Submitted by johnh on October 17, 2004 - 22:05.
SoniqCast Aireo 2: 20GB MP3 player with built-in WiFi
I'm a radio person, so I don't really give a stuff about the 20Gb hard disk and the ability to spend money on ephemeral stuff that goes down the flusher at the first sign of a disk error - all that's in the realm of the rich kids as far as I'm concerned.
No, this is interesting because it has a Wifi adapter and can therefore stream internet radio. Sure, the number of places where you can wander around listening to your home town's breakfast show while abroad is limited *now*, but there's a clear trend developing.
Keep that spare eye on Wi-Max, and fer Chrissakes, if you've got money tied up in any company involved in DAB digital radio, get it the hell out.
For seven years now I've been boring people to death about this one, but here I go again because I'm right: eventually digital radio distribution will become a straight fight between
- DAB, where 'old' radio continues to make a long-term business plan out of spectrum scarcity. Where you'll never get more than 35 stations at a time, none of which you want to hear anyway. Where Capital FM and Heart own the airwaves.
- Portable internet radio delivered by 3G or WiMax or Satellite or whatever, where you can choose any radio station the hell you like from anywhere on earth. Where Des O'Connor FM - All Des, All The Time makes serious money because it owns all the Des fans in the world - while Capital FM is relegated to just one more of the 4500 available CHR stations on the dial. Where all the remaining financial impetus to waste spectrum on catering to common denominators is removed.
And in that straight fight to the death, digital radio is fucked in the first round.