AOL Turns the iPhone into an Expensive Radio

A new AOL Radio application will connect to AOL’s servers by way of the cellular network, reports Bits.

"The phone’s GPS system will monitor signals from satellites orbiting 12,000 miles in space in order to determine your location. This will automatically determine your location and tune to the digital stream from the nearest CBS station.

... The AOL service lets you listen to some 200 stations, including CBS radio stations and others programmed to 25 genres.

The AOL application will work over a Wi-Fi connection and the cellular data network with both the original iPhone and the faster 3G iPhone. Kevin Conroy, an executive vice president of AOL, said in an e-mail that the application offers sound quality as good as listening to a CD."

Nokia kicks off mobile Internet radio

Nokia today gave owners of its 3G smartphones a new alternative for music with the launch of its self-run Internet Radio service, reports electronista.

"The software is built not just to stream radio directly to the phone but also to encourage finding new music through filtering radio stations"

Instant music with mobile phone downloads

Radio listeners will be able to instantly buy the songs they hear by pressing a few buttons on their mobile phone, thanks to a new service, called Cliq. The Telelgraph reports.

"Customers will need to load Cliq software on to their phones. It will then deliver, in text form, a list of the last five songs played by each participating radio station.

To buy a song, the customer will click on the selected track and it will download to their PC. Each song costs £1.25.

Listeners do not need a radio player on their mobile phone to use the service. The phone can function as a remote control to buy songs heard on a car or kitchen radio.

From next year, Cliq, developed by independent radio production company UBC Media Group, will be pre-installed on digital radios. UBC has struck at deal with Pure, which makes 40 per cent of digital sets sold in the UK.

...The technology will work on 85 per cent of handsets released in the past 18 months, but only on computers which use Windows software."

Download radios on the way

Radios that let consumers hear songs they like and immediately download them at the touch of a "buy now" button are on the way. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"The technology - tested in Britain but previously unseen in Australia - will allow people to put money into accounts and then buy music directly through their digital radios, which would also store the tunes.

The system is scheduled to be made available in Britain in December and an updated version using superior radios will launch in Australia in just under 15 months, the Australian representative for radio manufacturer Pure Digital, Graeme Redman, will tell a radio industry conference today.

"It's the first interactive application on radio," he said before the event, adding that the price of the downloads would be comparable with other legal online services such as iTunes.

The Melbourne conference will host the Australian industry's first demonstration of a mobile phone capable of receiving digital radio broadcasts with pictures, according to the CEO of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner.

The images could show a song's artist, album cover or other material. On-air mentions of an advertiser's phone number or product could also come with pictures, she said."

Internet Radio Races To Break Free of the PC

Start-ups and giants are jockeying for position in mobile Internet radio, in a race that could rearrange the business model of music and broadcasting. The WSJ reports.

36 % of Finns have a radio on their cell phone

According to Finnpanel 1,6 million Finns (older than 9 years) have a radio on their cell phone.

You might say "that´s not much", but that is actually 36 % of the finnish population (in 2005 the figure was 17 %).

[via About Nokia]

Sprint to offer Pandora streaming radio

Sprint Nextel Corp. has teamed with Pandora, a popular online music service, to deliver personalized streaming radio to its mobile phone users. The Associated Press reports.

"Pandora is a free Internet-based radio service that lets people create stations based on their favorite artists and other songs it finds that match in style.

The music service has attracted 6.9 million users since launching in November 2005 and was recently banned, along with a dozen other popular media Web sites, such as YouTube and MySpace, from the Defense Department's computer system because of network bandwidth concerns.

Pandora's Internet radio service now will be available beyond computers — on Sprint beginning Wednesday. It will be free for the first 30 days of use but will cost an additional $2.99 per month with a Sprint data plan. The service will work initially on five phone models but will expand to all high-speed data phones sold by Sprint by the end of June, the company said.

Listen To Streaming Music On your Phone

Listen to thousands of Streaming Internet Radio Stations on your Mobile Phones, Pocket PC and PDA devices, thanks to mundu radio.

All you have to do is download the free mundu radio application software for your phone and start listening. [Techecho via digg]

Stereo Bluetooth Car Kits

A new car kit points toward the next hot trend in mobile audio: wireless music playback from phones and MP3 players using Bluetooth. [via Wired's Blog Listening Post]

Motorola iRadio Debuts Public Radio Content

Millions of loyal public radio listeners in the US will soon be able to tune in to their favorite public radio programs and podcasts on-the-go and on-demand through Motorola's iRadio service. [via ContentBusiness]

"The service includes a growing library of more than 600 channels of music and talk, best-selling audio book content, educational and language courses, self-help programs, local news and weather, and classic radio shows."

Phone firms, makers pin hopes on digital radio

According to Kyodo News, reparations are under way for the March startup of digital radio broadcasting, a technology that will offer listeners both high-quality sound and songs now available only on cell phones, as well as data transmission of software and animation, among other services.

"Mobile phone firms and electronics manufacturers are eagerly awaiting the start of digital radio, seeing it as a means of delivering not only CD-quality sound, but also animation and cell phone ringtones.

... Another advantage of the new format is its ability to transmit large amounts of data to an unlimited number of people simultaneously at low cost using radio waves.

Radio stations will broadcast music digitally and listeners with a special receiver will be able to store it for later listening.

Cell phone companies have already set up a pricing and royalty payment system to address the copyright issue and are hoping the system will require only minor adjustments once the service begins."

Live Radio Comes to Cingular Cell Phones

Radio giant, Clear Channel Communications, has unveiled an America-wide mobile strategy to extend its local radio brands into the world of mobile phones, reports Teleclick.ca.

"Cingular Wireless customers will now be able to listen to live radio on their handsets, as well as download feature content, send SMS song requests, and access constantly updated traffic information".

RealNetworks Launches Streaming Music On Sprint Phones

Real Networks on Monday said it was expanding its music subscription service by offering streaming tunes to Sprint phones. Information Week reports.

"RealNetworks is offering Rhapsody Radio as an option on seven advanced cellular phones offered by Sprint.

The service offers a wide variety of streaming music stations that cover genres ranging from alternative rock and country to pop and rap. "

Related: - RealNetworks, Sprint Will Offer Radio via Phones

Visual Radio Finally Launches with O2 and Virgin Radio

Two radio stations in the UK, Virgin Radio in London, and GWR FM in Bristol will be launching support for Visual Radio, reports Digital-Lifestyles.info.

James Parton, Head of Music, TV and Radio products at O2 comments, "The in-built radios in many of our handsets have always been popular with people who are always on the move, but now visual radio lets you really interact whether that is with the actual DJ themselves or downloading ringtones of your favourite songs over the O2 network."

Visual Radio (VR) is a traditional radio broadcast, backed up and accompanied with information, photographs and graphics displayed on a compatible mobile phone. Handset owners can see immediately what track their favourite radio station is playing and explore more information about the artists, or see what's coming up next. You can all see the potential for album promotions, competitions and quizzes – and advertising. The service can also be used to sell ringtones and logos – other micropayment-sized virtual goods popular with network operators.

Scout: The City in Audio

Scout: The City in Audio, developed by Emily Conrad, Todd Holoubek and Jeffrey Galusha, is an urban broadcast, transmitting live audio from throughout New York City.

During Conflux 2006, Scout will be heard on unused FM frequencies. Each Scout will be sampling a different part of New York City. The “scouts” are cell phones always on, often in motion, and they tirelessly report real time news from the street. Their audio streams are received by five receivers at the scout base camp which broadcast each stream on unused FM radio frequencies. The broadcast can only be heard within 200 feet of the Conflux, but will be available online after the event.

The developers of the projects wil provide 20 to 25 walkman radios to connect with the scouts, though people should be encouraged to bring their own.

XM Channels to Air on Alltel Cell Phones

XM Satellite Radio Inc. has made a deal with Alltel Wireless, a cell phone service provider, to distribute some of XM's commercial-free channels over cell phones, reports Forbes. The deal will allow Alltel subscribers to get access to 20 XM music channels for a monthly fee of $7.99.

The pact mirrors a similar arrangement announced last year between XM's competitor Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and Sprint.

Sirius and Sprint have not said how many customers have signed up for their service, which launched last September.

Related:

-- Telus cellphones to relay music, entertainment from XM satellite radio

Telus cellphones to relay music, entertainment from XM satellite radio

Users of high-end Tellus cellphones can now access live streaming music and entertainment programs from the devices, reports The Canadian Press.

"Tellus aid Thursday it has struck a deal with XM Satellite Radio that lets its clients listen to real-time programming.

"It's a revolution in mobile entertainment," Stephen Tapp, president of XM Canada boasted in a release."

Sports Radio Stations Will Air on Mobile Phones

A deal to make several sports radio stations available on mobile phones is part of a broader attempt by radio companies to make sure their content is available on emerging technology platforms, reports the WSJ.

"CBS Corp. and Clear Channel Communications Inc. have cut deals with mobile-phone content provider MSpot Inc. to get some of their biggest sports stations onto mobile phones.

The stations will be available to Sprint subscribers with Mspot-compatible phones who pay an additional $5.95 per month for the MSpot sports package."

Radio firm offers phone downloads

UK radio group Chrysalis is to test a scheme where songs played on the stations can be downloaded to mobile phones, announces BBC News.

The 100 participants in the two-month trial can choose to buy any song they hear, with MP3 copies being sent to their phone and their home computer.

UBC's chief executive Simon Cole said: "If you press 'Buy' when you're listening to James Blunt on Heart, the file is immediately added to your library in the phone. "The server also pushes a 128-kilobyte version of the song to your home account so it's also on your computer waiting to be put on your iPod. We think people will be willing to pay a premium for that level of service."

If launched commercially (probably in December), the service would be likely to have a subscription, plus an unspecified fee per download.

Téléphone Trottoire

In a country where free speech has been censored for over forty years, Congolese people spread information while standing on the pavement – by ‘Radio Trottoire’ (sidewalk radio) or ‘pavement radio’.

Mongrel’s Téléphone Trottoire (sidewalk telephone) is a radio programme that can be passed between telephone users, encouraging London’s Congolese community to share music tracks and news extracts and discuss them over their phones.

... “Telephone Trottoire” randomly phones up radio listeners and plays them tracks from the “Nostalgie Ya Mboka” music archive or news extracts from “Londres Na Biso”. Each listener then has the option of recording a response or passing the call on to another number of their choice. Congolese music and culture will eventually ripple out to anyone with a phone number.

Virgin First With Radio Mobcasts

Virgin Radio is launching a series of mobcasts that will enable listeners to wirelessly download its Christian O’Connell, Al Murray Pub Landlord and Geoff Lloyd podcasts straight to their mobiles, reports Mobile Marketing Magazine.

"The service is available on Nokia handsets, and uses ‘spodradio ’ software from LiquidAirLab.com, a developer of mobile radio and mobile podcasting solutions.

The software will be available as a free download on the Virgin Radio website, and will also enable listeners to tune in to Virgin Radio, Virgin Radio Classic Rock, Virgin Radio Xtreme and Virgin Radio Groove via GPRS or UMTS. The service launches later this month."

[via SMS Text News ]

O2 to launch 'radio with pictures'

O2 has pledged to become the first mobile phone network to bring Nokia's 'visual radio' technology to UK consumers, courtesy of a tie-in with the Virgin Radio station. It's a "completely new kind of radio experience", apparently, according to The Register.

"According to O2, it's all about providing "interactive mobile content" relating to the song or show they're listening to.

The service goes live next month with Virgin as the first station, though others will be added in the near future, O2 said. Punters will need a Nokia handset, of course, with an FM radio receiver to pick up the broadcasts. The "interactive mobile content" is delivered across the cellular network, synchronised with the show currently on air."

Nokia launched visual radio more than two years ago."

Cellphone industry goes gaga for radio

Reporting from the world’s music market, the MIDEM held in Cannes, the IHT writes about radio broadcasting over cell phones.

... "Radio now involves companies from the public broadcaster BBC to T-Mobile, the German cellphone operator, and Sony Network Services

New type of radio are popping up such as Radio DJ, is neither a mass media nor a broadcast. This "radio" lets the listener train a music service to personalize the song offerings, and the signal is available only over third-generation mobile phone networks.

... Established Internet radio providers are moving into the mobile phone. Whether any of these mobile versions of "radio" could ever take off the way portable AM or FM did is unknown, but they do give paying customers more music options."

Vodafone Launches Radio DJ Service With Sony

Vodafone and Sony NetServices announced Monday a partnership for the global roll-out of a fully convergent music service - Vodafone Radio DJ - offering interactive, personalised radio channels streamed to both 3G mobile phones and personal computers. [via Cellular News]

"With Vodafone Radio DJ, customers have access to hundreds of thousands of songs, both current popular hits and back catalogue, from the world's largest record companies, and many smaller independent labels. Customers can access streamed radio channels, bespoke collections, and channels defined by customers themselves.

... Vodafone Radio DJ will be launched in six European countries in the coming months, namely U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. It is intended it will then be rolled out to more than 20 countries worldwide over the following twelve months.

MobiTV, MSpot Make Strides in Mobile Music

mobiTV and Cingular Wireless have teamed up to offer Cingular subscribers first access to streaming music via MobiTV's MobiRadio service, the companies announced Monday.

The MobiRadio application, available on select Cingular handsets, currently offers approximately 40 channels of streaming digital music, according to a recent news release via Ziff Davis.

"MobiRadio will offer dozens of interruption-free audio music channels programmed by Music Choice, the premier music network. The channel line-up features a wide variety of popular music genres, including Urban, Rock, and Country, in addition to Electronica, Reggae, Jazz, and Classical."

RealNetworks, Sprint Will Offer Radio via Phones

Sprint Nextel Corp. and RealNetworks Inc. today plan to introduce an Internet radio service for Sprint wireless customers, in another step by U.S. carriers to add music capabilities to mobile phones, reports the WSJ.

"The deal is the first to bring a portion of the Rhapsody music service, from Seattle-based RealNetworks, to wireless phones. Rhapsody Radio for Sprint PCS customers has a half-dozen channels of music programs.

... Rhapsody Radio allows users to listen to "streams," or broadcasts, of music programming that require a constant connection to Sprint's wireless network."

More in Moco News.

Download Music From the Radio onto your Cell Phone

Music On Command has just implemented new software for downloading songs to your mobile phone from a radio station, called: MOC Mobile.

MOC Mobile allows users to SMS and have songs delivered to their mobile unit for download directly to their mobile device through our server network.

Music On Command has setup a demo site for users to see what the future brings for mobile downloading, at www.musiconcommand.com.

According to a press release:

"We are the first to launch our beta site in the mobile phone technology industry for downloading songs directly to the phone. We are the only provider with patent pending technologies to provide real time radio play for download as you hear it, through your computer and/or your handheld phone".

Dial R for Radio on Your Cell

Scores of companies are betting that delivering audio content of all kinds to handsets could be as big a camera phones and ringtones, according to Business Week.

A good story on radio on mobiles, though it confuses a bit among all the approaches being tried out in the market... it covers Motorola's iRadio trials, Nokia's Visual Radio, Crown Castle's DVB-H approach, Sirius' recent deal with Sprint, Mercora's P2P streaming, Sprint's Mspot effort and Qualcomm's MediaFlow effort…

Cell-phone radio should generate a little over $70 million in sales in 2005, estimates market researcher IDC.

[via Moco News]

Nokia drives 'visual radio'

'Visual Radio' as a concept is all set to enter the Indian sub-continent, backed by Finland based handset major Nokia, according to CIOL.

"... Through the Visual Radio – listening to radio from a mobile would never be the same – as the service would allow listeners to tune in to FM radio and at the same time, view interactive information and graphics on their Nokia mobile handset.

For example, one would be able to see the title and artist of a song playing on the radio, and participate in radio station promotions and various quiz programs interactively."

Sirius to supply music to Sprint phones

Sirius Satellite Radio on Tuesday said it reached a deal to supply music channels to telecommunications company Sprint on a mobile phone to be introduced later this year.

Sirius said channels being evaluated by the two companies include new hits, classic rock, hip-hop, country and blues. [via The Washington Post].

'Visual radio' headed for U.S. cell phones

"Visual Radio" is coming to the United States--and no, that's not just a newfangled name for a TV set, reports News.com.

"Radio giant Infinity Broadcasting is working with Hewlett-Packard to bring a kind of Net-enabled FM radio to U.S. markets, sending information such as album art, concert dates and buy-this-album buttons alongside broadcasts.

The broadcasts will be aimed at a new generation of FM radio-enabled phones, as well as the digital information carried over cellular phone carriers' airwaves, rather than on the one-way FM broadcasts.

The companies hope to turn the service into a new advertising and revenue source for traditional radio, which is facing increasing competition from satellite radio and Internet Webcasts.

Once digitized, the radio stations will be able to include browsable data more directly alongside songs, instead of resorting to the phone carrier networks to transmit these services.

The visual radio concept is already operating commercially in Finland, and is being tested in several other markets including England and Germany. "

Motorola Set to Unveil iRadio for Cell Phones

Motorola is set to unveil a service called iRadio that will let users download preselected audio content from a range of providers on their home computers, download it on their cell phones and listen to it on their car stereos, reports The New York Times.

"The iRadio service, which will let customers download 10 hours of content at a time, will be available at the subscription cost of about $5 to $7 a month. When not driving, customers can listen to content on a phone with a headset.access to more than 100 channels."

Clear Channel aims to broadcast on cell phones

Clear Channel Communications intends to begin offering some of its radio programs to cell phones this year. Clear Channel is the largest owner of radio stations in the US, reports Reuters via Mobile Tracker.

"We're talking to a lot of (U.S.) cell phone providers," Clear Channel Radio Chief Executive Officer John Hogan told Reuters in an interview.

The San Antonio, Texas, company said it plans to let U.S. cell phone users download or access originally produced radio programs as early as the end of this year.

The talks are part of a company objective to modernize the traditional radio business by finding new distribution outlets for its programming."

New service brings radio to phones

Start-up MSpot hopes to take on the fledgling satellite radio industry with a new service that delivers streaming news, talk and music programming to mobile phones. [via NY Times]

"Palo Alto, Calif.-based MSpot is set to launch its MSpot Radio service on Monday, initially targeting customers of Sprint's PCS Vision mobile phone service.

The service will start out with 13 channels of live and on-demand programming, including feeds from National Public Radio. All programming is delivered as a streaming media feed over the Web, making it accessible by just about any Web-ready phone with an all-you-can-eat data plan. MSpot will charge $5.95 a month for the service."

Bypassing the radio in Israel

Israelis are getting more and more dependent on their mobile phones, reports Haaretz. Especially the 15-30 age group, hooked on ringtones, ringbacktones and truetones.

"It is an excellent opportunity for us to reach the young audience," says Boaz Ben-Tzion, manager for artists Machina and Eli Yatzpan. "It is a new start for all musicians and for local music. I think the popularity of music on cellphones will inject adrenaline into the industry."

Within a few months, when Machina goes on tour in the US, Cellcom subscribers will be able to see live clips of the concerts. "Anywhere music can be transmitted is good," agrees Haim Slutzky, another music manager.

Anywhere music can be transmitted and make a profit, not like the major problem facing the music world with the file sharing sites. Besides, contracts between artists and phone companies bypass another sore spot - radio stations.

"This move bypasses the playlists and the radio station managers who decide for all the listeners who will be heard and who won't," comments Ben-Tzion. "On the cellphone, each subscriber will decide what he wants to hear and when."

"The term mainstream has been blurred thanks to cellphones," says Haim Shemesh, in charge of the repertoire at NMC Music. "The playlist culture that tries to present a specific type of music - while many consumers want to listen to and be exposed to other music - will find it difficult to maintain control," he says.

NMC has embarked on a joint venture with Shabak Music, which represents a group of artists that transfer musical content to subscribers to Pelephone's youth brand Esc. The group's members will provide Pelephone with a stream of songs, including ones that have not been released on radio.

"Recording companies the world over were not prepared for the big process that swept over the music market in the past decade," says Shemesh, "but the technology exists, and we are happy to join it."

Virgin Radio offers 3G broadcast

More on Virgin Radio's broadcast to cell phones. From the BBC.

"UK broadcaster Virgin Radio says it will become the first station in the world to offer radio via 3G mobiles.

"The radio station, in partnership with technology firm Sydus will broadcast on selected 2G and high-speed 3G networks.

Later this year listeners will be able to download software from the Virgin website which enables the service. James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio said: "This application will enable anyone, anywhere to listen to Virgin Radio simply with the phone in their pocket.

"This allows us to tap into a huge new audience and keep radio relevant for a new generation of listeners."

Related article: - Virgin takes radio to 3G

Nokia's welcoming Kiss to Visual Radio

Nokia is teaming up with Finnish radio station Kiss FM to to broadcast what they've called is a world first - Visual Radio [via T3 - News]

Update Apologies for comparing it previously in this post to music recognition technology, I got it all wrong. This article in InfoSync World may shed more light as well as Visual Radio's "how it works" page.

You simply turn the Visual Radio mode on your handset (you don't dial a number to identify a song like with Shazam.)

"Kiss FM Visual Radio provides visual information on the song and artist currently playing on the radio, including album information and future tour dates. By pushing a button, listeners can take part in competitions and audience polls, buy ring tones and wallpapers for their phone, and among other things book tickets for concerts."

The three phones Nokia launched earlier this week – the 7710, the 3230 and the 6230 – will be the first to feature the Visual Radio application, with more compatible handsets released throughout the year".

Technology Plays Satellite Radio On Cell Phones

Calypso Wireless said Wednesday that it has developed technology that will make it easy to listen to satellite radio broadcasts on devices such as cell phones, PDAs and portable music players. [via Mobile Pipeline].

"Calypso said in a statement that it has applied for a patent for the technology, which would allow mobile devices to receive signals from vendors such as XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. The signals would only be received if the user subscribes to those services."

Virgin takes radio to 3G

According to Neimperative, Virgin Radio claims to have has launched a new service allowing current mobile users on GRPS and 3G networks to listen to the station.

Virgin Radio, Virgin Radio Classic Rock and Virgin Radio Groove will be available after downloading a free piece of software from the station's website

However there was no sign of the software on the site this morning".

Tech problems happens. Let's keep checking them out in the next couple of days.

Dialling your way out of dates from hell

In Australia, Virgin Mobile's "SOS RING" launches just in time for Valentine's Day. The new service, devised following an online customer survey, will enable customers to discreetly dial 767 - or SOS - from dating hell, reports The Age.

"They will receive a call back almost immediately and a recorded voice will provide an excuse for leaving, at a cost of 25 cents.

The recorded service asks the customer to calmly repeat phrases such as "Not in the toilet, Grandad" or "No, no itching, why?", then make their apologies before leaving.

The service follows the introduction of Virgin's "Dialling Under the Influence", which allows customers to block their phone from calling a former lover or boss before they embark on a big night out in an effort to avoid embarrassing drunken declarations of love or anger."

Related service from Virgin Mobile USA:

-- Rescue Rings - Giving whole new meaning to "saved by the bell", Virgin Mobile USA offered it's subscribers the option to set up a "Rescue Ring to" escape any situation. They only need to schedule a time when they want to receive a call. "Save yourself from bad dates, boring meetings, or any other situation that needs interrupting". (This post dates back to May 2003 and I can't seem to find the service online now).

Sony Set To Stream to Cells

The StreamMan cometh—that's Sony Corp.'s message for the emerging international mobile-music sector, reports Billboard Radio Monitor.

"StreamMan is a subscription-based service described by Sony as the world's first personalized mobile-music venture. It allows cell phone users to stream tracks that are also available for purchase as downloads.

StreamMan is positioned as an interactive radio tuner which enables consumers to create personalized uninterrupted radio stations on their cell phones and to discover new music.

Wony is now setting up the international roll-out for the StreamMan service. “Initially, we were focusing on only Europe,” says Sony Network Service European senior VP Robert Ashcroft. “But we're in discussions with a very large number of operators around the world, including the U.S., and Asia.”

Related cell phone/radio services:

-- Instant Radio Feedback From Your Cell Phone - Nokia is set to introduce mobile phone technology that allows listeners to send instant feedback on songs to radio stations, as well as compete in contests.

-- Sprint Will Offer a Radio Service That Plays Music Over Cellphones - The service, which will cost $5.99 a month, will let customers listen to commercial-free streams of music from channels including R&B/hip-hop, hit list, 80's, 90's, and a combined country and rock.

Music recognition services involving cell phones and radios/TVs:

-- Fido Names That Tune

-- Asia's First Mobile Music Recognition Service

-- Shazam in the UK and Europe

-- Gracenote's service