Had a Sony for 2 years. Hard to set up, poor instructions. Now (for no apparent reason) getting error message "Station not available" What does this mean? How can it be fixed? Do I throw the thing away?

On the plus side the styling is sleeker and more elegant than others currently available. The sound quality is acceptable and consistent. On the negative side, yes it is fiddly and time consuming to set up - worth trying it in the shop with the help of an assistant to see if the programming is within your level of tolerance. The really negative thing, that is not obvious in the shop or on-line, is the clock display - there very little contrast between the background and foreground and you need to be square on and up very close to it. It has three brightness settings but even on the lowest setting an eye mask is recommended at night. The minute digits are very close together and be confused. Overall as a clock it is not very functional. The radio has preset functions but it is not possible to toggle between one preset and another as the only way to get from one preset to another is to scan the list of stations to find your presets. This is exactly the same action as scanning for a station. Setting the alarm is such a fiddle that I have set my workday alarm but when I have a one off situation like an early morning flight I have resorted to using an old travel clock. Overall - the clock and alarm have limited use and the radio is basic.

As a bedside alarm clock it is hopeless. The buttons are on a surface that slants away from you, so to see them whilst lying in bed you have to lift and tilt the clock. When selecting any one of the four pre-set alarms you have to turn the alarm ON before you know what time it is set at - inconvenient. I am in an AEST zone but the clock randomly reverts to GMT on some evenings. That is, instead of displaying the correct AEST 2315 say, it displays 1315. It corrects itself sometime during the night as it is showing the correct time in the morning. Inconvenient if you have an alarm set to go off at say 2330. Like all small radios the reproduction through 2.5" speakers is very poor - so what if it is digital!