Listen to Internet Radio over Wifi

wildumut writes "There's an article on the Register about new WIFI radio tuners, worth a look. 'Wi-Fi is not only freeing up notebook and PDA users to connect to the Internet from anywhere in the home, it's also making Internet radio work (almost) like the real thing.'" The company website has some more information, but these aren't available for sale yet.

Comments

Hell, I use it for video

[Space cowboy]

I support a football (soccer if you prefer :-) team that has a webcast of all the home matches. Since very few matches are televised per season, it's a good second-best, especially because I've got a nice fast broadband connection. Just take the portable into the front room, link it up to the projector using the VGA input, and watch the match with the video stream being served using WiFi from the router at the back of the house :-)

The quality isn't as good as broadcast TV (!) but it's a damn sight better than radio :-)

Simon

It's global...

[TamMan2000]

Yes, but now you can get stations from all around the world where ever you are...

I live in upstate new york, I am in a college town, so there is some decent radio, but when I want news from around the world, I want radio from around the world...

I could read a lot of it on the internet, but that is hard to do while washing dished/making dinner/working on my bicycle...

Radical cheap solution

[prostoalex]

At my house I have a small Wifi-enabled Avertec 3120 V plugged into the back of the stereo system. Had to set up Winamp for some easy key combination, like 'space' to start playing and N to stop.

Then it's Internet Radio list in WinAmp, or Shoutcast.com, choose the one with the better bit rate and we're off with high quality Internet radio.

Any cheap laptop with WiFi card or internal WiFi would work.

(net) Radio Receivers

[p00p at instable.net]

It'll be really neat to see Internet radio receivers with WiFi connectivity. I can picture these as part of stereo systems picking up Shoutcast (or other) radio stations. Unless the RIAA gets their way.

Not for sale??

[johnkoer]

but these aren't available for sale yet.

It doesn't even look like they have made a prototype yet. The images on the website are all computer generated.

Sorta Related

[jchawk]

I have a treo 600 through sprint, with their unlimited data service package. With the latest pocket tunes software I can stream audio from the internet where ever I am. Generally if there is cell service, I can get a data connection. I know it's not traditional WIFI, but it's still really neat! :-)

A lot of people are making jokes about this

[rsborg]

...but it's not so funny, it's very cool. Local radio (NPR and some talk radio excepted) is very stale, and does not contain the music I want to hear. I listen to techno/downtempo/ambient, and my wife likes French radio.. no way we can reliably get that on local radio.

I want to listen to what I want, when I want. and I want diversity. This company definitely has an interested customer in me.

slightly off topic but

[DrLZRDMN]

send radio with your computer this program sends AM signals through a CRT monitor

Re:Regulating Data Processing

[AKAImBatman]

With Quantum Entanglement communications beginning to become a reality, the future may hold wireless devices that communicate world-wide. Imagine if you could take your phone, internet, and radio along with you to the middle of the African plains! Or more close to home, you'll have crystal clear communications via a single device, no matter where in the country or world you travel. Just plug in your matching hub to your home internet connection, and you're set! Not to mention that security is built into the design. It would be literally impossible for hackers to penetrate the line of communications.

It's a nice dream anyway. :-)

Anyone else remember Kerbango?

[John_McKee]

So sad to see the product killed by 3COM right before it's release (The product was actually completed and manufacture started when it was killed), but Kerbango was based on the exact same concept, except it actually existed beyond 3D models (Although never released to the public). I was really looking forward to it.

http://www.gadgetcentral.com/kerbango_intro.html

Exactally

[Yohahn]

In my opinion this is the populace "Routing around" the limited point of view that we receive on traditional radio.

If this succeeds and people can run 802.11 "radio stations" for local areas it will prove that the FCC has long ago left the needs of the people.

The reason I say this is the inconvenience needed to listen to this kind of radio. If it can succeed, imagine what would happen if we had that kind of diversity of regular radio.

The FCC hasn't served the people with respect to radio for quite some time.

Re:I've had it for years

[summitraj]

Yes, you can listen from around the world with WLAN radio. To tune to stations other than commerical radios, try http://www.dxtuners.com You can even listen to amateur radio, air traffic control, police, and other frequencies from receivers kept around the world! I hope dxtuner can be tuned from WLAN radios too.

Uh, how many presets?

[spamacon]

I like how it "can pick up many of the 10,000 or so stations broadcasting on the Net", but they only give you six (6) presets (in the reference design). How about a simplified favorites list or something? 6 seems a little small - I get 30-50 (whatever) stations on my FM car radio, and I have 12 presets, just under 25% of the available stations. With this thing, I get 0.12% of the available stations.
Just my $0.0199.

Lack of security

[Bender Unit 22]

Sadly most of these applications lacks any security. Some supports WEP, but none supports WPA, so most of the time if you want to connect other devices than your PC, you have to lower your security standards.
As for the product we see here, I think it is a great concept but I was unable to determine if it supports any security at all.

squeezebox

[ignavusincognitus]

A SqueezeBox can do that, no need for a WinXP box. The latest server software even has a module to let you browse ShoutCast with your remote.

Configuration?

[MrNonchalant]

I'd be real curious to see how this handles configuration. For instance, how do you change URLs? The interface I see picture doesn't look like it's up to the task. Howbout WEP? Non-broadcasting SSIDs? I can't find any of this on the company's site. If it doesn't handle this stuff graciously it's a big pretty looking doorstop as far as I'm concerned.

What About a WiFi Transmitter

[AmericanInKiev]

I realized that I'd like to be able to broacast my TV signal to my laptop so I can use my laptop as a wireless TV (with cable connections for the "erm it's called TV" crowd)

AIK

GPRS, Internet radio while driving

[rprycem]

One of the coolest things I have done yet with my T-Mobile Pocket PC device with GPRS is listen to streaming talk radio stations while driving. At a max of 40k there really is not the bandwidth for quality music, but for talk nerds like myself it is awesome. Right now their all you can eat plan for wireless data is $19.95 and I am buying that for other uses anyway. Playing with buffers and what not yields a very reliable very high quality signal even with the frequent tower hopping that happens when driving. It is good for even the local stations which tend to be on the AM dial. A 20k steam sounds so much better then the wines and pops of AM radio, especially after dark when most stations have to turn their wattage down.
The only issue I have is when I am traveling at a high rate of speed on the Interstate. Apparently the tower hopping at 70 - 80 MPH is a little too much to keep a steady enough connection. Averaging 40 - 50 MPH works very well, however.
Who ever it is that takes smooth tower jumps and adds wifi speeds to it, they will be a very rich person.