Filed under: Accessories, Audio, iPod Family, Hacks
Recording music with popcatcher
Cnet tracked down this fascinating Swedish gadget. The PopCatcher MD-601 allows you to capture ad-free music from over-the-air radio stations and save them as DRM-free MP3s. PopCatcher distinguishes music from speech and captures songs automatically from whichever station you've tuned to.
It comes with its own MP3 player, but you certainly aren't tied to that player. The MP3 files are fully transportable. You can connect PopCatcher to a personal computer via its USB cable and use iTunes to load your new music library onto your iPod.
If I'm reading the webpage correctly, PopCatcher costs about 1500 krona which equates to about US $200. It seems to be for sale exclusively in Scandinavia at this time although they're taking notification requests for other countries.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ned said 4:46PM on 3-09-2007
Cool, great feature -- I'm glad Apple is working so closely with this company to produce the best iPod yet. Thank you, The Unofficial Audio Weblog!
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Nick said 5:37PM on 3-09-2007
OH gawd! No thanks!
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JN said 5:44PM on 3-09-2007
Sweet. Keep pushing swedish products. Don't buy a Volvo though.
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okto said 6:29PM on 3-09-2007
Why record off the radio when you could download CD-quality full albums for free? The supposed legality is no different.
The idiots in the recording industry bought a fantasyland law that says owning music in a format they didn't produce is illegal. The RIAA will still prosecute if you recorded the songs off the radio; they've already demonstrated that they are uninterested in reality, fact, or sanity.
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r3r said 7:11PM on 3-09-2007
Um, doesn't the Griffin Shark do the same for less?
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/radioshark2/
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dag.nilsson said 8:20AM on 3-12-2007
I come from Sweden and have bought a MD-601 when it was released in december 2006. I can give you some information:
The technology works fine but the mp3 player sucks: the USB connection does not work on any computer. I have myself to use a friend's computer to transfer the songs to my iPod.
As a result, I was in frequent contact with PopCatcher who was trying to fix the mp3 player. And I can tell you this:
The MD-601 was only released in a limited edition to test the market. I worked, because the units are sold out.
However, PopCatcher wants to focus on the licensing on the technology to audio manufacturers. They say a few more products will be released by the end of 2007. The products will depend on the manufacturers deciding to add the PopCatcher feature, but it will include docking stations and mp3 micro hifi systems.
However, I do not have any confirmation as to whether PopCatcher cooperates with iPod or not.
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