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NAB, RIAA May Seek Mandate For FM Radios In Mobile Devices

Posted by Soulskill on from the who-said-reason-was-dead dept.

Trintech writes with this quote from an article at Ars Technica: "Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics. The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. 'The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity,' thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is 'not in our national interest.' 'Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do.' But the music and radio industries say it's a consumer-focused proposition, one that would provide 'more music choices.'"

4 of 489 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Okay so then Steve Jobs will have a problem by Haedrian · · Score: 5, Informative

    any FM radio has to have some sort of antenna to receive the signals

    WHERE WILL YOU PUT THIS ON AN iPHONE??

    My symbian has an FM radio built in, the antenna is the earphones which you attach to it. You need the earphones to listen to the radio, even if you put it on speaker.

  2. But lots of phones already have FM radio by Tryfen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nokia sell over 20 different models in the USA with built in FM - http://www.nokiausa.com/find-products/phones

    --
    If a square is really a rhombus, why aren't all triangles purple?
  3. Re:Consumer Focus or Consumer Manipulation? by jridley · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wouldn't buy an MP3 player without an FM radio. It's how I listen to NPR. The MP3 part is how I listen to audiobooks and podcasts of NPR shows that aren't carried on my local station or are on when I'm at work.

  4. Re:Consumer Focus or Consumer Manipulation? by surgen · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, it is free. You may be thinking of groveshark which only had a few day trial on my phone (I don't know what their web based pricing is like). Pandora on mobile actually has fewer audio ads than on the web (and the google on screen ones are as unobtrusive as ads get). The 40 hour/month limit might still apply.