio.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

When I first requested and received this product, I was a bit skeptical about how well it may work but I still wanted to try it. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it does work, and it works very well. I wasn’t aware that such an accessory exists before I stumbled upon it at Brando and being the gadget freak I am, I had to try it out.

The package includes the USBRadio in its protective cap plus a mini-CD that contains the one file, the USBRadio.exe program. There are apparently no drivers required and none supplied.

Originally, I was having difficulty accessing the mini CD on my DVD drive. Maybe it may be due to the label on the mini CD as I have found that some personally created CDs with the adhesive labels can’t be read easily on some CD or DVD drives. Obviously, that included my DVD drive. Anyway, I scrambled and did a bit of google searching and found out that there were no drivers required and I only needed to run the USB Radio program on my computer to make it work.

I have since been successful at accessing the mini CD on another computer so was able to run it on my computer. Regardless, if you do encounter problems accessing the USBRadio.exe program on the mini CD, do a search for “usbradio silicon labs” you should find a link to the USBRadio program at Silicon Labs website.

Now, keep in mind that Silicon Labs is NOT the same company as DataCoach Communications, the brand of the USB Radio accessory I’m reviewing. Maybe Brando may want to provide a link to the DataCoach Communications’ USBRadio.exe program on his website. Just a suggestion.

After saying that, it looks like that both USBRadio.exe programs from the mini CD (ie. Data Coach Communications) and the one from Silicon Labs are practically the same, with the obvious difference that they are branded differently. But surprisingly enough, the Silicon Labs’ USBRadio.exe program is smaller in size (1.1 MB vs 2.5 MB) than that of Data Coach Communications. Not sure what it is, but I can’t tell the difference. I just wanted to provide the information for those who are interested and may encounter similar problems.

As I’ve mentioned already, since there’s no drivers required, to use and operate the USB Radio, simply plug in the USB Radio to the USB port of your computer or the USB hub. Windows should detect the new USB hardware and will look for the required drivers. You should not be prompted to search for a driver. That said, I did try it on my USB 2.0 PC Cardbus and once inserted, it did go and request to search for drivers. I have not tried it on a computer that has 2.0 usb ports though. Perhaps someone can comment on it if they have tried it?

Then run the program on your computer.

It should start up with a pop up window (see screenshot above. Click on thumbnail for a bigger image) that prompts and asks you which USB device it should open. Depending on what you have installed, it should be the one that says “USB device” but if you have more than a few devices that are identified as ‘USB device’ you should select the one with the biggest number (ie. USB device (4), for example) since it should be the last and latest USB device you have installed on your computer.

It should then launch the USB Radio program and you should see something similar to what you see above. This is the main program screen that shows the relevant information you need: frequency, reception level, stereo/mono indicator, preset buttons, station scan, volume slider, settings, etc.

Obviously, you will need to go into the settings screen if you wish to access some of the customizations and settings for a better experience. You can input the preset stations. The program supports up to 12 station presets. This is what the setting screen looks like.

Pics of USB Radio

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Product Video

Video at YouTube

Please note that I made a mistake in the video about the antenna’s restricted movement. The antenna can actually be twisted around 360 degrees, as I’ve shown in the picture. The easiest way to do so without potentially snapping it or breaking it is to first retract it back fully and then do the twisting. Trying to twist it with it fully extended may snap and break the antenna, which was why I originally thought it wasn’t capable of twisting in other directions as it takes a certain amount of force to do. I have been caught mistakenly trying to twist the antenna with it fully extended but thankfully it didn’t break. So, don’t be lazy and retract it back first before twisting the antenna or risk breaking it. So, please keep that in mind.

More Details (taken from Brando’s website):

Features:

# USB Radio
# Driver CD

As I’ve mentioned in the video, I’m sure that a lot of you will wonder and ask why you would want to spend the money on this accessory if you can buy a cheap FM transmitter at your local dollar store?

Well, first of all, I think the main reason why anyone should get this is that unlike getting a cheap FM radio from the dollar store, you actually can access it directly on your computer. That means, not only being able to listen to the local FM radio stations on your computer through your computer speakers, but also be able to have access to the audio stream directly on your computer. Although you can plug in an audio cable into the cheap FM radio into your computer, the result is not the same. You will likely experience a certain degradation of the audio quality. With the Brando USB Radio, you have the audio going through the sound card and should you wish to access it for recording, you can easily do so with audio recording software that you can likely find via searches on the internet. Now, I am not suggesting you use this accessory for unethical means, but I think if it’s for personal use, such as recording your favorite program for offline listening, then, this can be a great accessory that is well worth the money. You are getting stereo, but that of course, depends on the reception. You may be able to improve upon it by adjusting the antenna just like you would normally do with regular transistor radios.

Second, unlike a cheap FM radio, the accessory is powered off the USB port of your computer. A cheap FM radio, on the other hand, will likely require you to purchase alkaliine AA or AAA batteries. If you are environmentally conscious, you may want to consider this important fact about how much batteries you will use over time. Of course, getting rechargeable batteries could be a good alternative.

Unfortunately, with most things, there are limitations of the USB Radio. You are stuck using it on your computer unlike a cheap FM radio where you can use it anywhere without needing a computer. You are also stuck only being able to use it on a Windows computer as far as I know (I can’t find any programs for Mac). And, you are limited to accessing only the FM radio stations. It’s too bad that you can’t also access AM stations as well as it can be so much more useful if both AM and FM bands can be supported.

Here are my observations: I really am very impressed with Brando’s USB Radio. As I’ve mentioned already, I wasn’t quite sure about the quality but I was pleasantly surprised that it worked very well. The program didn’t require any installation and minimal setup since it practically worked right off the program. With 12 presets, I can quickly access my favorite stations in the program. The program was simple, and maybe it may have been too simple. It would have been nice to have more settings and features as well as being able to record directly from the program itself, but then, it may get into copyright issues. To record the audio, simply get an audio recording program like Audacity or other similar programs.

To provide you with a sample of the audio, I have recorded a short (and I mean very short several seconds) radio sample stream with Audacity. I have converted the same stereo recording into 3 different formats: mp3, ogg and wav so that you can listen to them. Since they are all taken from the same original stream, their quality should not differ all that much. They vary from a few hundred kb to slightly less than 3 MB.

mp3 sample
ogg sample
wav sample

There aren’t many negatives I can find with this USB Radio. My main quip is that I have to keep reminding myself to retract the antenna back fully BEFORE adjusting or twisting it around. This is something that I’m sure many will likely forget to do and possibly break it simply by being lazy or forgetful. I guess a way around it is to try to loosen the base of the antenna so that it isn’t so tight so that twisting the antenna won’t also twist the entire USB Radio accessory. Another negative is that it doesn’t support AM bands, which could have provided me with a vast selection of radio stations to listen to.

Regardless, the main appeal of this USB Radio is that you can now access the FM audio streams directly on your computer, rather than go through other clunky methods which may not provide you with similar quality results. If you are looking for a way to access the local FM radio station audio on your computer, then, this may be a good and cheap solution.

Review Summary

Brando’s USB Radio is a relatively inexpensive way to access the local FM radio audio directly on your computer, whether it is simply for listening or for recording (again keep in mind the legalities of recording audio without permission). As mentioned, it is much simpler to simply plug in the USB Radio than go through all the wires and cable and there is less quality degradation of the audio if you are recording at the source. The USB Radio is very small and lightweight and protected inside a rubbery plastic cap. This may be a great way to have FM radio on your work computer or elsewhere. Simply plug in the USB Radio into the USB port and run the program. It can’t get any simpler than that!

Palm Discovery would like to give a BIG THANKS to Brando for providing the product for this review. Please check out USB Radio at Brando here.

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