The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2026
Atonemo gives NTS Radio a tactile, screen-free Wi-Fi player with big channel buttons
Swedish brand Atonemo turned NTS Radio into a chunky Wi-Fi streamer with big channel buttons and a genre wheel, so listening needs no phone screen.
Atonemo
What it had to solve
Two decades of tech convergence collapsed music players, cameras and notebooks into one smartphone that does everything and no one thing particularly well, while the attention economy left many users feeling addicted and out of control. It's Nice That's 2026 Good Screens report argues a 'device divergence' movement is quietly growing — Gen Z is embracing single-purpose objects — and that smaller brands can meet the moment with hardware that is as charismatic as it is functional. Swedish brand Atonemo, which first made the Streamplayer to bring Wi-Fi audio to vintage hi-fi, set out to do that for radio.
How it works
It's Nice That's 2026 Good Screens report argues that two decades of convergence — from early Nokias and BlackBerrys through the iPhone — turned music players, cameras, calendars and notebooks into one device that does everything and no one thing particularly well. As users report feeling addicted and out of control with screen time, a quieter 'device divergence' movement has grown at the fringes of consumer technology, especially among Gen Z.
Into that moment came Atonemo, a Swedish brand that first made the Streamplayer to bring Wi-Fi streaming to vintage amplifiers and speakers. Its follow-up, the NTS Radio Player, is a small box that plugs into any amp or active speaker and gives NTS Radio a physical home: big press-friendly buttons for Channel 1 and Channel 2, a wheel of gleeful genre icons and a volume knob, with no screen or playlist to manage.
Atonemo describes the player as a direct line to NTS Radio. Setup takes about 60 seconds, after which listeners can tune into either live channel or any of 16 'Infinite Mixtapes'; AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect also work through the same box for phone-streamed music. The point of the device is that listening to the radio no longer requires picking up the phone.
It's Nice That singles the player out as the recent example of what the moment opens up for smaller tech brands, blending the analogue and the digital. The brand's own store reports thousands sold and a sold-out first production run, with a second batch scheduled for mid-September 2026.
Why it lands
- The device answers the design problem the report names — one all-purpose phone is fine at everything and great at nothing — by making radio a dedicated, tactile object again.
- Physical controls beat screen time: a button for NTS Channel 1 or 2 and a wheel of genre icons let the listener choose music without facing notifications or feeds.
- It pairs nostalgia with new form factors at once, reviving the radio as an object while adding Wi-Fi streaming and hi-res audio, matching the divergence Gen Z is embracing.
- The box plugs into speakers people already own, so the screen-free idea needs no new gadget ecosystem to work.
What it did
It's Nice That held the player up as the leading recent example of the device-divergence wave: hardware that blends the analogue and the digital, letting listeners reach streamed music without interacting with a phone screen. Atonemo's store reports that thousands of NTS Radio Players have been sold, that the first production run sold out, and that a second batch was scheduled to ship in mid-September 2026.
What you can take
Against an all-purpose smartphone, a focused object wins by being a pleasure to use: physical controls and a joyful face make one function worth reaching for again.
Since then
The NTS Radio Player appeared in It's Nice That's 2026 Good Screens report as evidence that hardware can be as charismatic as it is functional, part of a wider wave that also includes calm-tech devices such as the Light Phone, Brick and reMarkable. Atonemo's store reports that the first production run sold out, with a second batch scheduled to ship in mid-September 2026. The report's author cautions that hardware choices mean little unless brands also address the attention economy behind them, which leaves the door open for devices like Atonemo's to keep growing.
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