Grooveshark Bluetooth Kit by Livio Radio

 

 

Introduction:

The Grooveshark Bluetooth Car Kit Adapter for Android based phones by Livio Radio (Model LVC03G) is a device that allows you to play streaming audio via GrooveShark through your vehicle’s radio. This is by no means its only function, and we will expand on those a bit later, but at its core this is the primary role for which it was designed. For those of you unfamiliar with Grooveshark and the service they provide, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia:

“Grooveshark is an international online music search engine, music streaming service and music recommendation web software application, allowing users to search for, stream, and upload music that can be played immediately or added to a playlist. An optional paid subscription provides additional functionality and removes advertisements from the user interface.”

Having never used Grooveshark before this, both Grooveshark and Livio Radio’s Bluetooth Car Kit Adapter were new to me, and so this review is from a complete newbie perspective. I don’t intend to review the Grooveshark service itself, but merely the integration level and support that this Livio Radio product offers for the Grooveshark service. So let’s get things going, starting with unpacking of the unit.

 

 

Packaging:

The entire kit comes packaged in a single box, nicely packed and well designed. Before even opening the packaging, the entire kit and its contents are easily seen through the clear portion of the box…so “what you see is what you get” definitely applies here. The printed verbiage on the outside of the packaging does an excellent job of describing what features the kit offers and what’s included when purchasing this kit.

Upon opening the box, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the folks at Livio Radio resisted the urge to use clamshell packaging. As a consumer, there is nothing I can’t stand more than having to hack my way through clamshell packaging to get to my shiny new toy, but I digress. Everything was nicely packaged in a form fitting plastic insert that allowed for the various kit pieces to pop right out (no need for scissors or utility knife here…hooray). With the box open and the kit contents removed, here is what you’ll see:

• Bluetooth Internet Radio Device
• 12 Volt Power Adapter with On/Off Switch
• 3.5mm Auxiliary Cable
• User Guide
• Free Grooveshark Anywhere 3 month promo code

Taking a closer look at the Bluetooth Internet Radio Device itself, there are several buttons and connections to break down.

Starting on the top of the device, there are two 3.5mm jacks, one Labeled “Line Out” and the other “Line In”. The jack labeled “Line Out” is used in place of the built in FM transmitter to send variable stereo audio to your car radio if a 3.5mm auxiliary jack is available. The jack labeled “Line In” will receive any stereo audio signal from an attached audio device (such as a standalone MP3 player, CD, etc…).

On the bottom of the device, you’ll find a USB charging port which is capable of charging any attached phone, MP3, or device capable of charging off USB.

The main panel is where the primary controls are, and there are plenty. One control knob (that has several uses, primarily volume control) surrounded by “Stop”, “Pause”, and “Play” buttons. One LED display which shows both the FM station being used to transmit audio and the volume level. Moving clockwise and starting with the top row, the remaining buttons are as follows:

• Previous Song
• Shuffle
• Next Song
• End Call
• Start a Call
• Radio (Start a Grooveshark radio station)
• Favorite (add or remove a currently playing song to your list of favorites)
• + (add or remove currently playing song to your catalog)

The 12 volt power adapter has a power On/Off switch which comes in handy if your particular vehicle does not disable power to the 12 volt plug when the vehicle is not in use, and a sturdy metal gooseneck mount for the Bluetooth Radio Device.

 

Installation:

The kit installation starts with a bit of assembly by attaching the Bluetooth Internet Radio to the metal gooseneck on the 12 volt power adapter. This is a very easy step but I would advise reading the included directions to ensure it’s done properly, as the potential of damaging the unit is present if installed incorrectly.

After the assembly, you’re ready to install the kit in your vehicle. Depending on the presence of an auxiliary port on your vehicle’s radio, the included 3.5mm auxiliary audio cable may or may not be required for this step(but don’t lose track of that cable, as it can be used to attached stand-alone MP3 player, etc…). I installed the kit in my Dodge Ram truck, which did not have an auxiliary port. So for me it was as simple as plugging the kit into the vehicle’s 12 volt power source and setting the power switch to “On”.

Once powered on, I followed the instructions in the User Guide for locating and setting the FM frequency. This step was pretty easy, but proved to be a pain point later on (I will elaborate on that further down). After the FM frequency was set, I proceeded with pairing my phone to the Bluetooth Internet Radio device per the User Guide. Anyone that has a smartphone has more than likely had to pair a Bluetooth device before, but the instructions are included and are simple and easy to follow in the event this is your first experience.

The last remaining hurdles required before I could begin using the kit was to create a Grooveshark account, install the Grooveshark app on my phone, and enable my account for Grooveshark Anywhere with the free 3 month Promo Code included with the kit (this premium subscription is $9.00/month after the 3 month period).

 

Functionality and testing:

For this portion, I chose to separate the functions and features that do not rely on Grooveshark vs. those that do.

• FM Transmitter:
• Per the user guide I followed the steps for having the device automatically scan for an unused FM frequency. Where this seemed to work ok, I was immediately disappointed in the amount of static that I could hear while listening to the streaming music. I repeated this step several times, and things just didn’t seem to be getting better. I continually got some level of static that made listening to my streaming music a very unpleasant experience. Just as I started to lose hope, I eventually found an unused FM frequency that was static free. My streaming music sounded wonderful, overall sound quality was clear and there was no discernible difference between standard radio and my streaming music. This is what I was hoping for and Livio Radio’s product didn’t disappoint. I do however think that the trouble initially locating a clear frequency illustrates an important point, that available FM frequencies will vary based on geographical location, and this may impact this product’s performance (which is not a problem unique to this product, but shared by all products that leverage FM transmitters).
• Hands-Free calling:
• Once paired with my smart phone, I was able to use the built in support for hands free calling. My particular vehicle does not have this functionality so it was a refreshing feature to have, and one I enjoy using when I drive my wife’s car that has this feature built in. Initiating, receiving, and ending calls is as easy as a click of a button, and the sound quality was acceptable and clear enough to have a conversation without anyone needing to repeat themselves. The microphone is located on the product itself, so its location in the vehicle may impact how clearly you are heard by the person you are speaking too. In my vehicle it is low on the center console, so not exactly close to me, and my voice was clearly received.

• USB Charging port:
• Nothing exciting to really report here, as this works as expected. However, I think this just speaks to the level of attention that Livio Radio took in designing the product.
• MP3 player support:
• Using the provided 3.5mm auxiliary cable, I attached my phone as a stand-alone MP3 player. I was able to play, pause, etc… the songs on my phone using the applicable buttons on the Livio Radio Bluetooth Internet Radio device. Everything worked as advertised, and met my expectations. However, when I tried to attach my iPod Nano, this combination did not work. Where I could hear the audio, none of the controls seemed to work in conjunction with the iPod Nano. Doing more research on this, it appears the fault lies on the iPod side as the Nano doesn’t natively support AVRCP, which is required for the control functions on the Livio Radio device to work with an attached device.
• Sound level:
• While using the product I noticed that there didn’t seem to be any sound leveling built in. I would be listening to streaming music and out of nowhere a song would be harder to hear, or when taking a call I would have to adjust the volume knob to hear the caller clearly. I am sure this is a by-product of the sound ultimately coming from different sources (or quality), but it would be nice if the product could normalize the sound levels in some way to avoid the user from having to manually adjust.
• Additional note:
• Although not a listed feature, a welcomed by-product of all audio from my phone being sent to the vehicle’s radio (via FM transmitter or Auxiliary cable), is that while using the GPS on my phone, the turn by turn voice prompts were easily heard over my vehicle’s radio.
• Grooveshark:
• The Grooveshark integration and support is very impressive on this product. After hitting the power switch on the product, the Grooveshark app on my phone automatically starts. All Grooveshark applicable buttons work as expected and I didn’t find myself missing anything, so I think Livio Radio covered all the bases. The integration was so well done, that the product made it extremely easy for me to enjoy Grooveshark’s full offerings (streaming music, playlists, radio stations, etc..) while in my vehicle. Which, if you are already a Grooveshark user are aware, adds a level of on demand music that most of us are not accustomed to having on the road.
• I do feel it’s important to mention, that without the Grooveshark Anywhere service (which this product comes with 3 months free), the Grooveshark features are noticeably limited. You will essentially only be able to listen to Radio stations (you can still create your own custom stations) and can skip up to 6 songs an hour.
• Data usage was one of my concerns going into this, as many cellular providers are imposing caps on data usage and I could see myself not even thinking about that cruising down the street. To measure the Grooveshark’s data usage, I used a free application called Traffic Monitor.   In a 20 minute period, the Grooveshark application showed a data usage of 38.64MB. This at least gives a ballpark of what to expect and I think even with today’s data caps, this shouldn’t pose an issue. Additionally, there is a setting within the Grooveshark app to default to lower bit rate songs if available, that can further reduce the data usage.

Conclusion:

At a list price of $99.00, the Grooveshark Bluetooth Car Kit by Livio Radio is on the high end with other bluetooth car kits currently on the market. However, it’s important to point out that we’re not comparing apples to apples, by comparing this kit to other Bluetooth kits currently available. This particular kit has more base features then most kits and with the added on-demand music experience delivered by Grooveshark, Livio Radio’s kit readily deserves its place atop the list of “must haves” for people who love music.