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#1
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fm tuners (another perspective)
In today's Wall Street Journal there is an article on page 1 about how
the small, but mighty iPod is changing the face of FM. To summarize, with the consumer now being able to carry around a thousand songs in his pocket, there is less and less interest in FM (and AM is now pretty much news-talk). Broadcasters, who went through a spate of consolidations are now wondering if this kind of corporate ownership of many stations under one umbrella is going to be profitable, given their current need to limit commercial time (in order to play more songs) to counter the iPod, a device which has no commercials. Some are considering accelerating plans for converting to digital broadcasting in order to offer a superior product, but the cost and current lack of ubiquitous consumer hardware is a big gamble for them. In any case, the consumer market for traditional FM tuners may likely go the way of the compact cassette--something no one really cares about, anymore. michael |
#2
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In article ,
michael wrote: In today's Wall Street Journal there is an article on page 1 about how the small, but mighty iPod is changing the face of FM. To summarize, with the consumer now being able to carry around a thousand songs in his pocket, there is less and less interest in FM (and AM is now pretty much news-talk). Broadcasters, who went through a spate of consolidations are now wondering if this kind of corporate ownership of many stations under one umbrella is going to be profitable, given their current need to limit commercial time (in order to play more songs) to counter the iPod, a device which has no commercials. Some are considering accelerating plans for converting to digital broadcasting in order to offer a superior product, but the cost and current lack of ubiquitous consumer hardware is a big gamble for them. Funny how those broadcasters see this problem. Does it occur to them that unadventurous homogenized playlists and a reliance on music that sounds like what came before it ("She's great -- she sounds like a cross between Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne!") _might_ have something to do with FM's fading popularity? There's an old saying that was popular in the digital world long before digital-radio signals: garbage in, garbage out. It can be the best sound in the world, but if it's boring or dreck, it won't get much of an audience. The iPod didn't create _that_ problem. sd |
#3
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michael wrote:
In today's Wall Street Journal there is an article on page 1 about how the small, but mighty iPod is changing the face of FM. To summarize, with the consumer now being able to carry around a thousand songs in his pocket, there is less and less interest in FM (and AM is now pretty much news-talk). Broadcasters, who went through a spate of consolidations are now wondering if this kind of corporate ownership of many stations under one umbrella is going to be profitable, given their current need to limit commercial time (in order to play more songs) to counter the iPod, a device which has no commercials. snip michael Is this is another ad for the iPod or what? The presumption is absolutly ridiculous. In the first place there are not enough ipods sold to really have this effect. And there are a ten- or hundredfold more MP3 players out there, which are not supposed to have the same outcome? Whatever the case, those players replace the old cassette-walkmen and not FM-radios. If you listen to Radio you want the news, traffic situation or entertainment while driving the car, situations that are not even mentioned in the article. And who connects the Ipod in the car? Another clientel of FM stations are the housewifes, hardly able to connect and operate the ipod. So Michael, do not believe every news, even if in the Wall Street Journal. -- ciao Ban Bordighera, Italy |
#4
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"sd" wrote in message
... In article , michael wrote: In today's Wall Street Journal there is an article on page 1 about how the small, but mighty iPod is changing the face of FM. To summarize, with the consumer now being able to carry around a thousand songs in his pocket, there is less and less interest in FM (and AM is now pretty much news-talk). Broadcasters, who went through a spate of consolidations are now wondering if this kind of corporate ownership of many stations under one umbrella is going to be profitable, given their current need to limit commercial time (in order to play more songs) to counter the iPod, a device which has no commercials. Some are considering accelerating plans for converting to digital broadcasting in order to offer a superior product, but the cost and current lack of ubiquitous consumer hardware is a big gamble for them. Funny how those broadcasters see this problem. Does it occur to them that unadventurous homogenized playlists and a reliance on music that sounds like what came before it ("She's great -- she sounds like a cross between Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne!") _might_ have something to do with FM's fading popularity? There's an old saying that was popular in the digital world long before digital-radio signals: garbage in, garbage out. It can be the best sound in the world, but if it's boring or dreck, it won't get much of an audience. The iPod didn't create _that_ problem. My 21 year old friends and his son's listen only to college radio (we are blessed with over a half-dozen nearby). He says "they're the only ones playing a variety of new music". He's right, so far as I can tell. |
#5
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michael wrote:
In any case, the consumer market for traditional FM tuners may likely go the way of the compact cassette--something no one really cares about, anymore. Like others here, I don't think that the iPod is the problem. Unlike others, I don't think that the character of the material being broadcast on FM is an issue either. Nope. FM is gonna go the way of the open reel tape deck just because it's essentially obsolete. I was hanging out with a friend who's a loudspeaker designer/hobbyiest and he was playing Internet Radio over his Apple Mac laptop and damn if it didn't sound good! Who needs FM when they can listen to this! There's a gazillion stations to listen to and tons of stuff to choose from. My favorite FM station went off the air about 10 years ago. Radio station KJAZ in the San Francisco area always had a great sense of what swings. At least to my ear. The guys who ran that station are not "broadcasting" on Shoutcast and it sounds pretty good! To get good FM sound, you need to do the whole persnickity analog thing. Put up a roof mounted FM antenna, run good quality co-ax cable to a quality FM tuner, and to judge from what we've been reading here, there aren't any really good FM tuners being built any more. Those tuners where really are good are 10 to 20 years old and are God-awful expensive. Anyone price a Sequerra, Marantz 10B, McIntosh MR-71, etc lately? It's only a matter of time before some enterprising fool comes up with a dedicated Internet Radio gizmo. Geez. You could do it with a $300 used Dell laptop, Fedora Linux, the free RealAudio player, and a broadband connection. Russ |
#6
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Russ Button wrote:
michael wrote: In any case, the consumer market for traditional FM tuners may likely go the way of the compact cassette--something no one really cares about, anymore. Like others here, I don't think that the iPod is the problem. Unlike others, I don't think that the character of the material being broadcast on FM is an issue either. Nope. FM is gonna go the way of the open reel tape deck just because it's essentially obsolete. I was hanging out with a friend who's a loudspeaker designer/hobbyiest and he was playing Internet Radio over his Apple Mac laptop and damn if it didn't sound good! Who needs FM when they can listen to this! There's a gazillion stations to listen to and tons of stuff to choose from. My favorite FM station went off the air about 10 years ago. Radio station KJAZ in the San Francisco area always had a great sense of what swings. At least to my ear. The guys who ran that station are not "broadcasting" on Shoutcast and it sounds pretty good! To get good FM sound, you need to do the whole persnickity analog thing. Put up a roof mounted FM antenna, run good quality co-ax cable to a quality FM tuner, and to judge from what we've been reading here, there aren't any really good FM tuners being built any more. Those tuners where really are good are 10 to 20 years old and are God-awful expensive. Anyone price a Sequerra, Marantz 10B, McIntosh MR-71, etc lately? It's only a matter of time before some enterprising fool comes up with a dedicated Internet Radio gizmo. Geez. You could do it with a $300 used Dell laptop, Fedora Linux, the free RealAudio player, and a broadband connection. Russ So true. I'd like to add that, things like the Ipod and any personal player could not possibly kill FM radio entirely because these formats address different needs. An ipod lets you play YOUR music. FM radio, like internet radio, broadcasts music to everyone and gives them the chance to discover new music they might like. How are you going to discover new music in an ipod? Sure, you can borrow someone elses playlists or download songs from the net, but its not as seamless and wide ranging as simply turning on the radio. CD |
#7
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In article ,
Russ Button wrote: I was hanging out with a friend who's a loudspeaker designer/hobbyiest and he was playing Internet Radio over his Apple Mac laptop and damn if it didn't sound good! Who needs FM when they can listen to this! There's a gazillion stations to listen to and tons of stuff to choose from. Internet radio has a long way to go until it can kill off terrestrial FM. For one, there is the matter of that cable. Even if you're accessing the Internet radio station on a wireless network, there's still some pipe bringing that bandwidth into the building. Wi-Fi isn't yet prevalent enough to let people connect outside, or in every store or public place, etc. Second, it _is_ a matter of bandwidth. I listen to a fair amount of Internet radio on my Mac and the quality ranges from AM-mono to really, really good, depending on the bandwidth and the station (not all of them "broadcast" at the highest bandwidth levels). Finally, there may be a shipload of Internet radio stations now, but they're all competing for funding. Not all of them are likely to get it (New Wave Klezmer, anyone?). Especially with growing competition from Internet feeds of XM and Sirius (at least in the U.S.). I like (and support) Internet radio. But I don't kid myself for a moment that it will be taking over FM's role anytime soon. sd |
#8
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Codifus wrote:
Russ Button wrote: michael wrote: In any case, the consumer market for traditional FM tuners may likely go the way of the compact cassette--something no one really cares about, anymore. Like others here, I don't think that the iPod is the problem. Unlike others, I don't think that the character of the material being broadcast on FM is an issue either. Nope. FM is gonna go the way of the open reel tape deck just because it's essentially obsolete. I was hanging out with a friend who's a loudspeaker designer/hobbyiest and he was playing Internet Radio over his Apple Mac laptop and damn if it didn't sound good! Who needs FM when they can listen to this! There's a gazillion stations to listen to and tons of stuff to choose from. My favorite FM station went off the air about 10 years ago. Radio station KJAZ in the San Francisco area always had a great sense of what swings. At least to my ear. The guys who ran that station are not "broadcasting" on Shoutcast and it sounds pretty good! To get good FM sound, you need to do the whole persnickity analog thing. Put up a roof mounted FM antenna, run good quality co-ax cable to a quality FM tuner, and to judge from what we've been reading here, there aren't any really good FM tuners being built any more. Those tuners where really are good are 10 to 20 years old and are God-awful expensive. Anyone price a Sequerra, Marantz 10B, McIntosh MR-71, etc lately? It's only a matter of time before some enterprising fool comes up with a dedicated Internet Radio gizmo. Geez. You could do it with a $300 used Dell laptop, Fedora Linux, the free RealAudio player, and a broadband connection. Russ So true. I'd like to add that, things like the Ipod and any personal player could not possibly kill FM radio entirely because these formats address different needs. An ipod lets you play YOUR music. FM radio, like internet radio, broadcasts music to everyone and gives them the chance to discover new music they might like. How are you going to discover new music in an ipod? Sure, you can borrow someone elses playlists or download songs from the net, but its not as seamless and wide ranging as simply turning on the radio. CD If the point is that the iPod reduces people's tendency to listen to music on FM stations, then it might be a valid point for an increasing large group of people. I have installed the connections in my cars so that I can listen to my iPod through the car stereos, and that sounds wonderful, much better than FM. I also find out that if I use the Shuffle feature, then I do not know which song will be played next, and it is sort of like listening to the radio. I still listen to a FM station, though: the local NPR station. The real threat to FM is the satellite radio stations (Sirius and XM Radio in the US). I have XM, and I listen to it a lot, for music and other entertainment. |
#9
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In any case, the consumer market for traditional FM tuners may
likely go the way of the compact cassette--something no one really cares about, anymore. The technology of FM radio isn't that bad, it's the content of FM radio that is horrible. I've had an MP3 player in my car for almost two years now. Every now and then, I'll try to listen to FM radio and it is just awful, nothing but commercials and people yapping. An MP3 player is a little bit of work to set up but I find that I enjoy setting up folders of one type of music or another. Now, my MP3 player is almost perfect for travel on an airplane or in my car. I've got folders of everything I enjoy and I've got folders that my kids like. It's like the perfect radio. When I want to listen to something new, I surf the net, looking for downloads. BTW, I have an Archos Gmini 200 which is significantly smaller and cheaper than an iPod. It stores 20G and I bought it for $217. The battery lasts five hours. It really does fit into a shirt pocket. Check this out: http://www6.tomshardware.com/mobile/20041230/ |
#10
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"sd" wrote in message
... In article , Russ Button wrote: I was hanging out with a friend who's a loudspeaker designer/hobbyiest and he was playing Internet Radio over his Apple Mac laptop and damn if it didn't sound good! Who needs FM when they can listen to this! There's a gazillion stations to listen to and tons of stuff to choose from. Internet radio has a long way to go until it can kill off terrestrial FM. For one, there is the matter of that cable. Even if you're accessing the Internet radio station on a wireless network, there's still some pipe bringing that bandwidth into the building. Wi-Fi isn't yet prevalent enough to let people connect outside, or in every store or public place, etc. Second, it _is_ a matter of bandwidth. I listen to a fair amount of Internet radio on my Mac and the quality ranges from AM-mono to really, really good, depending on the bandwidth and the station (not all of them "broadcast" at the highest bandwidth levels). Finally, there may be a shipload of Internet radio stations now, but they're all competing for funding. Not all of them are likely to get it (New Wave Klezmer, anyone?). Especially with growing competition from Internet feeds of XM and Sirius (at least in the U.S.). I like (and support) Internet radio. But I don't kid myself for a moment that it will be taking over FM's role anytime soon. How does HD radio fit into this picture? I understand it's a digital signal riding on the existing analog signal. At the moment, it seems that the prices are too high for the average consumer, but maybe in the future? Norm |
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