Roku Internet Radio at Longview TX Best Buy

[Chuck]

While looking for some end of the year bargains, I happened to notice that my local Best Buy is stocking an Internet radio. The “Roku.” It works as a wireless 802.11 device, or can be connected up to a standard Ethernet connection. It looks pretty much like a small clock radio and would easily sit on a bed side table.

As far as I know, Best Buy usually only stocks stuff they think they can sell, especially in their "remote" stores that are outside of large metro areas. They have Internet radios, but no HD radios. I'm sure that will change, but that is the situation as of a couple of hours ago.

 

[hipporadio]

C Crane just added the AE (Acoustic Energy) Wi-Fi "internet radio" to their lineup...

http://www.ccrane.com/radios/internet-radios/acoustic-energy-wi-fi-internet-radio.aspx

'Don't see the TWO new Sangean HD Radios there, and Crane and Sangean are tight!

 

[700WLW]

They have Internet radios, but no HD radios. I'm sure that will change, but that is the situation as of a couple of hours ago.

I wouldn't be too sure of that - I was at the Best Buy Gaithersburg, Md., and they have cleared off all the table-top AM/FM radios, including the non-HD Receptor, for other inventory - vapor ! But, they had stocked a bunch of my beloved Sony pocket-radios up front, with the cell phones.

 

[vsa]

While looking for some end of the year bargains, I happened to notice that my local Best Buy is stocking an Internet radio. The “Roku.” It works as a wireless 802.11 device, or can be connected up to a standard Ethernet connection. It looks pretty much like a small clock radio and would easily sit on a bed side table.

As far as I know, Best Buy usually only stocks stuff they think they can sell, especially in their "remote" stores that are outside of large metro areas. They have Internet radios, but no HD radios. I'm sure that will change, but that is the situation as of a couple of hours ago.

Chuck,

Best Buy stores in Los Angeles have been selling these Roku SoundBridge M1000/1001 Internet radios for about one year at $199 each. I bought one and love it. It works quite well with wired or wireless networks. More info at the link below:

http://www.rokulabs.com/

 

[700WLW]

While looking for some end of the year bargains, I happened to notice that my local Best Buy is stocking an Internet radio. The “Roku.” It works as a wireless 802.11 device, or can be connected up to a standard Ethernet connection. It looks pretty much like a small clock radio and would easily sit on a bed side table.

As far as I know, Best Buy usually only stocks stuff they think they can sell, especially in their "remote" stores that are outside of large metro areas. They have Internet radios, but no HD radios. I'm sure that will change, but that is the situation as of a couple of hours ago.

Chuck,

Best Buy stores in Los Angeles have been selling these Roku SoundBridge M1000/1001 Internet radios for about one year at $199 each. I bought one and love it. It works quite well with wired or wireless networks. More info at the link below:

http://www.rokulabs.com/

The other day, I was at the driveup-teller, at our local bank...

 

[Chuck]

While looking for some end of the year bargains, I happened to notice that my local Best Buy is stocking an Internet radio. The “Roku.” It works as a wireless 802.11 device, or can be connected up to a standard Ethernet connection. It looks pretty much like a small clock radio and would easily sit on a bed side table.

As far as I know, Best Buy usually only stocks stuff they think they can sell, especially in their "remote" stores that are outside of large metro areas. They have Internet radios, but no HD radios. I'm sure that will change, but that is the situation as of a couple of hours ago.

Chuck,

Best Buy stores in Los Angeles have been selling these Roku SoundBridge M1000/1001 Internet radios for about one year at $199 each. I bought one and love it. It works quite well with wired or wireless networks. More info at the link below:

http://www.rokulabs.com/

I've seen the radio on the net for quite some time. Since my friends who live in New York or there-abouts think I live somewhere near the edge of the universe, I thought it was significant that I could walk into a local store and pick one up off the shelf. I'm not sure how long they have been stocking them. It may have been quite some time, but this was the first time I'd noticed them.

 

[vsa]

Chuck,

Thanks for reporting the Best Buy sighting. I agree, it's significant that it's available "at the edge of the universe". Roku, a small California company, got their product into Best Buy. Meanwhile, an alliance of major radio broadcasters, with a $200,000,000 ad campaign, have so far been unable to do the same for any HD radios. Very telling.

 

[700WLW]

I never did figure out, where all those advertising dollars went - never saw one ad on TV, or in newspaper fliers, and I thought that a lot of the air-time on radio would be free, or really cheap. I wonder, how many "toys" Struble has, now ?

 

[clichemoth]

Just wait until you can put a device like the M1001 in your car. The way technology is going, you'll be able to get one of them working in a remote area long before that area would ever hear HD Radio.

 

[ElCheapo]

Chuck,

Thanks for reporting the Best Buy sighting. I agree, it's significant that it's available "at the edge of the universe". Roku, a small California company, got their product into Best Buy. Meanwhile, an alliance of major radio broadcasters, with a $200,000,000 ad campaign, have so far been unable to do the same for any HD radios. Very telling.

Ya know - it just hit me. This device is being manufactured by a "small California company."

So is every other "internet radio" appliance. They're all manufactured by small companies that nobody has ever heard of.

If this is the future, why don't the big boys see it?

Heck - HD Radio has Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, Cambridge SoundWorks, Sangean, JVC and Kenwood. It also has Radio Shack's new in-store brand Accurian.

 

[vsa]

ElCheapo wrote: "If this is the future, why don't the big boys see it? Heck - HD Radio has Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, Cambridge SoundWorks, Sangean, JVC and Kenwood.  It also has Radio Shack's new in-store brand Accurian."

Philco used to be a major maker of tube-powered radios. Do you remember Silvertone radios? They and a host of others disappeared after transistor radios took over. The old big boys failed to see and adjust for the future. This is common when disruptive technologies start out as almost useless, then improve and ultimately overtake sustaining technologies. New companies who develop expertise in the new technology often become the new leaders.

What does this have to do with HD radio? HD radio is a sustaining technology. Internet and mobile Internet radio are disruptive technologies. I suggest you read two books by Clayton M. Christensen - "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "The Innovator's Solution". I know you won't read them. but perhaps someone else here will. Among the people giving these books kudos is Intel's Andy Grove.

 

[ElCheapo]

ElCheapo wrote: "If this is the future, why don't the big boys see it? Heck - HD Radio has Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, Cambridge SoundWorks, Sangean, JVC and Kenwood. It also has Radio Shack's new in-store brand Accurian."

Philco used to be a major maker of tube-powered radios. Do you remember Silvertone radios? They and a host of others disappeared after transistor radios took over. The old big boys failed to see and adjust for the future. This is common when disruptive technologies start out as almost useless, then ultimately overtake sustaining technologies. New companies who develop expertise in the new technology often become the new leaders.

What does this have to do with HD radio? HD radio is a sustaining technology. Internet and mobile Internet radio are disruptive technologies. I suggest you read two books by Clayton M. Christensen - "The Innovator's Dilemma" and "The Innovator's Solution". I know you won't read them. but perhaps someone else here will. Among the people giving these books kudos is Intel's Andy Grove.

Did it occur to you that perhaps the "big boys" have looked into it and concluded that the potential for profit just isn't substantial enough?

 

[vsa]

Of course. That's EXACTLY what they did. That's a classic mistake almost all well-managed companies ultimately make.

Read the books.

That's exactly why the old big boys resist change until it becomes too late. Newcomers first establish new markets, and as the technology improves so does their market share until they become dominant.

 

[ElCheapo]

Of course. That's EXACTLY what they did. That's a classic mistake almost all well-managed companies ultimately make.

Read the books.

That's exactly why the old big boys resist change until it becomes too late. Newcomers first establish new markets, and as the technology improves so does their market share until they become dominant.

Gee... I guess the same argument could be made for the companies that haven't yet developed an HD Radio product.

 

[vsa]

ElCheapo wrote: "Gee...  I guess the same argument could be made for the companies that haven't yet developed an HD Radio product."

That could be true, but only if HD radio was a DISRUPTIVE technology.

However, it is a SUSTAINING technology - one that tries to be an improvement on traditional radio technology. It's also an "improvement" the public generally hasn't asked for and doesn't want. That's typical as the overall SUSTAINING technology has fully matured.

Meanwhile, Internet-delivered radio, a DISRUPTIVE technology, has seen rapid improvement and adoption over the years and is set to explode and go "mainstream" as mobile networks become ubiquitous. 

 

[ElCheapo]

ElCheapo wrote: "Gee... I guess the same argument could be made for the companies that haven't yet developed an HD Radio product."

That could be true, but only if HD radio was a DISRUPTIVE technology.

However, it is a SUSTAINING technology - one that tries to be an improvement on traditional radio technology. It's also an "improvement" the public generally hasn't asked for and doesn't want. That's typical as the overall SUSTAINING technology has fully matured.

Meanwhile, Internet-delivered radio, a DISRUPTIVE technology, has seen rapid improvement and adoption over the years and is set to explode and go "mainstream" as mobile networks become ubiquitous.

Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations. In that sense, streaming is more of a sustaining technology than HD Radio - it's simply an extension of an existing product.

While there are purely online streams, they are largely ignored by the public because they fail to offer compelling content.

 

[700WLW]

ElCheapo wrote: "Gee... I guess the same argument could be made for the companies that haven't yet developed an HD Radio product."

That could be true, but only if HD radio was a DISRUPTIVE technology.

However, it is a SUSTAINING technology - one that tries to be an improvement on traditional radio technology. It's also an "improvement" the public generally hasn't asked for and doesn't want. That's typical as the overall SUSTAINING technology has fully matured.

Meanwhile, Internet-delivered radio, a DISRUPTIVE technology, has seen rapid improvement and adoption over the years and is set to explode and go "mainstream" as mobile networks become ubiquitous.

Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations. In that sense, streaming is more of a sustaining technology than HD Radio - it's simply an extension of an existing product.

While there are purely online streams, they are largely ignored by the public because they fail to offer compelling content.

Ignored, by the public ?

http://www.bridgeratings.com/press_071906-digitalprojectionsupd.htm

 

[vsa]

ElCheapo wrote: "Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations."

Arbitron's own numbers for online listening dispute what you say. The largest webcasters are AOL and Yahoo's Launchcast. Each of them dwarfs Clear Channel.

http://arbitron.com/onlineradio/topranked.htm

Webcast Metrics Ratings will give you a good picture broken out by the leading individual streaming stations:

http://wmetrics.andomedia.com/home/templates/wcmt_template.asp?articleid=40&zoneid=3

And let me referer you to this national study:

Is terrestrial radio missing the Internet radio boat?
San Diego, June 29, 2006: Hear2.0 national survey reveals that online radio listeners prefer tuning in specialized Internet radio websites (like Live365 or Launchcast) over local or distant radio stations online by a wide margin.

http://mercury.blogs.com/news/files/hear2_release_on_line_listening_v3.pdf

ElCheapo also wrote: "In that sense, streaming is more of a sustaining technology than HD Radio - it's simply an extension of an existing product. While there are purely online streams, they are largely ignored by the public because they fail to offer compelling content."

You don't understand the difference between sustaining and disruptive technology, although you at least understand that broadcasters must establish themselves on the web in order to compete in the future. At least read some reader comments about one of Christensen's two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/0875845851

...and have a Happy New Year!

 

[ElCheapo]

ElCheapo wrote: "Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations."

Arbitron's own numbers for online listening dispute what you say. The largest webcasters are AOL and Yahoo's Launchcast. Each of them dwarfs Clear Channel.

http://arbitron.com/onlineradio/topranked.htm

Webcast Metrics Ratings will give you a good picture broken out by the leading individual streaming stations:

http://wmetrics.andomedia.com/home/templates/wcmt_template.asp?articleid=40&zoneid=3

And let me referer you to this national study:

Is terrestrial radio missing the Internet radio boat?
San Diego, June 29, 2006: Hear2.0 national survey reveals that online radio listeners prefer tuning in specialized Internet radio websites (like Live365 or Launchcast) over local or distant radio stations online by a wide margin.

http://mercury.blogs.com/news/files/hear2_release_on_line_listening_v3.pdf

ElCheapo also wrote: "In that sense, streaming is more of a sustaining technology than HD Radio - it's simply an extension of an existing product. While there are purely online streams, they are largely ignored by the public because they fail to offer compelling content."

You don't understand the difference between sustaining and disruptive technology, although you at least understand that broadcasters must establish themselves on the web in order to compete in the future. At least read some reader comments about one of Christensen's two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/0875845851

...and have a Happy New Year!

There isn't a comprehensive ratings service for internet streaming. That's easily evident looking at just the ratings services you cited - futher, most traditional radio station streams aren't monitored by any ratings service at all - and due to Arbitron's diary methodology, listening to streams of traditional stations inside the station's metro may be reported as conventional radio listening.

The Hear2.0 survey doesn't reveal anything particularly surprising. They surveyed 1,000 users of streaming audio and found that most of them preferred it over local radio. Shock. If this was indeed a random, nationwide study conducted by telephone as they say - I wonder how long it took them to find 1,000 internet radio listeners?

I'd be willing to bet I could go spend a few hours at the mall conducting a survey that says most people listen to no internet radio whatsoever.

As with all of the Hear2.0 blog entries, surveys, etc. released on the site, this is a marketing piece and nothing more. The central theme of most of Mark Ramsey's blog entries is that radio is missing the boat and needs his unique insight to get on the right track. His blog is an advertisement - nothing more, nothing less.

And finally, yes - I do understand the concept you're putting forth regarding "sustaining" and "disruptive" technologies - I simply choose to reject them. Just because an author coins a phrase doesn't mean it automatically has to become part of my lexicon and I certainly don't have to subscribe to his theories.

Saddam Hussein was a published author. If I were to read his books, I probably wouldn't agree with his theories either.

Unlike the many parrots we have in this forum, I am at least capable of independent thought.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

ElCheapo wrote: "Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations."

He just made that up to promote short range, defective, destructive, unwanted, unecessary, HD Radio.

According to: http://www.bridgeratings.com/press_071906-digitalprojectionsupdwradio.htm

All forms of Internet Radio's total cume, incuding cell streaming from the internet, and podcasting by 2010 will equal:

Internet Radio 187.33 million
Wireless Internet 159.23 "
Mobile Phone Streaming (from internet) 11.81 "
Podcasting 3.95 "
_________
TOTAL INTERNET CUME 362.32 million

While the terrestrial broadcast radio total cume is only: 278.59 million

Internet cume beating terrestrial cume by 83.73 million by 2010.

That is only about 3 years from now!

HDradio will only be at a miserable 8.84 million cume. Not enough to sustain thousands of HD stations.

Evidence that HD Radio is just another dead end system, similar to several others that have gone before, and disappeared.

ElCheapo wrote: "Most online listening is to streams of traditional radio stations."

Arbitron's own numbers for online listening dispute what you say. The largest webcasters are AOL and Yahoo's Launchcast. Each of them dwarfs Clear Channel.

http://arbitron.com/onlineradio/topranked.htm

Webcast Metrics Ratings will give you a good picture broken out by the leading individual streaming stations:

http://wmetrics.andomedia.com/home/templates/wcmt_template.asp?articleid=40&zoneid=3

And let me referer you to this national study:

Is terrestrial radio missing the Internet radio boat?
San Diego, June 29, 2006: Hear2.0 national survey reveals that online radio listeners prefer tuning in specialized Internet radio websites (like Live365 or Launchcast) over local or distant radio stations online by a wide margin.

http://mercury.blogs.com/news/files/hear2_release_on_line_listening_v3.pdf

ElCheapo also wrote: "In that sense, streaming is more of a sustaining technology than HD Radio - it's simply an extension of an existing product. While there are purely online streams, they are largely ignored by the public because they fail to offer compelling content."

You don't understand the difference between sustaining and disruptive technology, although you at least understand that broadcasters must establish themselves on the web in order to compete in the future. At least read some reader comments about one of Christensen's two books:

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/0875845851

...and have a Happy New Year!