Retro style radio

My dad has just very generously got me a belated birthday present of a digital radio / iPod dock (my old, not very good, nor very beautiful one was on its last legs already before the roof leaked and finished it off a few months ago).

Having had a bit of an ugly beast of a predecessor, and one that was badly made, I wanted to get something beautiful that would last for many years. Here it is...

It is a Revo Heritage, and I fell for its walnut/aluminium charms, reminiscent of the 1970s and retro-looking without a whiff of twee. It also goes quite well with my kitchen cupboards, I thought. The radio is pretty large and sounds incredible, and has an iPod dock as well as internet radio too. It should have been nearly double what was paid for it (Tesco sell it for around the average RRP of £229). But I checked eBay, to find a few shops selling manufacturer-approved, under-warranty, refurbished ones – for around £100 less than that. We got mine from the Revo Outlet Store for around £130. But it took a lot of searching to find it. Here are some of the ones I nearly chose...

I have written here before about my love of old-school technology, aesthetically, at least – and love the way radios used to look. So I started researching the obvious contenders such as Roberts, who do DAB versions of their classic, leather-clad beauties. But my kitchen is more 70s than Cath Kidston and none of them were quite right – until I found this...

Roberts Vintage Portable RRP £130 – or from around £96 on Amazon. I love the look of this and like the carry strap and battery charge, but realised I would probably never move it from the same spot in the kitchen so didn't need that. Also, there is no iPod dock (but you can plug one in, or any other MP3 type device, with a mini jack lead).

On the iPod dock front, the Roberts versions of those don't look very Roberts-y, and are all a much more futuristic shape, although the Roberts Sound 100 (above) has the look of an old-school radio alarm clock, which I like. And it isn't cheap (£249 from John Lewis); besides, I wanted something that looked like a radio.

A friend was hankering after a radio she'd seen in another friend's house, by a company called Viewquest, which I also checked out and nearly went for. I like how the iPod dock pops out at the front, and it has a hint of Roberts-y styling about it, and comes in lots of different colours. If I hadn't found the Revo, I may have gone for one of these. They have been well-reviewed, too. You can find them on Amazon starting at around £67.

If I could have found any of the Genus Type R radios (above), which allow iPods and other MP3s to be attached with a mini-jack, for sale anywhere I would have gone for it. Isn't it a stunner? However, I was too impatient to pursue it after half an hour's Googling offered me nothing... It is around £150 – if you can find one.

The other nearly-bought, was this Sony (above), which again starts at around £67. You can trust a Sony to last long and sound good, I figured. And this one looked the part (though I'm happier with my moody walnut over this sunny birch). But there is no facility – even with a mini-jack – to plug in an iPod and though I rarely do that, it's the sort of thing I know I'd suddenly want to do all the time if I got one that didn't let me. One should always be ready for a kitchen disco...