Sanyo R227 Internet radio coming to the US

Sanyo's R227 Internet radio, announced to ship at the end of October in Canada, will soon be available for US customers, the company announced on Thursday. The R227 connects to the Internet via its Wi-Fi module or a wired Ethernet connection and allows users to search for Internet radio stations from around the world by country or genre. There are no fees associated with accessing the stations. The R227 can access secured wireless networks via a key entry interface.

Internet radio stations or podcasts in the supported files formats, including AAC, AIFF, MP3, WAV and WMA, can be played back on the R227, which also has eight Internet radio station presets. If an Internet station is not in the Sanyo R227's database, users can add it.

When or where Internet access is not available, the R227 functions as a digital FM stereo receiver, capable of storing eight favorites as presets. Users can also connect personal MP3 players via a stereo jack, while an output allows them to connect it to external speakers or home theater systems. Networked computers can also share music files with the R227, allowing it to function as a sort of media extender. An alarm clock can be set to wake users to a pre-set radio station from the Internet or FM tuner. The web interface can also access Internet streams of many AM and FM stations that support it. Each speaker is rated at 2W RMS.

The R227 will begin shipping in the US in January, priced at nearly $170.