http://www.ccrane.com/radios/am-fm-radios/cc-witness.aspx

Although there is no advertised affiliation with the orignial LX’s vendor, Pogo Products, the similarities between C. Crane’s “Witness” and Pogo’s LX are enough that I have to believe they are from the same company. The Witness (strange name, isn’t it?) is also apparently being sold under the name “Talkmaster” in Japan.

I very much look forward to putting one of these through it’s paces as the LX was an excellent device for time-shifting AM radio (save for it’s keypad reliability issues).

Although it lacks shortwave bands, it would be impossible to add a decent performing tuner in such a small form factor. For those wanting to use the Witness to record SW, these units have a line input and can be set for timer recording on the line input. One could then connect an external radio and either leave that radio turned on or use a radio that has a timer/alarm function that turns the radio on a programmed time.

The RYW LX had an excellent 10X/100X selectable FF/Rew function. It is so far unknown what exactly the FF/Rew features are of this new Witness, however it apparently at least has the following skip functions:

Fast forward/rewind (Search at 3 seconds/7 seconds/1 minute/2.5 minutes)

Very promising

Side Note: The first user reviews I’ve seen (Amazon) on the Grundig G4, are not promising to say the least.

“done right” may be the key words here. My experience is mostly from the 1st and 2nd generation Radio YourWay recorders. Considering the approximate 5KHz bandwidth of a demodulated AM station, recording at 32K is roughly 6 times the bandwidth of the source. Although that may be theoretically adequate, even my “high mileage” eardrums say otherwise.
Maybe there are other factors with the Radio YourWay – possibly the A/D sampling rate is inadequate at their 32K bitrate, but I doubt it.

I just don’t think with all the fantastic technology (that we more and more seem to take for granted these days) that goes into something as “simple” as a shortwave receiver, failing to provide the user the ability to make the choice between recording quality vs recording time would be unexcusable.

Hopefully I’m jumping the gun here and the unit will actually surprise us! Maybe they use an “intelligent VBR” design that can actually read our mind as to our desired recording quality !

From what I’ve seen, the first factory run of this radio still isn’t in anybody’s hands yet. Yet to see an actual review of it anywhere online. Although it is for sale at a few places. And the good news is that at least one dealer is offering it for $135 (original price was supposed to be $200), but I bet it’s on back order.

Charles, I think the reason they don’t know the recording bitrate is probably because there’s still waiting to hear from the factory in China. I have a funny feeling that they’re still trying to get the bugs out of the thing.

As I see folks with interest in the new Grundig G4 coming by this post for a visit now and then, if somebody out there finally gets a chance to play with the G4 it would be awful nice if you’d post a little review here as a comment. We’re all curious. Same goes for that Grundig Satellit 750.

> I can’t find from any of Grundig’s documentation at what bitrate(s)
> this radio will record (e.g. 64kbps, 128 kbps, etc).
>
> Do you have this information?
>

Sorry we do not have it either.

1. None of the Eton/Grundig documentation specifies the recording bitrate of the radio (e.g. 64 Kbps, 96 Kbps, etc). The Radio YourWay has a selectable recording bitrate that ranges from 32 Kbps to 256 Kbps. Grundigs recording bitrate rate is unspecified and not selectable. Since it apparently based on the Degen radio, I’m afraid that the non-selectable rate of the G4 is only a mere 32 Kbps. This would be a big mistake on Grundig’s part since this is woefully inadequate. I record AM radio on my Radio YourWay Lx at 96 Kbps and this is actually quite an improvement over 64 Kbps. Recording FM radio at 32 Kbps would be…ugh, you just wouldn’t do it. I have sent Eton/Grundig an inquiry about the mysterious recording rate and have not received a response.

2. The lack of multiple timer programs on the G4 is also disappointing. I find it curious that some would sharply criticize the Radio YourWay Lx as it’s recording features are where it really shines. You can set up to 10 timer programs to record – and you can have a mix of one-time events or events that recur on a daily or weekly basis. Each event can specify a radio band/frequency, recording bitrate, start time, stop time (the G4 can only record a maximum of 99 minutes according to the manual). Each timer event can also specify to record from the radio, line input or microphone. And if that’s not enough, each timer event can specify to record a one-time recording, a weekly recording (e.g. every Monday at 10AM), record Monday-Friday, Monday-Saturday or every day. How’s that for flexibility?

And if you’re wondering, I have no affiliation with Pogo Products (the maker of the Radio YourWay Lx). In fact, you can’t even buy the LX anymore. I actually own two of them and my manager also owns two of them. I have used them on a daily basis for two years – and this is where I believe their fatal flaw shows up.

The keypad can’t hold up to daily use. All four of our units are experiencing weird intermittencies. At first it starts off having to press a button extra hard in order for it to be recognized. Then you might push one button and the unit reacts as if you pressed another. They are still usable, but it’s frustrating. the LX has an amazingly well-designed 10X/100X fast forward capabilitiy that allows you to zip though commercials with ease.
Unfortunately, but understandably (this is my most-used button) this is one of the first buttons to start acting up. Pogo is offering to replace the units with refurbished ones for $50 each. This is very fair on their part, but I’m sure the same problem will eventually rear it’s ugly head on the refurbished units.

After discontinuing the LX, Pogo recently introduced a “Radio YourWay Mini” with 1GB internal flash which recorded in AAC format instead of MP3. It didn’t matter much since the unit could only record to it’s internal flash memory and there was no USB port, thus no way to offload the recordings. The Mini was mysteriously discontinued after only a month or two. Pogo is now saying on a May 19, 2008 post on their Yahoo Groups forum that:

“Please note that Pogo Electronics is currently working on a new Radio Yourway Mini model, with mp3 recording and USB compatibility, features that were not in the original Mini. It is scheduled to be released in a couple of months.”

I optimistically await the release of this new Radio Yourway Mini. I also (not-so-optimistically await the release of a G4-like radio with a feature-set that Pogo products has so intelligently designed. And I hope any/all of these can stand up to the rigors of daily use.

If anyone has any hands-on information on the recording bitrates of the G4 (or any other radios that record), please post it.

As a side note, have you noticed how small the G4 is? 3.5″ x 5.5″ and barely over an inch thick? Must be a very small speaker! I plan on using it to play podcasts on my lunch breaks (why won’t someone make a decent portable radio, with a nice size speaker, that plays MP3s???).

Here’s the post on my new DE1103.  NICE inexpensive radio!  Perfect compliment for my DX398

I have a couple of Grundigs: the Satellit 700 and an 800 as well, and wonder how these newer, cheaper Grundys would compare as far as reception is concerned. The nice thing about the 700 is that it has stereo RCA jacks out on the side of the unit, so you can get a quality recording out of it (FM reception is terrific with that radio).

But I also have as much fun with a Panasonic and a Worldstar from the 70′s. There’s a time and place for every radio, don’t you think?