Brennan BB1 32G 10,000 Track Capacity, Video, Bluetooth, Internet Radio, Web UI

Where do I start in telling you how much this sucks? Well, I’ll start with the positives. There are three great things about this radio: Design/build quality, Speaker, and the fact that it uses AA batteries. The design is really nice. Very nice wood trim. It has an aluminum back with a nice clothed front. Very nice indeed. The sound is superb. While not audiophile quality, it’s better than most radios in this size category. It has a nice deep sound with just the right amount of bass. The sound could use a little more detail, though. The other positive is the fact that it runs on AA batteries! This is super convenient and I think it’s the best feature. That’s where it ends. Nothing else about this radio is good and it’s the reason I only gave it 1 star. This radio is super buggy. Not sure if it’s software or a hardware issue. Whatever it is, it has that pre-production beta feel to it. I truly believe this model was rushed into production. Reading USB drives was mostly a miss. Out of the 5 drives I have, it only read 1. It only read it, though. It was able to scan music files, but unable to load them. So, in other words, I was unable to transfer my music files from any of my USB drives. Yes, they are correctly formatted. I was under the impression I was able to scan Internet radio stations from the unit itself. Nope. You can only listen to radio stations you have set in the presets by using your web browser. So, you have to scan through 40,000 stations and load the ones you like one by one. Plus, you’re only limited to the memory presets. So, choose wisely. Then there’s the app. It’s completely useless. Brennan support staff even admitted that to me. More on that later. So, that only leaves you with the web browser as your only option. And let me tell you, it is clunky as hell. It kept freezing and simply wouldn’t work most of the time. I was able to save a couple of stations, but then they all got erased when I changed batteries. A real nightmare to use. Saving Youtube videos worked 50% of the time. For some reason, some videos would play, but would not save to memory. Customer support sucks. I contacted them through email. They took a couple of days to reply. When they did, it wasn’t much help. Everything they told me to do, I had already done. They basically told me to operate it via the web browser instead of the app. It’s crazy how they themselves know their app sucks but they don’t do anything about it.I really wanted to like this radio. I gave it my best shot to get it to work. Brennan, come out with a improved version and I’ll buy it, as long as you keep the AA battery feature. For now, please go back to the drawing board. I know you can do better than this piece of turd.

The BB1 does a good job playing my library of MP3s and streaming internet stations. I like the built in speaker. I do not need headphones and it is portable. I will probably use this in my camper next year. The batteries could be improved in that they do not charge when the unit is powered from the usb-c connector. I also ripped some music using an external CD player. It works, but the compression to MP3 is very slow. It is much faster for me to rip on a desktop and transfer the files using USB. So in summary, the bb1 worked as advertised as a portable music player. If you want a stand alone CD ripper with stereo outputs, I would go with the B2.

The sound clearly fills a whole room. My collection is part digitized (PC stored and played through MediaMonkey) and more on CD's. I don't stream. There are multiple ways to move your music onto the BB1. I used the PC. My 32GB storage capacity is only 1/3 filled with 2000 selections in 130 albums. I can play by Artist, Album, song, or random. It has so many capabilities but doesn't come with much instructions so there is a learning curve to get them all. There are more instructions on the Brennan website. Some of the instructions for the B2 also apply to the BB1. I hear that online support is excellent. Would suggest that they make it easier to expand to a larger microchip (allows up to 400GB) by adding a little door. Would also like to see more audio types (WMA?).

The first thing you should know is that the microSD card is replaceable. Mine now has 400GB of space. I use both my computer and my phone as remote control devices. I have my whole music collection in my pocket! Using a DAC to feed the signal to an outside amp and speakers worked beautifully. Ripping a CD directly into memory was a snap. And best of all, the tech support is stellar! I sent email asking about increasing size of memory, and received a reply, from England, within a day. The same assistant, Paul, corresponded with me 5 or 6 times to make sure everything was right. I love this machine! If you have trouble figuring out how to use it, write to them. They won't let you down.

Like a giant iPod with more features. Enjoying it.More than a little complicated to get set up and the instruction manual download could be better, but got it working well after some effort. Customer service responded quickly to my inquiry.Would have liked an earphone jack rather than needing a dac but working out well, so far.Recommended!

The problems I was having when connecting to the BB1 via a browser were caused by my local network. I was using and ASUS RT88U as my router plus an ASUS EXTENDER. The Wi-Fi support on the extender was interfering with the router, causing connection failures.After getting advice from Brennan tech support, I have now replaced the extender with an ASUS AI Mesh node and everything now works perfectly.The BB1 is a World Leader in its product space, and their tech support is fabulous.The FLAC to MP3 compression feature is a bit slow, but it works flawlessly.I have been able to compress some video concerts, using DVDfab, to MP4 and once loaded onto the BB1 they pay very well.So no complaints. Well done BRENNAN!

I have had a Brennan B2 for years and love it as it freed my music from iTunes and allowed me to collect and control playback and playlists from a web interface. Now, with the Brennan BB1 I have all my music and playlists in a portable battery operated device just 7 x 4 x 1.5 inches that weighs just 1 lb. 4 oz. and the sound is incredible, full stereo with good bass, and I can take it anywhere - and best of all it has a 3" x 2" color screen for menus, music selection AND it plays YouTube videos...THANK YOU BRENNAN, this is everything I wanted you to make and it is amazing! Great price too!