Grace Digital Audio have announced that the latest iteration of their ITC-IR1000B wireless internet radio is now being supplied with Pandora integration allowing users to ‘tune into’ the Pandora personalised internet radio service in what Grace Digital claim is the first time that a Wi-Fi internet radio featuring Pandora integration has been offered in a sub $200 wireless internet radio system.

For those unfamiliar with Pandora, a service already boasting over 13 million users, Pandora basically allows you to define either a song or artist whose music they like and the service will subsequently use that information to deliver a personalised stream of music that fits in with the same general style as the song/artist provided – thus enabling you to discover music that you may otherwise have overlooked. Or, by way of offering a somewhat more detailed synopsis, Grace Digital provide the following detail in their press release (which we feature as it goes a great deal further to helping the uninitiated understand quite why Pandora is causing such a stir):


‘Pandora is a personalized radio service, available anytime and anywhere on the PC, in the home and on connected devices. Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project, which began in 2000 and is the most thorough analysis of music ever undertaken. Each composition in this massive collection, which includes Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronica, Hip Hop, Country, Blues, R&B, Latin and Classical, is analyzed by one of more than 50 trained musicians, and assessed against up to 400 distinct musical attributes (encompassing melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.) to capture its unique musical identity.


Pandora uses this information to build playlists based on musical similarity. By simply entering a favorite song or artist, a listener is instantly launched into a personalized listening experience, full of new discovery as Pandora explores their favorite part of the music universe. Listeners can create up to `100 of these personal radio stations and refine them by providing feedback via the Pandora radio tuner. Additionally, listeners can create profiles, search for other listeners in the Pandora community who have similar musical tastes, and find stations built by other listeners, using artist and song names as well as genre and mood search terms. The music analyst team works daily to keep the Music Genome Project updated with the latest releases, emerging artists, and an ever-deepening collection of catalogue titles.’


Grace Digital Audio’s ITC-IR1000B Key Features:

•Listen to over 11,000 radio stations from around the world

•3″ Ported speaker deliver rich, full bodied audio.

•Select stations by region, country, station or by over 50 musical genres

•Wirelessly stream your music library from your PC hard drive

•Works with any wireless internet connection (802.11b & 802.11g compatible)

•WEP and WPA compatible

•Stand alone radio — No PC required

•Connect to your existing stereo system via audio out (headphone jack) connection

•Displays song and artist information

•Streams stored audio files from your PC (not compatible with copy-protected iTunes music downloads)

•Clock radio functionality with alarm

•Compatibility with all three major streaming formats

•Supports Real audio, MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV and AIFF formats