Personalized radio service in cars

[pocket-radio]

Pandora struck a deal with Pioneer Corp to make it easier for drivers to listen to its personalized radio service in cars—bringing Internet radio one step closer to snagging a built-in spot on dashboards

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704842604574642560838415386.html

I reliaze this is a pay service. But the idea of customized radio choices in your dashboard that's really HD, verses jukebox HD stations, is far more interesting, for people unhappy with traditional radio.

People unhappy with traditional radio are adopting these new services.

Eventually, Pandora like services will be available everyplace and free as in supported by advertising dollars. For those who want to compare HD to FM, have to understand when FM became available,
consumer choices for music and content were very limited.

The FCC has it's eyes focused on the white space once occupied by analog TV for the country's best wireless internet system.

 

[nd2023]

The only true personalized radio station is one you program yourself.

 

[Tom Wells]

The only true personalized radio station is one you program yourself.

And boy, is it a treat to listen to. Only thing missing is news, weather, traffic and a live person to be wacky and tie everything together.
Oh, and my station only goes 5 -6 blocks, so it's kind of hard to listen on the way to work.
On the way to work I favor 740 from Toronto or 650 from Nashville.

 

[tom]

I setup Pandora on my Verizon Motorola Droid a week or so ago ...
I tested a couple of mixes, Pearl Jam, The Four Tops and Jimi Hendrix.
The songs it picked were all very good, except for some re-makes of
Four Tops songs instead of the original hits.

Drawbacks ... definitely not HD ... they tell you right on their website that
the quality is limited to conserve bandwidth. Even on WiFi (not 3G) there
were enough dropouts and long pauses to be annoying. I can imagine what
it would be like driving around trying to listen. XM on the other hand usually
plays even through tunnels and underpasses, sometimes better than FM.
FM audio quality is still far superior to streaming, satellite or "HD" -
FM may fade or have some static now and then, but digital services like
"HD" just drop out, and online services, either at home or wireless are
prone to buffering, pauses and lost signal just like cell calls.

So one $ 1200 Kenwood Navigation Receiver that connects to your iPhone
brings it into the car. How many of those will they sell ? Certainly not a
mass appeal setup. What happens when the phone rings ? Off it goes.

Yep - it's the tip of the iceberg ... BUT ... I installed a FREE app on the Droid
called AOR .... Android Online Radio and it sounds fantastic, not a custom mix,
but 1000's of radio stations, too many to even randomly browse through. I
searched and found the ones our company owns, and the audio is superb,
thanks to the Orban Optimod sound cards.

Bottom line is yes, there will be more choices coming, but they won't be free.
You'll need to pay your phone company $ 30 a month, and get ready for the
"unlimited access" to be "limited" once lots of people start hogging bandwidth
listening to online services. The former TV channel 52 - is being set
up in major cities ... but, they don't have the range the cell sites do, they are
like radio or TV transmitters, they have a certain coverage - period.

Definitely some cool things on the horizon, but they are just novelties now.

 

[nd2023]

The only true personalized radio station is one you program yourself.

And boy, is it a treat to listen to. Only thing missing is news, weather, traffic and a live person to be wacky and tie everything together.
Oh, and my station only goes 5 -6 blocks, so it's kind of hard to listen on the way to work.
On the way to work I favor 740 from Toronto or 650 from Nashville.

There's also something called an iPod.

 

[Play Freebird]

Definitely some cool things on the horizon, but they are just novelties now.

I agree, Tom. But what I'm really looking forward to this winter is building a "darling" amp, just for fun and pleasant sound; an antidote for HD Codec listener fatigue. (I'm glad I hung on to those old 1626s!)

For those of you unfamiliar with this sweet little design, see Tom's website: http://mcnally.cc/amps.htm

 

[Tom Wells]

The only true personalized radio station is one you program yourself.

And boy, is it a treat to listen to. Only thing missing is news, weather, traffic and a live person to be wacky and tie everything together.
Oh, and my station only goes 5 -6 blocks, so it's kind of hard to listen on the way to work.
On the way to work I favor 740 from Toronto or 650 from Nashville.

There's also something called an iPod.

Yes, but I don't own or need an Ipod, and I'm not the subscribing sort of person. 25 years ago, I made a lot of mix tapes and my daily drive had a cassette player. Now I prefer radio, thank you. I'm still digesting mix tapes back into the Zara automation sysytem, and
I guess I'm looking forward to the day all the AMs are relocated into the FM 76 -88mhz zone. Once thats's done, I guess MW 530-1700
will be free for unlimited power hobbyist use, and those who care about skywave. I have plans put a 15 watt stereo tube amp into my daily driver, to make audio more pleasant. 115v AC is so cheap to put in the car these days. 1626's are never old, just dusty.

 

[Obtuse1]

Slacker.com. Infinitely customizable (more than Pandora, plus it has the benefit of a much larger music library), personalized stations. Stations can be downloaded (via Slacker's hardware player or on certain phones), so no WiFi signal is necessary while mobile, or you can stream (via iPhone app, Blackberry, or Android phone). Free (with limited ads, 6 song skips per hour), or 4.99/mo subscription (no ads, unlimited skips).

It has completely replaced SiriusXM for my in-car listening (and unlike today' SatRad, you can listen to one station for hours without repetition).