iRadio-OVER 500 STATIONS!
Radio to go
Motorola recently dipped one toe into the growing mobile music market with its iTunes-enabled ROKR cell phone. Now the electronics giant is jumping head-first into deep waters with a more intriguing and unique service called iRadio, to be accessible in the next few months on a line of Motorola mobile phones marketed by some of the leading service providers.
Instead of satellite's 125 channels, iRadio will start with something like 500 options - and grow from there. "The sky's the limit," said spokesperson Paul Alfieri. "iRadio is extremely customer-friendly."
Thanks to deals made with record labels including the Universal Music Group, users will find channels dedicated to specific artists - including 12 just for Universal country headliners, including Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Shania Twain and George Strait.
iRadio also is looking to make deals and give exposure to gazillions of indie acts with their own musical streams, as well as to podcasters, with their own talk outlets.
And while satellite radio offers decade channels, iRadio will let you narrow the focus to just a favorite musical genre of that decade - say '70s disco, California folk-rock or British blues - and ignore the rest.
Priced at $6.99 a month, iRadio will operate a bit like a streaming Internet radio service. The main difference is, you can take it with you. To get content, visit the iRadio Web site, pick out channels you'd like to hear, and drop your new generation mobile phone into a docking station. The next morning, you'll find it loaded with content. You can listen on headphones, on a home stereo or take it on the road.
For car tuning, a small box is connected to the CD changer jack or the satellite radio input on the back of your in-dash stereo. That box now wirelessly receives the Bluetooth-transmitted audio signal put out by your mobile phone, and plays it through the car stereo's speakers.
Here's where the process gets magical: Artist and song information show up on the car radio's display. The radio's preset buttons let you jump from one iRadio musical stream to another. You can pause the music at any time - and that happens automatically with incoming phone calls.
There's no backing up and re-listening to a tune, though. Like a streaming online channel, the music disappears as it plays. But if there's a song you want to add permanently to your computer hard drive or mobile phone, just press/hold a button when you hear it playing. Return home and dock the phone again. The song will be download automatically and you'll be charged accordingly. And the iRadio phone gets replenished with new content, replacing only the tunes you've already heard.
While Apple has limited the Motorola ROKR to carrying just 100 songs per memory card, there will be no such restrictions on the iRadio-ready phones, said Alfieri. "A typical, 512 megabyte card should give you 15-20 hours of content."
Responding to another concern, the Moto-man swears that listening to iRadio will not unduly diminish your phone's battery power. "The real power users on a phone are the screen and the cellular technology - neither of which is used when listening to music. In my tests, I've been getting about seven hours of talk and listening, between charges."
Link to complete article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/13537302.htm
Motorola recently dipped one toe into the growing mobile music market with its iTunes-enabled ROKR cell phone. Now the electronics giant is jumping head-first into deep waters with a more intriguing and unique service called iRadio, to be accessible in the next few months on a line of Motorola mobile phones marketed by some of the leading service providers.
Instead of satellite's 125 channels, iRadio will start with something like 500 options - and grow from there. "The sky's the limit," said spokesperson Paul Alfieri. "iRadio is extremely customer-friendly."
Thanks to deals made with record labels including the Universal Music Group, users will find channels dedicated to specific artists - including 12 just for Universal country headliners, including Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Shania Twain and George Strait.
iRadio also is looking to make deals and give exposure to gazillions of indie acts with their own musical streams, as well as to podcasters, with their own talk outlets.
And while satellite radio offers decade channels, iRadio will let you narrow the focus to just a favorite musical genre of that decade - say '70s disco, California folk-rock or British blues - and ignore the rest.
Priced at $6.99 a month, iRadio will operate a bit like a streaming Internet radio service. The main difference is, you can take it with you. To get content, visit the iRadio Web site, pick out channels you'd like to hear, and drop your new generation mobile phone into a docking station. The next morning, you'll find it loaded with content. You can listen on headphones, on a home stereo or take it on the road.
For car tuning, a small box is connected to the CD changer jack or the satellite radio input on the back of your in-dash stereo. That box now wirelessly receives the Bluetooth-transmitted audio signal put out by your mobile phone, and plays it through the car stereo's speakers.
Here's where the process gets magical: Artist and song information show up on the car radio's display. The radio's preset buttons let you jump from one iRadio musical stream to another. You can pause the music at any time - and that happens automatically with incoming phone calls.
There's no backing up and re-listening to a tune, though. Like a streaming online channel, the music disappears as it plays. But if there's a song you want to add permanently to your computer hard drive or mobile phone, just press/hold a button when you hear it playing. Return home and dock the phone again. The song will be download automatically and you'll be charged accordingly. And the iRadio phone gets replenished with new content, replacing only the tunes you've already heard.
While Apple has limited the Motorola ROKR to carrying just 100 songs per memory card, there will be no such restrictions on the iRadio-ready phones, said Alfieri. "A typical, 512 megabyte card should give you 15-20 hours of content."
Responding to another concern, the Moto-man swears that listening to iRadio will not unduly diminish your phone's battery power. "The real power users on a phone are the screen and the cellular technology - neither of which is used when listening to music. In my tests, I've been getting about seven hours of talk and listening, between charges."
Link to complete article:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/living/13537302.htm
posted by Common Sense Solutions | 3:18 AM
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