Your cell phone probably has an FM radio in it already... but...

[GasBandit]

... your provider blocks it/forces it to stay off, so that you'll have to pay data rates to stream audio.

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/135275

Phone makers found that adding the feature costs almost nothing. Outside the U.S., customers love it, especially in developing countries where FM is a zero-cost alternative to streaming digital music. FM radio is also an excellent way to get news updates during disasters, when cell systems are often overloaded. The FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY has recommended FM-capable smartphones for keeping informed during a crisis. NEXTRADIO is FM radio made smarter, but can it compete with the Internet’s deep and diverse audio streams? Probably not. But until AT&T, T-MOBILE, and VERIZON end their irrational FM lockdown, most of us will never get to choose.

 

[figmentPez]

My AT&T smartphone (HTC Vivid, Android OS) has an FM tuner app. I never use it because it seems like a really crappy use of my cellphone's battery life. I have 3 MP3 players and a crank-powered emergency radio to listen to FM if I want to.

I thought the point of streaming music was to get better music than FM could provide.

 

[Dave]

I would use the shit out of this kind of thing. I love listening to the radio during the day but only get crappy streaming online. I'm about 20 seconds behind the actual program. Want to call in and talk about something? Sorry, we've moved on. Contests? Don't bother.

 

[GasBandit]

My AT&T smartphone (HTC Vivid, Android OS) has an FM tuner app. I never use it because it seems like a really crappy use of my cellphone's battery life. I have 3 MP3 players and a crank-powered emergency radio to listen to FM if I want to.

I thought the point of streaming music was to get better music than FM could provide.

Actually, to save bandwidth, streamed music is among the worst fidelity there is. MP3s are generally awful too.

 

[figmentPez]

Actually, to save bandwidth, streamed music is among the worst fidelity there is. MP3s are generally awful too.

I get a fair amount of static in the reception around here on any portable player (and my phone's tuner is worse than any other I have), so I think it's a matter of preference which has better fidelity when FM reception is less than ideal. Pandora doesn't sound very good, but it's a little better than the FM reception I get.

However, there are other considerations for "better" since streaming music can allow for more personalized choice in music. If streaming is allowing you to listen to the music you want, and not just whatever the radio throws at you, then it could be subjectively "better". Also, if someone has a subscription to Pandora (and I've known people who do), the streamed audio is 192kps AAC+, which only audiophiles would find fault with.

 

[Dave]

I have a subscription to Pandora.

You got a problem with that?

 

[PatrThom]

This has been true since at least what, the 3G?
I think even the iPod Touches have had the capability built into their chipsets, it's just disabled because "reasons."

--Patrick

 

[figmentPez]

I would use the shit out of this kind of thing. I love listening to the radio during the day but only get crappy streaming online. I'm about 20 seconds behind the actual program. Want to call in and talk about something? Sorry, we've moved on. Contests? Don't bother.

Why not just get an FM radio? Or an MP3 player with an FM tuner.

 

[Dave]

Why not just get an FM radio? Or an MP3 player with an FM tuner.

Don't know. Just always use the tech at hand instead of buying stuff.

 

[figmentPez]

Don't know. Just always use the tech at hand instead of buying stuff.

Seems reasonable. That's what I tend to do. Though, if I didn't have all these MP3 players that have tuners, I'd still have my 25 year old Walkman, and I could listen on that.

 

[PatrThom]

I'm surprised it hasn't become some sort of hardware DLC.

--Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

Why not just get an FM radio? Or an MP3 player with an FM tuner.

Seems silly to get a separate piece of tech when your existing piece of tech has the capability, just switched off "because we want you to spend money on data."

This has been true since at least what, the 3G?
I think even the iPod Touches have had the capability built into their chipsets, it's just disabled because "reasons."

--Patrick

Yes. But it's still news to some people.

I get a fair amount of static in the reception around here on any portable player (and my phone's tuner is worse than any other I have), so I think it's a matter of preference which has better fidelity when FM reception is less than ideal. Pandora doesn't sound very good, but it's a little better than the FM reception I get.

That's valid, just as it may be valid that there are places where the FM reception is better than the 3/4g reception. But shouldn't the option to use whichever you'd prefer be there?

However, there are other considerations for "better" since streaming music can allow for more personalized choice in music. If streaming is allowing you to listen to the music you want, and not just whatever the radio throws at you, then it could be subjectively "better".

That's quite true, and is part of the reason a lot of people stream instead of listening to the radio. However, there are still people who like listening to "local presence" type personalities, or like Dave, want to call in to participate/win the prizes.

Also, if someone has a subscription to Pandora (and I've known people who do), the streamed audio is 192kps AAC+, which only audiophiles would find fault with.

It's still compressed. Abarring reception issues, and bad sound engineering, the audio you get over FM is not compressed in a lossy codec. 192kbit is pretty good, but you can really hear the difference in the highs (acoustic instruments, high treble and cymbals usually) between even 192 and 320 (FLAC). My company used to use MP2 audio (which was basically 256kbps compression), but we made the switch back to uncompressed in 2007 and the difference was amazing and immediately audible. It was like the first time I put on glasses as a teenager and discovered leaves had trees that could be discerned at farther than 10 feet.

 

[figmentPez]

I'm surprised it hasn't become some sort of hardware DLC.

Probably not worth advertising that the capability is there. Not when they can make money off of bandwidth charges when people use streaming services.

 

[Jax]

Don't know. Just always use the tech at hand instead of buying stuff.

That's why Dave still lugs his gramophone around everywhere he goes.

 

[GasBandit]

Probably not worth advertising that the capability is there. Not when they can make money off of bandwidth charges when people use streaming services.

Heh, I wonder how quickly the FM receiver's functionality would be patched back in if there was legislation suddenly passed mandating barely-profitable data rates as part of a comprehensive measure to classify internet access as de facto infrastructure. I know, I'm a bad Libertarian.

 

[figmentPez]

Seems silly to get a separate piece of tech when your existing piece of tech has the capability, just switched off "because we want you to spend money on data."

True, it's stupid that it's turned off arbitrarily.

That's valid, just as it may be valid that there are places where the FM reception is better than the 3/4g reception. But shouldn't the option to use whichever you'd prefer be there?

The option is there for me, as my phone does have a working FM tuner, and that tuner is such a piece of crap I wouldn't use it except in an emergency (and even then, that's why I have a crank powered FM radio)

It's still compressed. Abarring reception issues, and bad sound engineering, the audio you get over FM is not compressed in a lossy codec. 192kbit is pretty good, but you can really hear the difference in the highs (acoustic instruments, high treble and cymbals usually) between even 192 and 320 (FLAC). My company used to use MP2 audio (which was basically 256kbps compression), but we made the switch back to uncompressed in 2007 and the difference was amazing and immediately audible. It was like the first time I put on glasses as a teenager and discovered leaves had trees that could be discerned at farther than 10 feet.

On all of the audio equipment I own, I can't tell the difference between uncompressed CD audio and 160kpbs Ogg or 192kbps MP3 (and AAC is a better encoding than MP3). My phone is not going to do any better, and it's FM tuner is a piece of crap. Many people don't own the type of audio equipment that it takes to hear the difference between a 128kpbs MP3 file and a CD, and most don't for the difference between a CD and 192kbps AAC+.
I can, however, tell the difference between FM radio and a CD, and FM sounds awful in comparison. FM radio lacks highs and lows. It may not be compressed the same way that digital audio is, but it is not the same as uncompressed CD audio, and digital audio has the potential to sound a whole lot better than FM, even with perfect reception.

TLDR I've never heard FM radio sound as good as a CD, but I have heard compressed audio files that do.

 

[GasBandit]

TLDR I've never heard FM radio sound as good as a CD, but I have heard compressed audio files that do.

It might also be that your local radio stations aren't as hung up on compression/good engineering as they might be. Especially if they're Clear Channel, excuse me, "iHeartMedia" stations. Nobody says they have to use uncompressed audio. So you're at the mercy of someone else for your listening experience... which again, drives people to internet streams.

 

[Ravenpoe]

If you think your phone's fm tuner is crap, try plugging in some headphones. A lot of phones use them as an fm antenna.

 

[figmentPez]

If you think your phone's fm tuner is crap, try plugging in some headphones. A lot of phones use them as an fm antenna.

The app won't even run without headphones plugged in. It gives an error saying it needs to use them as an antenna.

Interesting side note on that, I used to have a set of computer speakers with two inputs, so I got a cable so I could plug in my Walkman so I could listen to the radio at my computer. Little did I know that the cable was shielded, so it couldn't be used as an antenna. Easy fix, just swapped that cable with the one that came with the speakers (and was connecting them to my PC).

 

[GasBandit]

Heh, I HAVE to use shielded speaker cable on my speakers here at work, or else the speakers constantly pick up and play the audio from one of our stations, even with no input from the PC.

 

[AshburnerX]

My Alcatel OneTouch (it's a burner) has radio and it works just fine. Not even charged for it. Phone cost like 20 bucks.