World's First Internet Car Radio
Written Jan. 5, 2009 by Tom Webster in Technology with 3 Comments
Courtesy of Gizmodo, Blaupunkt and MiRoamer have partnered on what they are billing as the world's first Internet car radio. The only hitch is that it requires 3G GSM service, which is far from universal, but if you live in an area with good 3G coverage, the day is looming when you'll have your choice of thousands of Internet radio stations to listen to on your commute.
Of course, it goes without saying that your station could be one of those streams, but here are some additional things to think about:
- Eliminate registrations, interstitials and any other kind of hoop or obstacle to a direct stream of your station. These will be rendered pretty useless on a device like this.
- Make the URL to your stream pretty damn simple--like stream.wxyz.com. Less text to enter means I will be more likely to enter it, if I have to tune the thing myself.
- Whether or not any of these show up in your town anytime soon, it is never too early to talk about the fact that "if you have an internet receiver in your car, be sure to tune it to stream.wxyz.com". Gives you something cool to talk about, and conditions your listeners to expect to hear your station online.
- Of course, there is no real added benefit to consumers accessing your exact stream on this thing rather than your AM/FM broadcast--so here is a great place to talk about all of those side channels!
And let's all wait for the telecom networks to start metering our 3G bandwidth!
Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
"so here is a great place to talk about all of those side channels!"
"CC Radio’s Format Lab gone?"
November 2008
"So bottom line, the Format Lab is no longer available on the web and has cut some of its formats down to the most successful/desirable. The www.iHeartMusic.com website seems to only list the main audio streams of CC stations--not multicast HD formats--but does offer a few off to the side: erockster; Pride; Verizon New Music; Smooth Jazz; Real Oldies; Slow Jams and New Country. There used to be something close to 100 formats listed on the site."
http://www.rbr.com/radio/11252.html
Yea, all 7 of them!
The white space being given up by TV stations, will be used for free/paid nation wide wireless web access. In 2009 they'll be a vote to move forward by the FCC and auction off spectrum.
That radio is just a little ahead of it's time, but manufactures see the future. The best part is radio's can be built with without licensing fees, like with iBiquity's HD scam..
I love the idea of the device, but I fear such devices becomming too popular will be its downfall; wireless networks simply could not handle it.
Not to mention the cellular subscription required would be more expensive than satellite radio, unless you want to juggle your SIM constantly or convince your cell provider to give you a second SIM, something they are unlikely to do if you are going to be a bandwidth hog.
I think there will be some future for mobile streaming media, but it will likely be your iPhone in a cradle on the dash, rather than a dedicated in device.