Pros: Gorgeous, excellent sound, compact, and has great reception
Cons: Expensive, limited features, no cd player, limited ipod controls, and no dual alarm.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend this unit for anyone looking for a simply radio with ipod features. The sound is bose-like, but small and better looking.
eddielakr's Full Review: Tivoli iSongBook Stand, Docking Station, FM Transm...
I picked up a Tivoli I-Songbook at compusa when they were going out business. The Tivoli is a compact, but gorgeous unit that serves many purposes. When I pulled it out of the box, I noticed it came in two pieces. The main piece has a single speaker that has a side ipod pullout. The second piece, is a attachable/detachable speaker that can be pulled out up to 3-4 feet. I leave mine attached since I use it as a table radio.
The main unit consists of many features. You can turn it on FM, Am, and it's hidden Ipod port. The Am/Fm is fairly simplistic, with typical up and down tuning with a turnable volume knob. The Tivoli has a hidden Ipod dock that is built onto the side. There are positives and negatives to the Ipod. The Ipod features are basic, which means there are no ipod controls on the Tivoli unit itself. You have to press play on the Ipod, in order for the ipod to function. Also, in addition to an ipod, you can hook any auxillary device to it. The supplied remote gives one the ability to go play the ipod, reverse, go back, etc. All basic ipod controls, but nothing special like searching for name or anything that newer media based radios may have.
The other simplistic but nicely added touch is the alarm-lcd. You can set the time and also set the alarm to the fm/am/or ipod. If you press the light up button, it will turn the lcd blue, which is excellent at night when you don't have your contacts-glasses in-on.
To set the alarm, you simply turn on the am, fm, or ipod. You set the volume and the station and hold down the alarm button. It mutes the Tivoli until the time that the unit is set to alarm.
Some of the other perks are quite nice as well, like a side headphone jack, a collapsable antenna that gets great reception, and the ability to use 6 AA rechargable batteries. When power supply is plugged in, the unit charges the batteries. When the unit is pulled from the wall, it uses the battery power, which has last me over 6-8 hours.
The main electric jack is quite bulky, so this could be a problem if you want to travel with a small radio.
Last but not least, I want to touch on the sound. The sound of the unit is warm and crisp. It reminds me a lot of a bose radio, but has slightly less bass, which makes sense since it's so narrow. Fm sounds great, but you don't notice the unreal clarity until you put in a quality mp3 song via ipod. It's typical Tivoli sound, which is crisp and quality, in a very small compact size.
I would recommend this unit if you enjoy a simple, elegant, and compact style. The features are not robust, but for those looking for a quality radio-Ipod player with a gorgeous-simplistic look, don't look any further. The retail price is quite high, at $299, but we all pay for quality. Check the net for deals, because sometimes they pop up at under $200.
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