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The Rise of Media Independence (Linux Journal)
Doc Searls predicts
the end of radio. "Today, if I want to put a show on the radio, I
don't bother with radio at all. I record an .mp3 file, put it on a Web site
and "enclose" a pointer in an RSS feed. Anybody who picks up the feed or
downloads the file can get the recording, anywhere on the Net. Which is
"right here" for anywhere with a connection, anywhere in the world. Which
is why radio as we know it is doomed."
(Log in to post comments)
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 14, 2006 20:07 UTC (Fri) by kena (subscriber, #2735) [Link] Apparently, Doc Searles hasn't thought about those pesky little commuters. The phrase "Drive Time" appears to not ring a bell. The fact that the vast majority of office workers don't now -- and never had -- a radio going is beside the point.
Okay, I'll stop beating the rotting equine corpse, but the bottom line is that sure, Web stuff is nifty, but there's a REASON web radio hasn't taken off. And, until true convergence occurs -- both in the living room, AND in the car -- radio is going to be sticking around.
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 14, 2006 22:14 UTC (Fri) by iabervon (subscriber, #722) [Link] That's actually the next line in his article after the quoted part. But I think that we're going to see people getting podcasts overnight or in the middle of the day, and listening to them in their cars on portable media players plugged into their car stereos. It's relatively rare that people in cars actually want what they listen to to be live, rather than just new. There's traffic reports and sports coverage, but most other things would be better if they waited while you stopped at the grocery store on the way home.
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 14, 2006 22:38 UTC (Fri) by ronaldcole (guest, #1462) [Link] Nevermind podcasts, if only I had a little TiVo in my car radio, recording OTA programs from season passes with the ability to skip the commercials on playback...
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 17, 2006 16:38 UTC (Mon) by DRBaldock (subscriber, #30881) [Link] There's a guy who's put up a web site about a CarPC in his Mazda3.
http://www.timekiller.org/carpc/
Apparently, he's got a MythTV server at home, and can stream it's content to the MythTV client in the CarPC over his cellular connection:
"D-Link DBT-120 Bluetooth $39.99 - This is by FAR the coolest part of my CarPC. I have a Motorola e815 with Verizon. Verizon cripples the Bluetooth functionality of their phones, but with some simple hacks you can uncripple them. The nice thing about the e815 is that it connects to Verizon's new evdo network, which talks at 400-700kbps. I average 600kbps but ymmv. So with the bluetooth device, I can get in my car, and without even taking the phone out of my packet, get a broadband internet connection. Further down, you can read about how I am using it to stream Live TV from my house :) "
Also from the web site:
"What I CAN do:
* Listen to music
Is that what you're looking for?
Take Care,
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 20, 2006 10:00 UTC (Thu) by fatrat (subscriber, #1518) [Link]
I just hope that this guy never drives this car anywhere near me.
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 17, 2006 14:13 UTC (Mon) by jachim (subscriber, #2963) [Link] Absolutely. I download a daily podcast while I'm at work and listen to it that evening and the next morning. I grab a weekly podcast to fill the time whenever I run out of the dailies.
Unless, of course, you drive. Posted Apr 20, 2006 12:50 UTC (Thu) by smitty_one_each (subscriber, #28989) [Link] Additionally, there are situations where the relative simplicity of radio is a feature, e.g. disasters.Radio is a dirt-simple way to pipe one-way information to people.
Radio is the most intimate medium Posted Apr 15, 2006 6:10 UTC (Sat) by Junior_Samples (guest, #26737) [Link] Radio speaks to the listener directly. Talk shows on radio are so successful because radio conveys a sense of intimacy, and involve the listener directly. How do you do that on mp3? Talk radio is an invitation to participate.Music on the good radio station is like friend selecting tunes which she knows you'll enjoy. And Radio technology is elegantly simple. I needed a new radio for when I go jogging. Found a great AM/FM pocket "sports radio" for five dollars at Wal-Mart. Someone steals it? Big deal. Someone steals your iPod? Now that might sour your mood. Radio can be magical. At night the AM band comes alive, and one can find a great variety of programming from distant cities: sports, music, talk, politics, comedy. My favorite nighttime station is CHWO-AM 740. It orginates from Toronto, but easily heard over a large portion of North America (how's that for a WAN?). CHWO's lineup is an eclectic mix of wonderful shows highlighting jazz, pop, swing, doo-wop, and rock and roll. To duplicate such breadth and selection on an iPod would be a full time job, and would require deep financial pockets. Radio is not dead. It is there to be rediscovered by each new generation. It is the greatest bargain in entertainment today.
Thank you Posted Apr 15, 2006 19:26 UTC (Sat) by Baylink (subscriber, #755) [Link] I love Doc, and he's really good at what he does (whatever that is; I've never quite figured out how he finds time to blog so much so well, unless that's what's someone's paying him for :-), but sometimes he misses it, and I suspect this is one of those times.
And he's a radio *guy*; he ought to get this.
It's the law of unobvious consequences, just like the breakup of The Phone Company.
In 1975, the President could call -- quite literally -- any telephone in the United States, and break in on whatever was going on to get to someone whom he needed to talk to, in an emergency.
Whatever you think of the current president, I guarantee you he can't fo that anymore...
Radio is the most intimate medium Posted Apr 16, 2006 9:16 UTC (Sun) by Los__D (subscriber, #15263) [Link] Record a couple of hours from a high bitrate shoutcast radio, and then you've got something better. There's a million more to choose from, and those are selected especially for the style you like, because they don't need to provide a wider range of styles to survive.
And that reaches from the other end of the world (the Internet is a WAN, so no need for lousy quality AM to reach far).
The 5 dollar price, that one is true, but so will mp3 players be when the technology is dead...
What happened to multicasting? Posted May 1, 2006 19:04 UTC (Mon) by hazelsct (subscriber, #3659) [Link] I've posted numerous .mp3 and .ogg files on the little webserver on our cable modem. The problem: with ~20-25 kB/s upload speed, if two people try to listen simultaneously, they both get nothing usable.
Though it's only a partial solution, multicasting at least solves the problem for live streams, effectively allowing a single narrow connection to serve millions of clients. So why aren't people using it more? On-demand is one possible reason, but a "software DVR" is trivial to implement...
The conspiracy theorist might say streaming is more popular because those who can afford to publicize to millions of users can afford the bandwidth to stream to lots of customers simultaneously, and the powers that be don't want the rest of us to have that capability. But the market is too efficient for that to be the answer, right?
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