American broadcasters turn up the volume on misguided campaign to enable FM tuners in smartphones

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 108
    yodamacyodamac Posts: 59member
    Whenever I see an industry banding together to fight for some consumer "benefit", I have to wonder; why aren't the consumers the ones complaining loudly that they are missing out on something... probably because the consumers really don't care anymore and the industry is just trying to save itself from going extinct.

    Buh bye, radio,
  • Reply 22 of 108
    I would love to have them enable the FM tuner, hopefully with full RDS & HD Radio support!
  • Reply 22 of 108
    I too, would love to have the option to listen to FM radio via my iDevice (IF it's technically feasible to do so). One especially frustrating thing is when you'd like to listen to an in-market baseball/football/etc. game via your iDevice, but are forced to download/pay for the requisite MLB/NFL/NCAA app to do so. While I completely understand why you should have to pay for the ability/privilege to listen to a home Atlanta Braves game when listening in Tampa, it is silly that you'd need to pay for that same game when you're physically in Atlanta. The radio broadcasting infrastructure is already in place, and radio is infinitely scalable within a given area (unlike Wi-Fi/cellular). If an iPhone can do what the iPod's can do, why not activate it? Is the goal to 'make the best products', or to make a buck for MLB/NFL/ClearChannel/NCAA/etc.?

    Peace be with you.
  • Reply 24 of 108
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by razorpit View Post

     



    It use to be (and pretty sure still the case) the headphone cord is the antenna.




    That makes sense, however, I personally can't stand to listen to any pops or hiss. I can't imagine that swinging an antenna around wouldn't produce some audio artifacts. I suppose it all depends on how strong the signal is to start with. For the station that I like I need an expensive powered antenna connected to my home stereo. I can't get it satisfactorily with the radio in my car.

  • Reply 25 of 108
    Next KODAK will ask digital cameras to have the option to use FILM... Why not? They look the same... maybe they even have the empty space inside going unused!
  • Reply 26 of 108
    desuserigndesuserign Posts: 1,316member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Is the quality any good?


    Yes.

    Not as good as a CD, but way better than a low bit rate stream. (Everything is relative.)

  • Reply 27 of 108
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zoetmb View Post

     

      On the commercial dial, there's virtually no classical, jazz, true free-form rock, true oldies, etc., because those demographics don't appeal to advertisers.    


     

    In Utah we have oldies, jazz, classical, etc stations.  I am not weighing in on the argument for or against the FM chip, but there are still lots of radio stations out there besides Hip Hop or Top 40/Pop.

     

    The one thing in favor of the FM  broadcasts on the phone is in emergencies information can quickly be distributed by radio.  Even if you don't listen day to day that much,  in an emergency you could easily switch over.

  • Reply 28 of 108
    desuserigndesuserign Posts: 1,316member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     



    That makes sense, however, I personally can't stand to listen to any pops or hiss. I can't imagine that swinging an antenna around wouldn't produce some audio artifacts. I suppose it all depends on how strong the signal is to start with. For the station that I like I need an expensive powered antenna connected to my home stereo. I can't get it satisfactorily with the radio in my car.


    Just not a factor. I'm sure if your at the edge of reception you might notice a problem, but hey, at the edge of cell reception you can't even get a stream, so . . . 

  • Reply 29 of 108
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member

    This should be marked "EDITORIAL" since it offers AI opinion ("misguided campaign")

     

    I listen to the radio all the time in my car.  How else am I going to win stuff?

  • Reply 30 of 108
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Ah, this brings back memories of the old days when the iPod was declared an EPIC FAIL because it didn’t have an FM tuner. Nobody in their right mind would buy an iPod because it lacked an FM tuner so the diatribe went. Even the cheapest no-name MP3 player had an FM tuner in it. What was Apple thinking they screamed! 

  • Reply 31 of 108
    Count me as one who wishes I had FM on my phone. Don't get me wrong - I love that I can listen to live terrestial radio stations on the web - but physical location is still important in so many ways.
  • Reply 32 of 108
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Honestly, I've wished for some time that all iPhones, iPads and iPod touches had FM or AM/FM tuners. I love my own music library, but sometimes I'd like to be able to tune into whatever is on the radio at that moment. I don't have an unlimited plan for my iPhone, so I typically cannot listen to anything current/live until I'm on WiFi.

  • Reply 33 of 108
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by lowededwookie View Post



    I would like FM but only if they allow recording of the stream. I have a Windows Nokia phone that work provided but while it has FM I can't record the stream. To get around this I connect my Windows phone to my iPhone via an iRig and a headphone splitter so I can still use the headphones as the antenna.



    I need the ability to record FM because some of the conferences I got to stream via FM for those hard of hearing



    Like this?

     

  • Reply 34 of 108
    jbdragonjbdragon Posts: 2,305member

    If you have T-Mobile, most of the Music streaming services don't count against your Data use!!! In fact I turn the higher quality sound to MAX and I stream everywhere.

  • Reply 35 of 108
    shaminoshamino Posts: 527member

    I would really like it if my devices has working FM tuners.  AM would be great too, but there are technical reasons why you can't cram an AM antenna into a small device.

     

    I would not, however, support any act of government trying to force the situation on unwilling manufacturers, which seems to be where the broadcasters want to go.

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post

    I strongly agree that the FM tuners (and AM as well) should be activated. I listen to old-school radio every single day and would very much like to be able to listen via my phone without having to stream.

     

    I concur.  I listen to broadcast radio all the time in my car, and at home (e.g. the clock-radio by my bed).  If I want to listen to radio while out walking, however, I need to bring an additional device (e.g. an ancient Walkman), since none of the portable electronics I usually carry (an iPhone 6+, an LG smartphone, a 4th-gen iPod Touch) have radio tuners.

     

    I would love to just run an app to stream my local stations (all the ones I like are on iHeart Radio) but I don't have an unlimited data plan, and I don't want to take a chance of going over my limit.

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ElectroTech View Post

    I haven't listened to radio for at least ten years. I do get streaming news from an all news station but that is all. Free the spectrum for digital NOW!

     

    There are digital radio broadcasts (e.g. HD-Radio and Satellite Radio) as well.  I'd love to be able to tune either of those on my phone as well.

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zoetmb View Post

    The question is how many people do not listen to streaming radio mainly because they're afraid of using too much data and being charged for it?  I bet it's very few.

    ...

    The other issue is what would listening to FM broadcasts on my phone do to battery life?


     

    I think there may be more people than you think.  When I was forced to drop my unlimited data plan a few years ago, my app-streaming habits changed radically.  I stopped streaming from iHeart Radio and Pandora and went back to listening to radio (both terrestrial and satellite) and to music sync'ed in from my computer.

     

    As for battery life, it won't be as bad as keeping your cellular radio transceiver running all the time as a result of streaming.

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    FM is basically line of sight. With such a tiny antenna inside a phone, you would not be able to pick up most stations with the quality you would want, especially for music, except the ones with 5000+ watt transmitters, and then you'll be listening to non-stop ads.

     

    It's been a long time since you use a portable radio, I see.  Or maybe you're too young to have spent a lot of time walking around with an FM Walkman.  Portable devices typically use the headphone wire as the antenna.  Reception is usually just as good as you'll get from a car stereo - not perfect, but usually pretty good if you are in an area that generally has good reception.  At least that's the way it was 20 years ago.  There's no reason why it shouldn't be that good or better today.

     

    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lowededwookie View Post

    I would like FM but only if they allow recording of the stream. I have a Windows Nokia phone that work provided but while it has FM I can't record the stream. ...

     

    I concur.  That would be a great feature.  There's no technical reason why not.  At least there shouldn't be.  I would hope that any such chip would digitize the received audio and run it through the same software mixer that the rest of the device's audio uses.  Recording should be a simple matter of running the right app.

     

    A DVR-like application (e.g. the ability to pause and rewind live audio, as well as timer-record programs) would be really great and shouldn't be too hard to implement.

     

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

    That makes sense, however, I personally can't stand to listen to any pops or hiss. I can't imagine that swinging an antenna around wouldn't produce some audio artifacts. I suppose it all depends on how strong the signal is to start with. For the station that I like I need an expensive powered antenna connected to my home stereo. I can't get it satisfactorily with the radio in my car.

     

    Well, everybody has different tolerances for what they find acceptable.  If you can't stand your car stereo's reception, then you probably wouldn't like anything from a portable device either.  But there are plenty of other people who have different opinions.

     

    For music, yes, I want CD-quality sound, and FM just doesn't cut it (although HD Radio does).  For news/sports/talk stations, however, I can put up with quite a lot of interference before I decide I'd rather turn it off.

  • Reply 36 of 108
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member

    I like having FM available on my phone.  Streaming is OK but it assumes you can get a mobile signal of WiFi, which, for all you city slickers, isn't always the case.  Just last Friday, my internet went down.  Turned out roadworks had cut a fiber trunk to the local exchange and the whole area was without phone service for a day.  At such times, FM can come in handy.

  • Reply 37 of 108
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    desuserign wrote: »
    Funny, as many have pointed out, it seems no problem at all with the radio equipped iPods, even the Nanos.

    The signal is radially broadcast. It's not line of sight. If they are discussing interference with mountains or valley's that's just an insurmountable dampening mass impeding the signal.
  • Reply 38 of 108
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    In my country streaming is problematic because of low monthly download limits. But for things like emergency broadcasts, FM is no good, as it is the province of ignorant breakfast radiio hosted by celebrity know nothing narcissists. It wold need to be an AM receiver.
  • Reply 39 of 108
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TeaEarleGreyHot View Post

    And the Norwegians aren't really an ideal model for the argument against. After all, they still eat dried fish.


    ... and act all virtuous about how clean their energy is -- and drive the most Teslas per-capita -- when pretty much all of their wealth comes from selling dirty fossil fuel to the world.

  • Reply 40 of 108
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post





    The signal is radially broadcast. It's not line of sight. If they are discussing interference with mountains or valley's that's just an insurmountable dampening mass impeding the signal.



    The station can choose to use either an omni-directional antenna or a directional antenna. With directional you can direct all the wattage toward your audience as is the case in my small town in Panama. The antenna is high on the hill and points towards town. With omni you get less distance because power is distributed in all directions.

     

    I was also under the impression that all RF is line of sight although it can to some degree be reflected off of planer surfaces and penetrate some materials which varies depending on power and frequency. At least that is the case with X-rays which I know a little bit about.

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