NEWS: Orange Liveradio offers buy-on-demand MP3s

Here's an Internet radio with a novel twist. This slim, smart-looking device isn't only noteworthy for being brought to market by telecoms company Orange but it also promises to make it easy for you to buy and download the songs as you hear them.

Not content with being an Internet radio, the Orange Liveradio also allows you to store your favourite tunes and then log-on to the Orange Music Store and find them ready to buy... as long as you have a PC, that is.

As great as the idea sounds, we were frustrated to find that trying we couldn't access the Orange Music Store from our Macs – a message telling us we needed the latest version of XP and Internet Explorer brought us the bad news.

That aside, the Liveradio features two 4cm stereo speakers which, once connected to a Wi-Fi network, will deliver you Internet radio sound. There's no sign of FM or DAB tuners, but at a wallet-friendly £99, that's not too surprising.

There's a 3.5mm stereo jack line-out headphone connection and a USB port for MP3 players. Other features include eight preset keys for storing favourites, clock and alarm functions.

Handily, the Orange Liveradio can be powered by mains power or batteries. For more details, and to buy it once it's released, see the website here.here

Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).