When The Music Hits: gramofon by Fon (A Review)
Just about a month ago I received an e-mail from Spotify with the subject line “A Token of Our Appreciation”. I opened it and found that they wanted to thank me for the amount of listening and sharing I do by sending me a free gramofon.
Anyone who knows a little about Spotify knows that they are based in the U.K. and e-mails from overseas have a different “feel” to them (at least to me), so while looking at and reading the e-mail I though it had a “spam/phishing” vibe to it so I was a bit skeptical, especially since it was asking for an e-mail address and a shipping address. It didn’t ask for credit card info so that made me feel a little better. I did a little bit of searching and found that this was actually a device that came to life via Kickstarter by the company Fon and Spotify decided to give some away. Fucking A. I entered my info and was told I would receive a code for my free gramofon within 48 hrs, which I did, after applying the code I was then told that I would receive it within 5-10 business days. Which I did and it came in the nice little box you see below.
I opened it up to find the following contents: gramofon, power cord, 3.5 mm to RCA connector, ethernet cable (it is also WiFi ready), quick guide, and users guide as seen here.
After downloading the free Fon Utility app (a necessary and free app) setup of the device couldn’t be much simpler. The only issue I ran into, because I’m a man and I don’t read instructions until I absolutely have to, was that when it asked for the Wi-Fi password it was asking for the code on the device and not the password to my Wi-Fi network. Once I input that information it asked if I wanted to allow the device to clone my network (essentially acting as a extender or access point) or create it’s own. I decided on cloning which from the little tinkering I did seems to be the better option.
The next step was to load the Spotify app and connect to the device using the Connect feature which it did almost immediately. Once I did that I was able to listen to anything Spotify has to offer through my home theater system, which is awesome. I’ve actually been wanting a device like this for some time and have had my eye on the Sonos Connect but the $350 price tag (which is $100 higher than the last time I looked) had me holding off. Granted it is a much more developed device but for what I want the gramofon is much more practical and economical (only $69) Currently the device does require a Spotify Premium Subscription ($9.99/mo) but more music apps are promised in early 2015.
I really like the fact that you don’t have to connect to a receiver and can use anything that connects with a 3.5 mm jack like a regular set of headphones or even PC Speakers. After using the device (over WiFi) for a couple of weeks I am very pleased. I have had no connection issues, no lag, and it feels seamless when I switch between playing music on the device and my phone. The next step will be to see how friends can connect when they come over and we play DJ Roulette. If you’re in the market for a device that adds music streaming to your home and don’t have the money for a premium device I believe this is the device for you and you can purchase your very own here.