For a clock that glows like E.T.'s finger, look here.

At Target the other day, I bought the Memorex iWake MI4004 Clock Radio on a whim. I paid $79.99 for it. I had read some negative reviews on iHome’s clock radio, so I picked this one. Besides, the clock radio this was replacing I had had since 4th grade, so that was 1990- so you do the math on how old that is- it had a cassette player, and the plastic was yellowed out. So, what the heck might as well buy something that I can charge my ipod with and not have to use my computer anymore, right?

What is it?

This is an alarm clock where you can have two separate alarms go off, but you can choose to wake to a buzz, your ipod, or the AM/FM radio- and oh yeah, it charges your ipod on the docking part on the top too- but if you don’t have an ipod, you can charge your Mp3 player (or another ipod, if you happen to have 2) via a cable and a port on the back (the cable is not included.) The color I have is white, but I think there is also a black one available. It measures 10.0" x 4.8" x 2.6". It is compatible with the following ipods (a list from the website):

Ipod nano (2nd Generation)
ipod video (5th Generation)
ipod nano
ipod photo / U2
ipod / U2 with Click Wheel (4th Generation)
ipod mini

Of course, if you don’t have an ipod, have no fear, you can charge your own Mp3 via a port in the back, but the cable to do this is not included.

The buttons:

When I first whipped this out of the box, I said, where are all the buttons? All I saw was the snooze button, which is silver, long, and slightly raised and at the front of the unit. All the other buttons are like that of microwave ovens, as in they are not raised at all. The recessed buttons are:

Tune up/down/skip buttons
Volume up/down buttons
Power button
Line in/mode button
Time Set
Hour button
Minute button
Alarm 1 & 2 set buttons
Alarm 1 & 2 buttons

Sure, the recessed buttons were fine for the alarm setting buttons, and tuner buttons, but for volume, I’d rather have a knob.

More about it:

The clock radio came with all these ipod adapters, but for our 2 ipod 2nd generation nanos, we had to use the adapter that came with our players, which one was already lost, but I happened to have the other one in a drawer, thank goodness. Just stick in an adapter in the top, and insert your ipod. Be sure you are in the ipod mode (by clicking the mode button on the top of the radio- it took me the longest time to figure out why it would not work through the radio, but then I realized I was on tuner mode) so you can hear ipod through your clock’s speakers. If you don’t have an Mp3 player docked, but hooked to the port on the back, you have to select line in to hear it through the clock.

This runs on AC power, and has a 3 prong plug (which I had to have an AC adapter for, because the outlets in our bedroom only have 2 slots for some reason). The plug is rather big, like those of computer printers, and since I have an AC adapter on mine, it sticks out rather far from the plug, and I have to watch out to not let the bed knock it out of the socket. Also, you could run this clock off 2 AAA batteries, but to me, it seems to make more sense to run it off electricity. I use the AAA batteries as a back up method for when the power goes out. The only thing when you use electricity, the LCD backlight will always be on. There is a switch on the back where you can switch it from high to low, but even on low it is glowing like E.T.’s finger- it’s driving me crazy at night- to the point I stick a shirt over the clock at night while sleeping.

Also, you have the option of listening to this clock with headphones; there is a headphone jack on the back, right beside the Line in jack where you can plug in another Mp3 player to charge it. There is also a Daylight savings time switch, which you switch to +1 or -1 to keep up with the time change, and the clock will either go forward or back one hour. Nice feature, sure a heck of a lot better than regular alarm clocks where you have to push the hour button 900 times to go all the way back around. There is also a small FM wire antenna in the back as well.

This clock radio also comes with a remote, which I really don’t need, but for some of you out there that want to listen to your ipod in your bedroom may need this. It is very small, and just has a play/pause button, skip, volume buttons, and mode (which can switch you to radio, ipod, or line in). There is also a belt clip on the back of the remote as well.

Setting the alarms, clock, what you want to wake up to:

Setting the clock’s time is easy- it’s just like setting it on a regular alarm clock- you hit time set button, and the display will blink, and you just hit hour or minute buttons and then punch them until you’ve got things set up right. Then hit the time set button again to set it, or wait 5 seconds and the time will be set.

Alarms:

Now, as I mentioned earlier, you have 2 alarms you can set for different times. Me, I just use one and hit snooze for 30 minutes. Now, to set alarm 1 for example, hit the alarm 1 set button, and then enter the time just as you set the time on the alarm. Now, you have the choice to wake up to your ipod, AM/FM radio, or buzz. To set this, press the alarm 1 button and you will see in the display which one you will be waking to, for example if you want ipod, hit the alarm 1 button until you see it on the display. This is also how you turn the alarm off, hit it until you no longer see the word ‘alarm 1 or 2’ in the display. Be sure when you select radio, to have your tuner set to a station by hitting the tuner buttons.

May I mention here that when the alarm does go off, it is a gradual alarm; in that it starts off low and increases gradually volume wise. Pretty nice feature, all I have ever known is blaring, and it would scare me so bad that I could not get back to sleep if I wanted to.

Snooze:

Me, I have my alarm set for about 30 minutes before I actually get up, so I can wake up gradually- I just hit the snooze button. Here, you can choose how long you snooze. If you only press the snooze once, it will go off in 10 minutes, you will see a 10 on the display and then it will return to the regular display- but you can hit the snooze button more and it will add 5 minutes for each time you push it- up to 60 minutes.

Experience:

Well, overall this is ok. It did take me forever to figure out I had to be in ipod mode to get my ipod to play through the speakers, but I did not read the directions. But, another thing I found out is that the power button needs to be pressed to on before connecting your ipod in order for it to play through the clock- and that is not something stated in the directions. The directions say that if you dock the ipod it will automatically cut on- but I never got mine to do that.

Sound wise, it sounds pretty good- a whole lot better than what I expected- I don’t experience any fuzz or static while playing my ipod. The radio tuner is also pretty good, but does not pick up as many stations as I would like. But, I keep it on my local radio station, which is just down the street from me, so the connection is very strong. Oh yes, and it charges my ipod, which was probably one of the main reasons I bought this- and the other one being I could play my ipod through speakers.

The main qualm I have with this is that the LCD is too bright! I have it on low, but the light is still too bright! I hate that when you have it plugged in it makes the LCD light stay on. What a dumb idea. It’s not that bad in the day and early evening and morning, but when it is completely dark outside, it is like a nightlight in my bedroom- and I’m one who likes it rather dark. So, every night before bed, I’m sticking a shirt over the clock. I wish I could figure out a way to fix it- I thought about sticking car window tint on the front. The other qualm I have is the buttons being recessed, but that’s not all that bad- I can work them easily.

Would I buy this again if I had it to do all over again? Nope. Sure it is attractive, and it does not take up all that much room, and it has good sound, but the LCD glowing is driving me nuts, and for some reason my ipod won’t be automatically detected by the clock and I have to manually turn it on. Could be better for the price.