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iPod Radio – Well Maybe
By: John A Thomas
Apple recently announced the release of the iPod Radio
Remote. This little accessory combines a wired remote
control with a FM radio receiver. It works with the iPod
nano and the most recent generation (fifth) of iPods.
The iPod Radio Remote is a convenient way for music
lovers to control their iPod and add FM radio for a
reasonable price point. Using the remote, you can skip
tracks and adjust the volume of your iPod even when it’s
in a pocket or backpack. It’s main feature - lets you
and listen to FM radio stations while it displays
station and song information on the iPod’s screen.
“The iPod Radio Remote combines two great features in
one elegant product,” Greg Joswiak, Apple’s iPod
Marketing guy said recently. “The iPod Radio Remote is
both the best remote control and the best FM radio
listening experience for iPod.”
If you search the Apple iPod store online, you will also
find a couple of competitors that launched similar
products ahead of Apple. But I must admit, the Apple
Radio Remote is a cleaner package. If you live in the
city and get good FM reception, this is a nice little
add-on. If you live in the burbs and are looking for
great sound - similar to the quality that you get from
your iPod, then forget about the iPod Radio Remote. Why,
because it is like any other small FM radio, it needs a
strong signal to give you decent sound.
But don’t give up, there is quite a lot happening in the
real time audio market and you will have more choices in
the coming months.
There were several rumors in 2005 about Apple and
satellite radio for instance. \"The iPod is the biggest,
baddest thing around and satellite radio is this small,
cool device,\" said Steve Mather, an analyst with Sander
Morris Harris. \"Put them together and it\'s the
ultimate.\"
But there has been no evidence that such a dream machine
is in the works. Earlier this year, Sirius Satellite
Radio CEO Mel Karmazin said he had approached Steve
Jobs, the chief of iPod maker Apple Computer, about a
possible deal but said Jobs wasn\'t interested.
Sirius didn’t sit on its butt. They created their first
portable device called the S50, a small, sleek device
used with a docking port in your car. It is like a TiVo
for radio. It automatically stores music for later
listening. You can schedule recordings from both music
and talk stations (with a firmware upgrade), save
favorite songs, and link up to a PC to load music files.
But… you can\'t see the song list for recorded music.
The S50 is available only with a car kit and the
controls are hard to use.
Not to be left out, XM recently unveiled a new satellite
radio for spring ‘06. Like their initial radio, the new
receiver will pick up satellite signals as you are
walking around outside. No docking station is needed,
which is a huge advantage over the Sirius S50. It also
has 1 gigabyte of memory so that you can record 50 hours
of radio play. Out doing the S50 - there are no
restrictions on how or what you can record. In fact, XM
has made it even easier to capture individual songs.
The new XM player also provides a \"tag\" feature that
let’s you immediately purchase any song you hear from
Napster\'s online store. When you reconnect the player
to your computer, you can get those MP3\'s that you just
purchased to create a mix of MP3\'s and radio content on
the player.
XM now appears to be ahead of Sirius and Apple in the
radio wars. To prove it they announced the XM Passport,
a small card that can be plugged in and out of future XM
enabled devices. With the passport card, you need only
buy one subscription to XM radio to power a number of
satellite receivers; just plug in your passport card.
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