iPod FM Receiver Remote [Archive]

MacRumors

Jan 10, 2006, 01:15 PM

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Apple announced an iPod FM Receiver and Remote today at Macworld San Francisco 2006.

The new Remote is priced at $49 and allows users to tune FM radio stations through a new on-screen interface on the iPod.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

nagromme

Jan 10, 2006, 01:27 PM

Possibly the least exciting thing that could have happened today :)

I already have SO many FM radios everywhere I go... but if some demand is there, why not meet it? Apple may as well offer the option.

Stratification

Jan 10, 2006, 01:31 PM

Plus it provides a remote for the newer iPods, the FM functionality may be secondary for some people.

toontra

Jan 10, 2006, 01:32 PM

Only for video iPods & Nanos :mad:

devilot

Jan 10, 2006, 01:34 PM

This would have been really welcome a year or two ago... but now, there are almost no FM stations around here worth listening to. Literally, I can think of two stations. :(

FoxyKaye

Jan 10, 2006, 01:48 PM

Only for video iPods & Nanos :mad:
Have faith - I'm willing to bet that by this time next year, it will be fully integrated into the next gen iPods. Though I'm also bummed that it won't work with my 2G - maybe Belkin or Griffin will release a version of their own.

Le Big Mac

Jan 10, 2006, 04:06 PM

This would have been really welcome a year or two ago... but now, there are almost no FM stations around here worth listening to. Literally, I can think of two stations. :(

So true. There was an article in the paper just yesterday (or the day before) noting that FM radio has moved to talk because the music industry is driven mainly by iTunes and other downloadable music, not airplay.

And too bad it's not backward compatible.

Ashapalan

Jan 10, 2006, 05:05 PM

i agree, perhaps one of the lesser importances of the day, and for that price doesnt really atract me.

But its interesting to see apple make radio compatibility, i think it gives a hint for what is to come in the next revision.

~Shard~

Jan 10, 2006, 05:05 PM

2nyRiggz

Jan 10, 2006, 05:07 PM

not interested in this product...a year too late for me.

Bless

Alasta

Jan 10, 2006, 05:18 PM

I was keen on this when I first heard about it because, whilst I'm not really interested in listening to music radio stations, I would like to be able to listen to talk radio on the way to work in the morning.

Unfortunately, I only have a 4G iPod and I'm not willing to upgrade it at this stage.

yg17

Jan 10, 2006, 05:21 PM

Meh. The only radio I'm interested in is Sirius.

pknz

Jan 10, 2006, 05:32 PM

I can't seem to find a pic for it yet.:(

~Shard~

Jan 10, 2006, 05:33 PM

Meh. The only radio I'm interested in is Sirius.

Yeah, that's like what I said above - I think it's cool, on principle, but when it comes to "radio", the only thing worth paying attention to is Sirius/XM - not plain old radio anymore.

bigandy

Jan 10, 2006, 05:49 PM

yawn is the first thing i thought.

i've seen nicer ipod remotes on ebay for the 5G and Nano. for £3.99.

rolfdenver

Jan 10, 2006, 05:54 PM

... if Apple comes up with an iPod with an integrated Sirius remote it could be the Howard Stern edition. Could come complete with a slippery translucent rubber sheath.

Jonx

Jan 10, 2006, 06:31 PM

yay, now i can get an ipod! :D

maya

Jan 10, 2006, 06:32 PM

What was the point of this, really? :confused:

WildCowboy

Jan 10, 2006, 06:35 PM

I can't seem to find a pic for it yet.:(
Here you go...

Lau

Jan 10, 2006, 06:38 PM

This would have been really welcome a year or two ago... but now, there are almost no FM stations around here worth listening to. Literally, I can think of two stations. :(

Two more than I can think of in the UK....:o

aswitcher

Jan 10, 2006, 06:41 PM

Only for video iPods & Nanos :mad:

Agreed. Should have supported 4G color screens as well...

devilot

Jan 10, 2006, 06:42 PM

Here you go...Thanks for posting that.

Too bad, I don't think it looks that nice and it's quite pricy. Tsk. A bit too late for this. Ah well. At least those other MWSF products/releases are bit more interesting. :D Two more than I can think of in the UK....:oEh. To be fair, one station has recently gone downhill (since Jan. 1st-- they implemented some changes that just... no... bad... haha), and the other station is 'over the hill' a good 30-40 minute drive away. So it's more like, barely one station per region that I can think of.

The good thing? I've been using my Nano a whole lot more.

solvs

Jan 10, 2006, 06:51 PM

For those that have a 4G model, you can get an iFM from Griffin. They've had them out for awhile now. Same type of thing, with recording.

Lau

Jan 10, 2006, 06:58 PM

Thanks for posting that.

Too bad, I don't think it looks that nice and it's quite pricy. Tsk. A bit too late for this. Ah well. At least those other MWSF products/releases are bit more interesting. :D Eh. To be fair, one station has recently gone downhill (since Jan. 1st-- they implemented some changes that just... no... bad... haha), and the other station is 'over the hill' a good 30-40 minute drive away. So it's more like, barely one station per region that I can think of.

The good thing? I've been using my Nano a whole lot more.

There was one here called XFM that played quite good indie music a few years ago, but it's gone downhill too. I don't mind, say BBC Radio 4, for discussion and the like, but when I'm on the move I listen to music. And I'd rather listen to music I like (which is, coincidentally, loaded onto my iPod ;) ) than have some DJ choose it (badly) for me. And that's not including the DJ shouting on between the songs, or irritating adverts.

So a big <shrug> from me regarding this. And it seems a lot of people who have wanted this for a while are saying "too late" by now. However, for the people who listen to radio, I guess it's a good thing, and it's quite a nice design. When I heard "wired remote" I imagine my friend's 80s video player with the remote on a long wire. :D

roadapple

Jan 10, 2006, 06:59 PM

Why no AM? How am I going to catch the ballgame?

mac_hine82

Jan 10, 2006, 06:59 PM

Anyone know when there going to put out the update?

kretzy

Jan 10, 2006, 07:13 PM

I probably wouldn't get one if I had an iPod, I don't listen to the radio that much. Though I do like the look of the tuner when it's plugged in.

Kenny Pollock

Jan 10, 2006, 07:50 PM

Phat_Pat

Jan 10, 2006, 07:59 PM

i was messing with this at macworld today

very slick interface

when radio is on you can switch presets but hitting the next song button on the remote and to create a preset just hold down select.

it also will show the information of the station if it is given out (ie: song names and whatnot)

EricNau

Jan 10, 2006, 08:23 PM

The new FM receiver sounds pretty nice, although I’m surprised Apple would spend effort on an “old school” radio peripheral as opposed to doing something with digital radio such as Sirius or XM.
Maybe this is just a "tester" for Apple, and within a year we will see one for satellite radio. Who knows with Apple, they were very tricky.

solvs

Jan 10, 2006, 08:23 PM

I just bought a Griffin iFM to have radio on my iPod video LAST WEEK (!) but did not keep the box. I am an IDIOT, this is EXACTLY what I need. I goto the gym and the televisions setup broadcast the sound via FM frequencies, when a show I like comes on I tune in, when it's boring crap I play my gym playlist.
If you have 4G, the Apple one wouldn't work anyway. If you have a 5G, I didn't know the new iFM was out. The old one used the top connector, which the new video iPods don't have.

EGT

Jan 10, 2006, 08:45 PM

It would be nice if it was built into the iPod but It would be bad if it made it any thicker.

Shrug here too. :confused:

pmcaleer

Jan 10, 2006, 08:57 PM

I'll definitely be grabbing one. Very sweet interface.

jade44V

Jan 10, 2006, 10:29 PM

gammamonk

Jan 10, 2006, 11:07 PM

Why no AM? How am I going to catch the ballgame?
The hardware required to receive AM radio is too large and heavy.

RocksInMySocks

Jan 11, 2006, 12:22 AM

Hmm... let's see, can't dock and listen to the radio simultaneously. And what was the reason for getting rid of the top control port, again...?

dubbz

Jan 11, 2006, 01:14 AM

Possibly the least exciting thing that could have happened today :)

I guess that's true, considering the other stuff Steve presented. But I like it. It's one thing I've been missing.

Now if they could only support gapless playback, iPod whould be the killer portal music player for me.

Philsy

Jan 11, 2006, 02:23 AM

Two more than I can think of in the UK....:o

Plenty of good stations in the UK on DAB. But Apple wouldn't release a DAB radio because the Americans haven't adopted the format, bless them ;)

Piarco

Jan 11, 2006, 03:57 AM

Well I'll be getting one. I still enjoy Radio One enough to warrant the purchase, and it'll be a damn sight better than using my Nokia to listen to it as the moment!
Shame it wasn't available in black though...

aafuss1

Jan 11, 2006, 04:33 AM

Agreed. Should have supported 4G color screens as well...
Agreed-I would have liked for the iPod Radio Remote to work with the 4th gen models.

dubbz

Jan 11, 2006, 04:38 AM

Shame it wasn't available in black though...

Ye! What's up with that? When they have Black iPods they should have black accessories as well.

juniormaj

Jan 11, 2006, 05:51 AM

Hmm... let's see, can't dock and listen to the radio simultaneously. And what was the reason for getting rid of the top control port, again...?

And along those lines, just as bad.....
You can't charge it while using the remote.

ASP272

Jan 11, 2006, 06:10 AM

I think it's cool, but it sucks it won't work with my 4G clickwheel. Not fair! I have to agree with some others though - why FM radio when I have every song I want in my iTunes library. No point really. Though it does offer those who know nothing about Macs or MP3 players or computers period another incentive to go with the iPod (over other MP3 players that have FM tuner built in).

iJaz

Jan 11, 2006, 07:00 AM

It looks really good, much better than the other 3rd party FM Receivers. Typically Apple too make it so right. :)

iflipper

Jan 11, 2006, 07:30 AM

I ordered one last night, it'll be great to have the remote control and catch headlines when I want them. Might be good for sharing music with a transmitter too!

DavidLeblond

Jan 11, 2006, 09:59 AM

So if you use this product in conjunction with a FM transmitter both set at the same frequency, can you open up a black hole, go into the future, and bring back a 20G iPod with 2 trillion songs in your pocket? I hear that thing is 8 lbs and has a 10inch screen....

soundguy

Jan 11, 2006, 11:11 AM

I've been thinking of getting an iPod, and outright switching to Mac completely, and probably will now with the switch to Intel. If Apple is doing FM, will they do AM?! That would immediatly make me run out and buy one, to have videos, pictures, my music, FM AND AM, would be PERFECT! I know, different people have different reasons for switching and buying stuff, but that's what would throw me over the top and make an immediate purchase. Anyone out there think Apple will do AM also? Yeah I know...I'm a big AM fan. :D

thejadedmonkey

Jan 11, 2006, 04:20 PM

Do you even need that headphone cable? I wonder if there's some way to hijack the iPod into making it think that it's got a radio plugged in when it doesnt...that way you don't have to spend $50 for a remote.

And why didn't they add 3G and 4G support? Who cares about color screens, they can still display info on the black n white LCD. and the have the same port on the bottom..., don't they?

illegalprelude

Jan 11, 2006, 04:37 PM

Wake me up when they add an XM receiver.

Seriously, what are they waiting for? I've been drooling over the iPod since the color screen. But a color screen wasn't enough for me to buy one since I do have an old B/W one already. Then came video. Okay that's fun, woopee, but I'm not going to watch video on a 2" screen when at work I'm surrounded by television monitors all day long and can watch whatever I want, and have Tivo at home.

But satellite radio, yes yes then I would happily plunk down another few hundred on a new iPod.

hell yea. I got a mini right now. I got a PSP with a good 30 movies i bought for it so that slaps the iPid video screen around. I got my XM2Go unit in my car but if I could make that into one new unit, I will happily buy a new iPod

juniormaj

Jan 11, 2006, 06:26 PM

[QUOTE=thejadedmonkey]Do you even need that headphone cable? I wonder if there's some way to hijack the iPod into making it think that it's got a radio plugged in when it doesnt...that way you don't have to spend $50 for a remote.
QUOTE]
I believe the guts of the radio are in the remote. The ipod only displays what the little radio is tuned to.

macosxuser01

Jan 11, 2006, 07:18 PM

I can't wait till I get a new iPod. Right now I have a 3rd Gen 15GB iPod (which really needs a new battery, the battery life is bad:( ) The new remote with fm radio is nice and is worth the the buy. Remember the old remote cost $39 scrill.