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Virgin Radio Launches 3G Radio Service
An anonymous reader writes "Virgin Radio, one of UK's top radio stations, has launched the first 3G radio service for free (as in beer). This is great news for those with a Symbian equipped phone and an unlimited data plan. Various articles suggest that mobile radio could be a major threat to satellite radio. Russell Beattie and friends have had an initial look and commented on the program."
As stated in the Wall Street Journal, Virgin actually attempted to acquire Sirus radio early in 2004, however they could not settle on an amount and the deal fell through. This must be Virgins plan to twart satellite radio, and maintain their hold on the communications market. XM and Sirus should merge to stay competitive in the market and drop their prices. Only time will tell where they go with this one.
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I'm glad the station was launched "for free (as in beer)", as opposed to, erm, "for free (as in speech)".
Forbes recently had an article about how Verizon was planning a similar service. I find this really interesting because I heard a couple of reports on C-NBC today talking about how Verizon has been in private talks with Virgin about a technology license. The pundits seem to believe that verizon is trying to get a license from Virgin to carry their content on the verizon network.
I think that this would actually be a really smart strategy for Virgin to employ. Think about it, Virgin not only gets the advertising for it first and everyone begins to associate it with them but then once it becomes famous they get a piece of everyone elses action.
The world is moving towards total technolgy convergence where people will have a radio/mp3 player/phone (they already do actually). This will become another feature that every phone will have to have in a couple of years and Virgin will not hold a monopoly for very long. By letting people buy into their content they make sure that they get money from everyone.
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If you have an unlimited data plan, what's stopping you from listening to internet radio on your cellphone?
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Africus aut Europaeus?
I thought radio was almost dead? I know when I am in my car I don't listen to the radio, I listen to my iPod. As mp3 players become more common place I think the radio is becoming a dying item.
People won't want to listen to the radio on their phone, this will kill their battery life having to access and transfer that much data over the network. Phones are going towards mp3s, not radios. It would be like someone putting a record player in a car dashboard now.
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Phones are doing too much these days, you're not cool unless you've got all the addons now.
Want to hear the radio? Buy a radio.
Want to take pictures? Buy a camera.
Want to go on the net? Buy a computer.
Want to call someone? Oh, just wait while you navigate through the menu of silly addons.
This is a pretty nifty new angle, and something satellite radio most likely didn't consider - still, all things considered, mobile phones aren't really Hi-Fi devices (though if this catches on, the next generation *might* be -- but can you still receive phone calls while listening to the 'radio'?
Still, generally Richard Branson does come up with some neat ways to keep his name on the map, so it'd be interesting how this does, and how many others will follow suit.
Unfortunately, at least in the UK, unlimited (3G) data plans seem rather hard to come by with the majority of services having sub 100MB caps or a pay-per-megabyte price structure.
Slightly off-topic but related, Virgin is unusual as a 'major station' in the UK in that it offers its streams in Ogg/Vorbis format. (The BBC did previously but has stopped for an undetermined ammount of time).
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
Symbian phones aren't exactly inexpensive. Unlimited data plans (at least in the U.S.) cost an arm and a leg. I wouldn't call this free.
I find it ironic that free music is now being supplied to anyone with a measly $216/month to pay for unlimited data transfer to their mobile phone, while 12 year old kids who download their free music are being sued by the minions of the RIAA.
Music should bring people together instead it is driving a wedge between the haves and have-nots. I am shocked and appalled.
Isn't a Symbian a strange sex machine where they attach a dildo to a jackhammer and mount it to a total-gym or something?
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Want to hear the radio? Buy a radio. Want to take pictures? Buy a camera. Want to go on the net? Buy a computer.
That's all very well and good, but I can't fit a radio, a camera, a computer, and a phone in my pockets at the same time.
By the way, your inclusion of "computer" is funny, since a computer is a multi-purpose device in itself. Would you also advise people to have one web browsing computer, one emailing computer, one games machine, one mp3 player, all separate?
There are many benefits to convergence, let's not let that case go unstated.
WTF does "Free like.." mean?
:/
Surely free means free..
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Broadcasting to all 14 Symbian Smartphone owners with unlimited data plans currently in 3G coverage areas...
Actually, the data rates in the US are quite affordable. T-Mobile offers unlimited GPRS for $19.99. What's more, this app runs on 2.5G (GPRS) as well.
:-)
Really, $20/mo seems reasonable, especially considering the amount of money techofreaks and gadget geeks spend on other seemingly useless things.
-Snrrrub
It's not too far off, I think most of the big stations in Canada are dual broadcasting now. Receivers are still scarce... and too large for phones though.
Virgin Radio - "Radio run by Slashdot readers for Slashdot reader"
I was wondering: Is Symbian open-source? I looked at their website and found open-source projects mentioned but it doesn't say explicitely that Symbian itself is an open-source OS or something proprietory.
I agree it's the first software targeting a widely available sartphone platform (Symbian) but it's not the first 3G Radio Service available ( read more ).
For example, Windows Media on Windows Mobile devices (Pocket PC Phone Edition and Smartphone) have been available for years now and will play any radio stream in the WMA format. And what's more, no need to download and install additional software.
No, don't come with "open" platform stuff, because the Virgin Radio is tied to their network, and the company did not disclose what streaming technology is being used.
It's not the first 3G service also because the Harrier Pocket PC Phone Edition (a.k.a. Verizon XV6600 in the USA) is a CDMA EV-DO device, connecting at speeds of 500Kbps average - higher than the WCDMA/UMTS average speeds, and available for some time now.
You're looking at a rate plan with no minutes and unlimited GPRS. Adding GPRS to a normal plan costs $19.99/mo. The $29.99 plan you mention is really just for people who just want to use their cellphone as a GPRS modem and maybe to make emergency calls.
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How many times I told you not to use virgin word in stories ? You dont have to rub it.
Read the F*cking Fine Print. Unlimited Data service has a lot of exceptions. I'll bet you the streaming radio service becomes an exception if anybody actually uses it. I signed up for unlimited data, then saw that it was unlimited only with one phone, and NOT when you used the phone as a modem for your bluetooth-connected laptop, and not when you wore brown shoes, or drove a Swedish-made automobile. All of that vented, Virgin Radio is cool, they have always been a leader in internet streaming, since the beginning (1995, when I helped get them started)
.....sort of interesting, but do you really want to listen to music over a phone speaker?
Do you think the rest of us want to hear it too?
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Most (if not all) of these phones have stereo headsets that can be attached as well. You don't have to use the speaker but you can if you wanted to. The sound quality is naturally far better on the headset.
I can't even download the s60 binary from their site?
It sounds like it needs about 22kbps so it should be well within the realm of gprs (no need for 3g).
Does anyone know what port they use for streaming?
I really hate it when people say "for free".
Yes, Symbian sounds like Sybian. Yes, the idiot marketroids that chose that name should be reassigned to do PR for the Japanese whaling industry or something similarly rewarding. But we've all heard that joke every time a Symbian-related story appears on Slashdot and it's getting damned old.
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Once I can listen to 90% of recorded music anywhere, any time, for a flat $10 a month, I will never ever use any other musical product or service again. iPod? Radio? CD? iTunes? It'll all be replaced by a new addiction -- the world's music piped directly into my brain. Seriously, all you other distributors, that's the measure of your useful life, better get used to it.
...
And the next time I get stuck in a no-service zone, I will cry, cry, cry
Within 10 years, Sirius and XM will either morph into some variant of themselves, or they'll just dry up and blow away.
XM continues to beat Sirius...
I'd prefer it if XM doesn't merge with Sirius. However, if it's required to keep competition against stupid Virgin Mobile, I guess it's a must.
Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Bugs are good for building character in the user.
Are they going to integrate this with their airline? I flew Virgin 2 years ago and they were probably the best airline I've been on. Satellite radio would be a spiffy addition to their seatback entertainment.
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This sounds like a lot of hype for something that's out there for symbian phone owners already. With an unlimited data plan in hand, download RealOne for Symbian, find your favorite station that streams using RealAudio (BBC has more than a dozen plus world service in 43 languages) and go.
My favorite is listening to This American Life...I'll be honest, my Nokia 3650 only supports 16khz/8bit/mono, but it's certainly listenable...if only I had an adapter between the the headset port and a 1/8" jack, then I could use it with my car stereo.
...other than the quality of content? It's no good being free if it's no good...
I wonder which one has more potential Satellite or radio on mobile phones? I'm taking up space in a land called malaysia where its hard if not impossible to get music from outside without the internet. With this new virgin thing its been a refreshing change. Those of you who are US and have access to satellite radio, can you tell share how good satellite radio is from this virgin one? here is where you can get the virgin radio http://virginradio.co.uk/thestation/mobile or http://sydusmobile.com/download.html What sort of content programming do you have in satellite radio? Can it be heard outside the car?
It's advert supported, not free. Around 10% of the audio will be adverts, just like Virgin's conventional radio station.
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I don't understand why any telco operator would offer this service. Telco networks are designed for multiple point to point connections, they are not a broadcast, one to many architecture.
Streaming the same data to multiple handsets will take up ridiculous amounts of bandwidth on all layers of the 3G architecture from the backbone (fiber) to the radio access layer (node B to handset). The cost of upgrading a network to support the extra load vs. the amount of revenue it would bring in (you can't charge much money for "free" radio) would make it cost prohibitive.
Much better (and cheaper) just to include an FM receiver in the handset.
radio on my cellie sounds real cool and convenient, but I still think the xm's and sirius's will have the best content, unregulated by the fcc. carriers can be even more controlling than the fcc, can you say 'walled garden'? carriers have numerous content regulation requirements that have to met before content is allowed on their network (decency standards, political correctness, etc).