radio

Two Senators seek to save Internet radio

As Engadget recently reported , senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) have pledged to move forward with the Internet Radio Equality Act when Congress returns in the fall unless the industry is able to forge a solution amenable to webcasters. In a press release issued August 2, the senators offer their analysis of the situation:The fact is online radio services do not have enough revenue to support what will amount to unprecedented royalties. The $500 per channel minimum fee alone will deliver an over $1 billion annual windfall to record companies, a windfall that is not justified by any business or equity considerations.… Read more

A digital radio for treehuggers

Caring about the environment is trendier than ever in the tech world, with massive companies such as Apple and Dell at least paying lip service to the idea that our obsession with new products isn't taking an unnecessary toll on old Mother Earth. Keen to jump on the eco-bandwagon is Pure Digital, whose DAB radios lead the digital radio pack. Its new Siesta DAB alarm-clock radio is squarely aimed at hippies people who enthusiastically aim to reduce their negative impact on the environment.

At 50 pounds (abour $102), the Siesta is an affordable bit of gear and apparently uses … Read more

Recycling the radio waves

Yesterday, the FCC voted to apply new "Open Platform" rules to a chunk of the radio spectrum in the 700 MHz band, which is being vacated by UHF TV stations. CNET published a good summary of the situation here.

The chunk in question is just 22 MHz wide. Although the details of how this spectrum will be used are up to the winner of the eventual FCC auction, here are a couple of points of comparison. (These numbers could be off; I don't have all the technical details of the new band plan, just the summary from … Read more

If the Beach Boys had an MP3 radio

Creating a retro music system is tricky business. So often companies either go too far or simply reproduce the same ugly designs sported by the originals.

But Kaito--not to be confused with the band--seems to have struck a rare balance with its radio MP3 recorder. When the removable MP3 player is docked snugly in place, the system looks like a 1960s-style transistor radio. It does far more than relay airwave signals, however, with the ability to record AM-FM or shortwave broadcasts in digital formats not unlike the Swedish-made "Popcatcher" digital radio and recorder we saw earlier this … Read more

Sirius/XM promise better prices, selection

Satellite radio providers Sirius and XM are looking to merge, which would create a satellite radio monopoly in the U.S. The feds, facing considerable pressure from the terrestrial radio industry, have been waffling about whether to let the merger take place.

So yesterday, in a bid to show that consumers won't be harmed by the merger, the two companies released a paper (PDF download) with proposed pricing and packaging for the merged services. Particularly appealing is a new a la carte option, which will let subscribers pick up to 50 stations from either Sirius or XM for only $… Read more

Griffin iTrip StationFinder (iPhone App)

Have you ever been on a road trip trying to find a good radio station only to sift through tons of static before finding anything? With Griffin iTrip StationFinder for iPhone, random radio scanning is a thing of the past. To find the music to fit your mood on the FM dial, just touch the state you're in followed by the city to get a list of FM stations right on your iPhone. We would have liked a small description of each station along with the genre to get a feel for what we're choosing, but knowing which … Read more

XM-Sirius price drops ahead

If the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio goes through, the combined company plans to offer packages of channels at reduced rates, including a 50-channel offering that's almost half the price of today's lowest-price option.

New "a la carte" options, which will enable consumers to pick 50 or 100 channels from both XM and Sirius' lineups (minus "premium" offerings like those from Playboy, that is) for $6.99 or $14.99 per month, respectively, are scheduled to kick in within one year of the merger's completion, Sirius CEO Mel … Read more

Turn the third shower knob for music

The modern bathroom, as we've noted recently, is increasingly becoming the home's media center. It only makes sense, therefore, that entertainment be integrated seemlessly with the tiled decor.

The ultimate example: a music system designed to look like a shower knob, as seen on Technabob. Unfortunately, this bath toy is only an AM/FM radio, but its relatively reasonable $25 price should leave some money left over for a separate wireless device to stream your MP3 tunes through it.

Now if only it could be programmed to work with the shower's remote; that way, you could even … Read more

A $120 radio for $4,200, with crystal

When we think of gadgets and crystal, the name Swarovski invariably comes to mind. (We hope this doesn't say more about us than anything else.) So it is with great pleasure that we're able to mention an adorned item that doesn't have anything to do with the dreaded House of S.

The "Tivoli Model One" radio is encased in handcrafted crystal designed by Scandanavian artist Per B. Sundberg, according to Techabob, in limited-edition form. Very limited, in fact--only 30 of them are available at ScandinavianDesign, and for good reason. They cost $4,200 each.

That'… Read more