CES 2009 – internet radio makes it incar
Posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 at 5:33pm. #
It’s an ordinary radio… but take another look at the screen.
German manufacturer Blaupunkt (literally ‘blue point’, hence the blue dot on all their devices) have teamed up with ‘aggregator of aggregators’ miRoamer to produce an internet radio. For your car.
It uses Bluetooth to connect to your own mobile phone (that is, your own mobile unless you own an iPhone). It’s a simple job to pair your phone to the unit apparently – and then you get the choice of tens of thousands of radio stations on your car radio.
The limited research I’ve done would seem to suggest that this isn’t going to be a flawless experience; but there’ll doubtless be a ton of noise about this in the next few months.
Is the ‘infinite dial’ in your car going to kill broadcast radio?
Simon Still
3G via Bluetooth? Seems like an odd decision. Why didn’t they build a 3G chip into the radio itself (so that you only have to insert a SIM card)? Guess that requires you to have 2 SIM cards, but surely it’d mean a faster, more reliable connection?
Internet radio seems like it’s missing the point for me. Live radio has its place, but podcasting/radio on demand is far simpler to implement, and can deliver a better experience for more compelling content (ie not ‘ambient’ radio).