I can't say this does a lot for me, not least because the stations I still listen to broadcast on MW and LW, which I guess aren't going to be getting any love here. Oh well...
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Apple Developing FM Radio Application for iPhone and iPod Touch?
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Leave it to Apple to dream up something I never thought would be possible: hear a song on the radio and then find it on iTunes for me.
Truly wild what programmers can accomplish nowadays.
Hint of sarcasm I detect?
even if they do charge for the FM ability through an app it will be an awesome application. Apple does tech swag in a most unique way.
As long as the flavor you are looking for is ClearChannelCitadelCBSCumulusSalemEntercom. Combined they own just about every radio station in every major U.S. city. Most of them own a few in each city. And they all take orders from on high about programming, promotions, etc., etc. Seems reading a local indy newspaper might be a better way of getting a grasp on the real scene.
Yeah but most new, better, Wi-Fi routers allow you to split the signals b/g and n into two separate networks so you don't run into that issue. I have the new Airport Extreme that does that and it works great. My gadgets use b and my Macs use n.
Agreed; there is a workaround of sorts though. You can bookmark an .m3u or .pls or other stream URL in safari and it will play in the background if it's supported. You can easily do this with a webclip icon, for example here are two that you can bookmark that will stream in the background:
NPR - http://webclipicons.info/link.php?id=S7dSBI461
LivePhish radio - http://webclipicons.info/link.php?id=SViJ3anQ4
Good for you but that doesn't help the vast majority of Mac users. Apple has sold Wi-Fi routers for years that don't support separate dual channels. For those the 802.11N support would be great.
The evolution of iPhone is that it gets FM radio?! Erhm... what?
This is why they neglect the Mac lineup - first to add video and now FM radio. Is Apple hiring from kindergarten to do their R&D these days?
AFAIR Apple said they weren't going to bother with FM radio because digital radio was soooo much better?
This is why they neglect the Mac lineup - first to add video and now FM radio. Is Apple hiring from kindergarten to do their R&D these days?
AFAIR Apple said they weren't going to bother with FM radio because digital radio was soooo much better?
Better late than never they say. This isn't a killer feature, just something that would be nice to have.
I would rather see they had put the programming cycles towards something with actual usage i.e. a better iCal/calendar sync (lack of it being one of the few but increasingly annoying things that finally made me give up on the iPhone). Had it been wireless syncing - even better (unless it was FM-tuned)...
Who Has Time?
Alas they may be late but it by no means has prevented Apple from moving to the top 5 mobile phone makers in the world in 2 years...
Go Digital Radio
While I think it would be nice to have FM, what I really want is Digital Radio (DAB+). DAB seems to be the future of radio broadcasts (in many countries if not universally) because of the pressure on the available spectrum.
Also, Apple could then leapfrog the competition and be the leader (once again) with new functionality and technology.
I realise that this might not be possible with the chips used in the current model (don't know enough about what they use etc) but it would certainly be only a small step to add in something appropriate.
Susan
While I think it would be nice to have FM, what I really want is Digital Radio (DAB+). DAB seems to be the future of radio broadcasts (in many countries if not universally) because of the pressure on the available spectrum.
Also, Apple could then leapfrog the competition and be the leader (once again) with new functionality and technology.
I realise that this might not be possible with the chips used in the current model (don't know enough about what they use etc) but it would certainly be only a small step to add in something appropriate.
Susan
I would rather see they had put the programming cycles towards something with actual usage i.e. a better iCal/calendar sync (lack of it being one of the few but increasingly annoying things that finally made me give up on the iPhone). Had it been wireless syncing - even better (unless it was FM-tuned)...
You would rather have more programming cycles spent on stuff you want, I can understand that. I however hardly use ical, so I don't need a better sync and I am far more likely to use the FM radio. So now what does Apple do?
It would be quite interesting to have the radio on the iPod Touch, I never thought it was capable of it hardware-wise! Although in the UK it would probably not be able to tag anything, it would probably make for a handy radio app... I might even start listening to it!
Radio transmission is, however, way more interesting to me: that could mean I could listen to my iPod in the car! Without having to burn a new CD each time I have 1 new song I want to listen to (and without having to take my car apart to tiny bits to access the AUX input, and find an impossible to find converter that would connect the iPod's stereo jack into that weird AUX connection thing).
Modern technology rocks.
Radio transmission is, however, way more interesting to me: that could mean I could listen to my iPod in the car! Without having to burn a new CD each time I have 1 new song I want to listen to (and without having to take my car apart to tiny bits to access the AUX input, and find an impossible to find converter that would connect the iPod's stereo jack into that weird AUX connection thing).
Modern technology rocks.
You would rather have more programming cycles spent on stuff you want, I can understand that. I however hardly use ical, so I don't need a better sync and I am far more likely to use the FM radio. So now what does Apple do?
Except putting their a** in gear and do both, which should really be possible if they bothered at all about either one of us...
I thoroughly enjoy all the people who take the time out of their busy days to crap on a feature they don't want. I, for one, would be thrilled by this and if it were able to be implemented via software to my existing hardware, that's great.
I'm very involved in my local community radio station and it would be a great boon to have this feature activated.
When I first saw that the chip was capable of of FM reception I'd hoped they'd add it...why squander the capability. I was glad to see they added it to the Nano. It's one of the features I missed when I moved on from my SE W810i to the iPhone.
I'm very involved in my local community radio station and it would be a great boon to have this feature activated.
When I first saw that the chip was capable of of FM reception I'd hoped they'd add it...why squander the capability. I was glad to see they added it to the Nano. It's one of the features I missed when I moved on from my SE W810i to the iPhone.
Except putting their a** in gear and do both, which should really be possible if they bothered at all about either one of us...
Fair enough
They don't even need an api, any app that handles screen locking correctly should be able to be backgrounded. They just need to give the iPhone "owner" the option to choose which app's do so... but alas, they haven't yet. I assume it will come with a new device so people will upgrade (even though the current hardware is capable of it, with admittedly lower battery life).
I would rather see they had put the programming cycles towards something with actual usage i.e. a better iCal/calendar sync (lack of it being one of the few but increasingly annoying things that finally made me give up on the iPhone). Had it been wireless syncing - even better (unless it was FM-tuned)...
Maybe the FM radio guy or girl just isn't that in to programming iCal stuff.
Or the iCal guys and Gals don't have a something they could work on with out them all starting to trip over each other.
Remember programming cycles are people too.