Radio on the iPhone
Posted 10/14/2009 at 9:04pm
| by J Keirn-Swanson
Like lots of people these days, I get most of my music either from my collection or through on-demand internet radio sources like Pandora and Last.fm. The last time I actively listened to the on-air radio must have been years ago.Clearly, I am not the target market of this rumored in-house app for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Of course, I'd be happy if such compatibility arrived in an update to the iPhone software. As little as I do listen, there are occasions where I have been listening to reporting of an incident of national importance or to a locally broadcast event and circumstances force me away from the radio. To be able to jack into the iPhone and pick right up where the story left off would be a nice feature.
Source: RF Cafe
According to Seth Weintraub over at 9to5mac.com, a tipster has alerted him to an FM radio app being worked on in-house at Apple for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to said tipster, the app would be one of only a couple that run in the background, allowing you to listen as you do other things. Whether or not the app would be a standalone or would be integrated into an update of the iPod app wasn't precisely spelled out.
While the iPhones and iPod touches have had the hardware capabilities to receive FM signals, the functionality has lain dormant (save for the Nike+ peripherals). Apple is said to be working hard to get the app to play nicely with the iTunes app to lead to something like in-app purchases for a seamless transition from listening to a song to owning it. Right now there's a version of such a feature available in apps like Pandora, though those require you to exit the music streaming app and enter the iTunes app. With the ability to run in the background or to sync up with iTunes, Apple's FM app could provide an interruption free experience.And that would be something I'd definitely be interested in.