Pure Digital Radios Withdrawing Internet Radio (Pure Connect) Support

mdfarrimond

I own a Pure Evoke Flow and a Pure Avanti Flow digital radio both of which I purchased in the past 10 years.  Both these devices are combined Digital Radio (DAB) and internet radio. Both radios were sold by Pure as premium products, the Avanti cost nearly £300 at the time.   Till recently I have been very happy with the service provided by these radios.
The internet radio capability is an important feature to me because, as a dual Australian / British citizen, I like to catch-up on events in Australia and my Irish wife likes to catch-up on news from Ireland.  Also, the Evoke radio travels with me to Australia so I can keep in touch the UK news when I'm over there.
However, on recently contacting Pure's customer service they advised me that they were longer going to be supporting the platform (Pure Connect) that provides the internet radio services for these devices by not adding new stations as they become available (for example they have refused to add the recently launched Times Radio).  Withdrawing this support effectively means that the internet radio capabilities of these radios will become obsolete, so they are effectively destining the internet radio capabilities of these radios to a slow death.
Although the radios are long out of warranty, it strikes me of being highly unethical to effectively cease to support the platform that enables a key feature of these radios.  As these radios were marketed as premium products, it would seem reasonable that they would have a lifetime well in excess of their current age, and highly unreasonable for the manufacturer to unilaterally decide to no longer provide this key service when the radios are otherwise fully serviceable.
Are there others out there who are similarly annoyed by this action from Pure and come up against a "brick wall" like this.  Is there any implied "contractual obligation" on Pure to support the platform given that no warning was provided at time of sale that they could, at some stage in the future, decide to not provide the service any longer?

Neil_Jones

This is surely no different to what happens with Smart TVs when the on-demand services are no longer supported on those TVs?

There will almost certainly be somewhere in the T&Cs for the service that the provider can pull it at any time.

Anyway Pure Connect has been half nobbled since 2017, this is probably just the other half:

https://support-uk.pure.com/en/kb/articles/important-update-from-12th-june-pure-connect-will-only-be-accessible-via-android-and-ios-apps

CoastingHatbox

Sadly, this is alway the risk taken with proprietary devices relying on proprietary services. I appreciate that isn't going to give you any comfort, but for anyone else reading this, when considering a product that relies on a service for its full functionality, you need to ask yourself the question: How useful will this product be if the service(s) it relies on are discontinued? Perhaps also consider/look for alternatives that rely on open standards and use open source software. Or in the case of a device like this, at least supports bluetooth for streaming from other devices?

Do these radios have an auxilliary/bluetooth input? Would that allow you to listen to your internet stations via, for example, a smart phone?

RumRat

They are probably discontinuing as their product is a bit yesterday.
You can achieve the same service on a Google Home/Nest speaker for much less money. 
See this to get some idea...How to stream live Australian radio if you live in the UK - RadioApp
Another App... Radio Australia: Online Radio & FM Radio App - Apps on Google Play

bodsj

Just download Radio Garden App to your phone, leave the old "Pure" devices at home and save money on luggage?

Norman_Castle

I've got a Pure Avanti Flow and had the same problem in 2017 when access was restricted to ios and android. It is annoying, part of the high price should be to support the online service for the lifetime of the product however as these expensive radios fail very quickly the support might be matching their lifetime. Mine had a failed oled screen, common problem generally failing after 5 years, the only replacements are hard to find and appear to be production remnants which also have a limited lifespan. My radio also failed to produce any sound completely but started to work again when tried months later but is now stuck on Radio 2 with only the power and volume buttons working, again a common problem.

I've got cheap and expensive radios and various hi fi separates which are decades old and still working well. The Avanti has really good sound quality but I wouldn't buy another Pure radio due to the multiple failures.