This week our road test ranged East and with great success. The main test was an epic road trip down Interstate 95 from New York to Washington DC via New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Below are the results. (...)Internet radio in the car is definitely a reality. Now we just need to let people know!»
4.1 No carro
O iPhone revoluciona a forma de ouvir rádio?
«The new Apple 3G iPhone has received a lot of attention, but the more important story isn't the new hardware, but Apple's application store and the many programs that run on the new phone.
Thanks to a few of those programs there's an even larger story - the iPhone may fundamentally change the way people listen to the radio when they're in their cars or otherwise on the go.
Two free applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and another program that costs only $4.99, make it possible to listen to live radio on the iPhone from anywhere, including a moving car.
(...) with the iPhone you can listen to stations from around the world, including some that broadcast only on the Internet and don't even have transmitters.
Over time, this could be as disruptive to the radio broadcast industry as the Web has been to print. (...) it does mean they will face competition from new players, including startups operating from peoples' spare rooms.
There are at least three "live radio" software applications available, not only for the new iPhone, but for the older iPhone and the iPod Touch that have been updated with Apple's new 2.0 software (free for iPhone users and $10 for iPod Touch users). Two of the programs: AOL Radio and Pandora are free while Tuner costs $4.99.
AOL Radio "Powered by CBS Radio" allows you to listen to more than 150 CBS music, news, talk and sports stations across the United States, as well as customized stations created specifically for online listening. By default, it uses the iPhone or iPod Touch's location awareness capabilities to play stations in your area, but you can also use it for out-of-town stations»
fonte: MAGID Larry, Can The New iPhone Revolutionize Radio?, CBSnews.com 28/07/08
O controlo no carro
When WiMax begins making its way into other manufacturers' vehicles, the public won't be searching for favorite stations while driving. A favorite station will already have been selected via laptop or desktop, and then entered into the in-car unit to add to the few dozen pre-loaded stations lucky enough to make that pre-installed list.
DARDIS, Ken, «How many radio stations does one person need?», Audiographics, 07/07/08 [http://www.audiographics.com/agd/070708-1.htm]
A rádio apanhada desprevenida
«Some of the founding fathers of consolidation truly believe satellite radio is their competition.
They are slow to embrace the Internet.
Have no plan to get into the mobile content business.
They are in deep denial that HD Radio will actually matter let alone make a difference.
They have become prisoners of Wall Street's slash 'em and trash 'em strategy of ruining good assets run by exceptional people just to deliver what investors want in the short term.
(...) WiFi on Wheels will prove to be radio's worst nightmare.
Ironically, the only thing more outdated than a tower and transmitter is the CEO who controls the tower and transmitter.
(...) To compete with thousands of new streams increasingly available on WiFi, terrestrial radio is going to have to get better. Fast.»
Colliano, iNside Music media, WiFi on Wheels -- Radio's Worst Nightmare 2/07/08
O que fazer para 'combater' a net nos carros
«the WiMax car radio of the future that would make every station stream in the world available to motorists. (...) So what then can radio as a whole do to take control of the Infinite Dial?
1) Radio, as an industry, must assert itself into any dialogue now taking place on the architecture of the WiMax car radio of the future or any of the devices that precede it to ensure both ease of use and representation of as many voices as possible. 2) Radio, as an industry, needs to redirect the effort that has gone into interesting Detroit in HD Radio into selling the value of 12,000 stations with an established listener base -- not merely a less developed handful of "stations between the stations."
3) Radio is already in the business of providing news, traffic, weather, and (in the case of most Rock radio websites) adult content. If streaming audio is going to be one of multiple applications offered by an in-car or tabletop device, radio should be offering one-stop-shopping. The only thing wrong with the multi-group initiative to offer traffic through HD Radio is its apparently limited scope.
4) To that effect, more broadcasters need to stay in the business of providing other services. Broadcasters' willingness to let news, traffic and weather come through a relatively small number of pipes has given the advantage to the major groups to whom broadcasters already handed those functions on a local level.
5) Part of the job of every marketing director in radio should today become the on-line presentation and search optimization of their stream. Radio people know that Chicago's Jack-FM rocks harder and L.A.'s Jack-FM plays more '80s alternative. Nothing on the good-looking CBS Play.It tuner would yet convey that to a listener.
6) Part of the job of every program director must be honing a station into a franchise that has a reason to exist among thousands of others. Broadcasters cannot count indefinitely on the affinity that listeners currently show to their local stations, even on-line. (That said, the franchise for a station among thousands of others may indeed lie in being "New Jersey 101.5" for their market, and broadcasters who want to own that franchise must now reassert their sense-of-place among hours of jockless content and syndicated shows that may not even be available on their own stream.)
fonte: Taking Control Of The Infinite Dial, Sean Ross, Edison Media Research Junho 08
Carros da Chrysler terão acesso à net
«the consequences for the radio industry - both good and bad - are profound. There are at least five critical issues facing radio as a result of this unambiguous trend (and I'll consider these more thoroughly after I get a peek at the Chrysler system): First, an Internet enabled car will have an all-new user interface which may substitute for the radio. Will this interface provide one-button access to what used to be a separate radio? Or will it be installed above the radio and have nothing to do with it? (If I were designing it, it would be the former). If this new interface replaces the radio unit (while not eliminating radio reception) then automakers have essentially turned a radio into an entertainment tool where at least some of the driver's time will be spent off the radio dial (so to speak) and outside the advertising universe under the control of the radio industry. (...) Second, the fact that your station streams (and it does, doesn't it?) does not mean it will be easily accessed on these new systems. Just as low channels on Cable systems are prime positions with larger audiences, so will there be premium placement on these new Internet entertainment systems. Who, for example, is likely to strike a better deal with the Chrysler's of the world, your station, your group, or AOL Radio (and their friends at CBS), Slacker, Pandora, AccuRadio, and their kind? Third, what does it mean to be "radio" in a world where audio is fully integrated into an experience that includes video, text, interactivity, and personalization? The attraction to these services will not only be that they're supplemental to radio, but that they expand the definition of radio. And that expansion will benefit only those broadcasters and their partners smart enough to recognize that the advantage of a broadcast tower is non-existent in this context. Fourth, that tiny whimper you just heard was the final gasp of HD Radio. Time to move on to the real challenges, radio. Fifth, why do I want a satellite radio when an Internet-enabled device offers so much more?»
«According to Keefe Leung, a Chrysler engineer for this initiative, "There are no limitations in content." That's a quote that should be posted in cubicles and offices throughout our industry. The excuses for not streaming or for offering a substandard stream are coming to a swift end. Radio is in a great position to brand and market its streams because as mobile WiFi becomes as ubiquitous as wireless laptops, there will be no limits on access. The best known brands in local markets - KLOS, KBCO, WRIF, WMMR, KQRS - will have a decided edge. But only if radio realizes what's at stake and steps up. (Fred Jacobs)
Mais de metade dos que têm iPods ligam-nos aos (seus) carros
Our Tech Poll clearly shows the impact that iPods are having on the driving experience. While iPod ownership continues to soar, more than half of these consumers say they can connect these devices into their cars. It's more proof that radio continues to fight a difficult "location war," especially in its long-time bastion - the car.
*Among iPod Owners
fonte: «iPods & Cars», FRED JACOBS, Jacoblog, 13/06/08
Alguém compraria um carro sem rádio?
Sinal de que é importnate
Mas antes seria impensavel; agora já começaria a ser possivel
«Um rádio com quatro rodas»?
22% dizem que ouviram rádio na net no carro
«(...)Asked what kind of equipment they'd be likely use to listen to Internet radio, 83 percent of respondents said a home computer, and 43 percent said a computer at work. Thirty-eight percent said they'd use a cell phone or mobile device, while 22 percent said they'd use an Internet connection in their vehicle. (Percentages add up to more than 100 because respondents could list more than one device.)»
Radio Ink,, 9/04/08
Carro ameaçado (quem compra quer ligação a mp3)
«The car has always been an important center of media consumption. In the next vehicle they buy or purchase, the most important tech item (besides an AM/FM radio and CD player) is the ability to connect an iPod or mp3 player (34%). This desire, coupled with rapidly growing iPod ownership, has important implications for the radio industry. GPS is mentioned by nearly one-fifth (19%), followed by a DVD player and HD Radio (both with 13%), satellite radio (12%), and Sync (7%)»
«TechSurvey 2008», Jacobs Media, Março 2008
Um carro com acesso directo à internet
«Remember when I said internet in your car may come sooner than you think? Well guess what, Chrysler is saying it will be the first car company to provide in-car Internet access - availability will come later this year.
The third-largest U.S. automaker will have the capability added to existing vehicles by dealers beginning this year, and later will be factory-installed on the assembly line.
The Washington Post is reporting that Chrysler will use a cellular signal and a mobile phone account to give passengers access to the web.
"We want to make the radio itself a WiFi port," said Frank Klegon, Chrysler's product development chief.» (Orbicast)
Mark Ramsey: «"The radio" is a technology device which will transform according to the capabilities of technology, assuming those capabilities are consumer-based. There is no necessity that any of these capabilities will have anything whatsoever to do with your station. Instead, these capabilities will be driven by the desire of consumers to be empowered - to control their entertainment and information experience - to have more fun in more places and to solve whatever problems they face on the open road. (...)So the strategy for your station is to think beyond the radio. You are not "the radio," you are an entertainment brand which distributes across multiple channels and has (hopefully) deep relationships with clients and hundreds of thousands of listeners.»
A Internet no carro (BMW)
«Available in Europe soon. Can the US be far behind? And no, it doesn't require WiFi or WiMax.
Click here for the video that explains it all. As CNet's Brian Cooley says, BMW is "the first car company to embrace a factory-optional Internet connection." As one correspondent noted to me, imagine if BMW owners could have their own branded internet radio station with format choices. BMW rocks, Jazz on BMW, BMW plays the classics. When your brand is BMW you certainly don't need Clear Channel.»
fonte: Mark Ramsey
Carros e iPods
E quanto mais os pais ouvirem LAD menos os filhos conhecem a rádio
A partir deste caso (real ou fictício, poderá muito bem ser verdade), mais uma reflexão: o consumo de leitores de audio digital nomeadamente no carro não só diminui o consumo de rádio mas tem outra consequência indirecta: afasta os mais novos do conhecimento/familiarização da própria rádio.
Passamos cada vez mais tempo no carro
Virtually every car in America is a radio on wheels and as traffic increases there is more time spent with radio
Corey Deitz, The Radio Borg Assimilates New Technologies: "Resistance is Futile"24/02/08, Radio.about
A rádio a afastar-se do carro
«Have you heard about what Ford Motor Company and Microsoft are partnering to do?
They’ve come up with a new factory installed fully-integrated, voice activated in-car communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital players. It’s called SYNC.
Users can access their mobile phones or digital music player including access to genres, album, artist, title, song all by voice commands. (SYNC is fluent in English, Spanish or French).
Names and phone numbers in mobile address books are wirelessly and automatically transferred to your car.
SYNC works with iPod, Zune (of course – it’s Microsoft), Play for Sure players and USB storage devices. The system can be updated for whatever becomes the rage next because all it requires is a software adjustment.
It’s hands-free thanks to Bluetooth. Contains a USB port for command and control and for charging digital music players. There’s audible text messaging from you mobile phone. Your contact list. Advanced calling features. It gets better and better.
While cars will still have radios and, increasingly, satellite radios, the traditional radio could become a relic of generations past. (...)
But auto manufacturers are also looking to install hard drives in their cars so drivers can download their own CDs, digital tunes or whatever and that entertainment remains in the car. Even exotic cars are adding distractions from radio. The new Maserati GranTurismo doesn’t have satellite radio. It doesn’t have Bluetooth. But it does have a hard drive for drivers to transfer their own content from CDs – those wild and crazy Italians (...).
The radio industry, still best equipped to produce content, must see this opportunity as a chance to adapt to the marriage of new technology and changing sociology. Radio companies can continue to run transmitters and towers, but now they must become content providers for new media – even entertainment systems in tomorrow’s cars.
fonte: Jerry Del Colliano, Inside Music Media, 27/02/08
De Nova Iorque a Washington a ouvir rádio na net
Sobre a aliança rádio-carro
«(...) The marriage of automobile and radio seems so logical, one can only wonder why it took the intervention of entrepreneurs to make it happen. Happen it did; and nearly 80 years later, radio and the auto remain joined at the hip.
The seminal year was 1929. After failing twice in the storage battery business, Paul Galvin was encouraged to try to put a workable car radio into volume production, an idea that had pretty much been ignored by auto manufacturers.
(...) Choices on the listening side are changing as well, thanks to satellite radio and HD2 channels, which can deliver traffic reports and information focused on commuters and provide more options and useful data to drivers than ever imagined possible.
But no matter how high tech, the simple joy of a pleasant audio companion in the car, a pleasure that stimulated radio sales at their introduction 80 years ago, is still there.»
(fonte: «Radio Has a Special Place in the Car, RWOnline, Charles S. Fitch, 2.01.2008)
A banda larga nunca será tão ubíqua como o FM/AM?
«(...) Internet radio. Today, it’s just as easy to listen to WFUV on my laptop as it is on my car radio. The sound quality is the same if I have a broadband connection to my laptop. If I live in NYC, then I can get that broadband connection almost anywhere by borrowing someone’s WiFi connection. With the right software, a WiFi enabled PDA can be as good or better than a car radio in most parts of NYC today.
This doesn’t mean that the radio industry doesn’t have a better product today and will for a long time to come. Every car comes with a radio that is simple to use. WiFi isn’t ubiquitous and free outside of the most dense major metropolitan areas. And it isn’t clear that WiFi or any other form of bandwidth will ever really be free and ubiquitous the way the radio spectrum is. But the trendline is going in a clear direction. High bandwidth IP is going to be everywhere someday pretty soon. In that world, the radio industry’s spectrum is not the proprietary advantage that it is today.» ,fonte: «Radio in 2010 July 12, 2004 in Venture Capital and Technology