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iPod with a radio?

topic posted Tue, March 18, 2008 - 11:24 AM by  Andrew
iPod does videos and sounds, bakes cakes, changes diapers and save small starving children in Cambodia...but why no radio?
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Andrew
offline Andrew
SF Bay Area
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  • Tedward
    Tedward
    offline 468

    Re: iPod with a radio?

    Tue, March 18, 2008 - 11:49 PM
    The real answer is that the Pod was supposed to revolutionize the music industry. Instead of having music industry people tell you what songs you want to hear, in what order, and at what time, you get your own music, play it when and where you want.

    Instead of buying whole albums to get that one good song (you KNOW you've done it), you go to the iTunes Store and just buy that one song, at about 1/10th the price of a CD. Then, you plug it into your pod (or not) and listen to as much or as little as you want.

    So, when you're trying to change a whole industry, why make it easy to help maintain the same old system? You wouldn't. They didn't. But they didn't stop other people from adding FM transmitters and receivers that plug into the pod. It helps their partners, and it saves a few pennies on production costs that not everyone will want spent, and it makes their new plan for the music industry the ONLY default on their machines.

    That's why.
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    • hoco
      hoco
      offline 54

      Re: iPod with a radio?

      Wed, March 19, 2008 - 12:39 AM
      Interesting analysis, and probably spot-on for the music industry. But what about public radio (e.g. news and such). I suppose podcasts are the possible answer there, but one must be at their mac. The time delay in getting back to your mac to get a podcast downloaded and synced onto your iPod makes things like the local traffic report a bit... um, out of date, to say the least. And, well, only some shows have podcasts, and they often lag by hours or days... Yes, aftermarket FM receivers can fill that niche, but I still wish my 5G iPod had a real FM receiver in it.
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      • Tedward
        Tedward
        offline 468

        Re: iPod with a radio?

        Wed, March 19, 2008 - 12:53 PM
        Touché hoco...
        You're right, that imminent info and news will always be the domain of broadcast radio. However, every place that you're likely to need such info (ie the car, typically) comes standard with an FM receiver. Seriously, when was the last time you needed traffic info on a long walk? :o)

        NPR was one of the first adopters of the podcast. it's a considerably cheaper delivery method than radio and broadens the fan base. I've even given up satellite radio because my favorite channel was entirely podcasted.

        And now the iPhone, and to a more limited extent the iPod Touch, have internet access allowing more rapid podcast access, graphical traffic data, weather, newsfeeds, etc. I think maybe that was the long-term plan all along and by making Pods a non-broadcast device, it helped to push in that direction.

        And again, how many units has Griffin sold of it's FM receiver? Or apple with it's radio remote?
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        • hoco
          hoco
          offline 54

          Re: iPod with a radio?

          Wed, March 19, 2008 - 3:03 PM
          Yes, you make good points. If I want a traffic report I am usually in my car, which has a radio. Occasionally I am contemplating whether to get on the road and would like a traffic report before leaving my location and finding my car. But, if I had an iPhone I could get an instantaneous report from google or other sources... so, that specific example I gave isn't so good. I don't have an iPhone, but if traffic reports were important enough to me, I'd get one I suppose.

          I think flash is coming to the iphone and the touch -- adobe is working on providing the missing middleware I hear, and once it is available, I think apple will want to support flash because not to do so would be a disincentive to buy the iPhone. People will demand it. Once that is there, people can stream radio to their iPhone, and the whole fm receiver question will become moot.
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