Filed under: Audio, Rumors, iPhone, iPod touch
Rumor: Apple adding FM Radio to the iPhone and iPod touch?
Just like the 5th generation iPod nano that was introduced last month, Apple may soon be adding the capability to tune in to FM radio stations on the iPhone and iPod touch, if this report from 9to5Mac is on the money. As some of you may remember, the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chipsets in the iPhone 3GS and the 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch models already have the capability to support FM radio tuning. It's also reported that you'll be able to listen to the radio in the background, allowing you to use apps at the same time, just like you listen to music synced to your iPhone or iPod touch. It would also support Live Pause and iTunes Tagging, just like the 5th generation iPod nano does. Also, it would allow you to buy the song directly from your iPod touch. While technically possible, this has been a long-requested but missing feature on the iPhone and iPod touch.
Would you listen to FM radio stations on your iPhone or iPod touch, or do you prefer listening to podcasts or Music synced from iTunes or from a streaming radio service on your iPhone or iPod touch? Let us know in the comments below!
[via Engadget]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
kayne said 11:27PM on 10-13-2009
I would love this feature! If the possibility to do so may already be built into the iphone/ipod touch, I would be ecstatic if they enabled it.
I often want to listen to the radio when I'm on the go.
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Jordan said 12:49AM on 10-14-2009
People have been begging for this option for years yet Apple ignored their wishes. Zune gets HD radio and Apple tries to play catch-up with standard radio...
Ned Scott said 5:44AM on 10-14-2009
It would be pretty cool on some level, but a lot of us got ipods because the stuff on the radio sucks so much. The vast majority of the time you miss out on nothing by not having FM or HD radio.
iGlad said 7:34AM on 10-14-2009
I never listen to FM music radio as it sucks big time, I am my own music radio station no ads and no annoying presenters lol
Andersen said 11:28PM on 10-13-2009
I don't pay too much attention to radio these days, but would I utilize FM if Apple gave it to us? Probably.
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goestoeleven said 11:30PM on 10-13-2009
Um, can you say, "Live football broadcasts?" FM radio would be great!
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tevetorbes said 9:06AM on 10-14-2009
You get the win.
This would be FREAKING AWESOME at sporting events- this + Sportacular = fun.
Steve said 11:31PM on 10-13-2009
I would DEFINITELY use this feature Apple!
I already use the Public Radio and Flycast apps to listen to my favorite radio stations so why not be able to do it without an app?!? :-D
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unacas said 11:38PM on 10-13-2009
I would use it in addition to podcast, synced music and pandora
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gonzo1082 said 11:39PM on 10-13-2009
fm transmission would be nice.. fm radio... meh
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ProfessorDex said 11:04AM on 10-14-2009
Agreed! I can't believe people still listen to the crap that on FM radio. It's horrible! Not to mention the on air personalities which should get a personality before being allowed on air. It's pathetic. FM radio will mean nothing to me and honestly, makes my iPhone seem more of a gimmick phone.
douglas said 11:43AM on 10-15-2009
I live in Minneapolis, and there are a variety of radio stations that have interesting talk shows, interesting radio shows, and music 24/7. It's all random too, I can't just select a bank of music and put it on shuffle, sometimes they play stuff I haven't heard, and I can't be picky and just skip past it.
I also only have a 2nd gen touch, I go biking a lot and when I'm out and about and sick of my music collection, I want to listen to the radio, I want to hear music plus random radio weather reports - it's really convenient to have FM radio.
The only case where FM is useless is if you have a ton of money, or live in a city that sucks.
Stephen Irwin said 11:39PM on 10-13-2009
I just want Apple to let us listen to internet radio in the background. I've got my radio stations I like (There's nothing local here that's worth listening to, IMHO) and I've been using apps like FStream to listen to it with, but there's no added functionality besides just listening to it.
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DistortedLoop said 9:47AM on 10-14-2009
Two problems with Apple letting you listen to Internet radio in the background. Battery life and AT&T data congestion. I suspect the FM radio receiver chip uses less power than the 3G/EDGE chips in the iPhone.
An yeah, other phones probably get to stream all they want, but other phones still don't suck up the bandwidth iPhones do if you're to believe AT&T's whinings about its iPhone customers.
Lea Ada Franco said 11:46PM on 10-13-2009
As lousy as FM is, Clear Channel could offer an app and we've got most of the spectrum of FM.
What I want on the Touch is a camera and mic. C'mon, Apple!
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macbookairuser said 10:47AM on 10-14-2009
As a Clear Channel Radio Programmer (l know, I know...I've heard it all before, but before pummeling me, remember that I'm one of you first :-) we already have the iHeartRadio app that gives iPhone users access to a huge number of our stations. Lea - download iHeartRadio (free) and listen to a bunch of our streams. I think we even have some of our mostly commercial-free streams on iHeartRadio, too. The streams aren't just repurposed internet streams, either. They use dedicated processing and encoders. The quality is excellent.
ilkyone said 12:43PM on 10-14-2009
@macbookairuser -- why do the boneheads employing you keep killing access to the streams from the players of choice such as wunderradio, and then after tuned.mobi offered the streams to wunderradio, they killed tuned, too.
iheartradio may be fine if all I want to do is drool but it's not functional in the manner I expect the streaming radio ap to be. What's frustrating is that I can use a script to hack stream access into a manual url, but as far as clear channel permitting me to access the content, you know the stuff that actually makes money (because I hear the on air ads as I listen), they refuse to allow any ap better than their own access it.
Dumb move after dumb move on their part because by blocking the stream access to other programs, it's like they are dictating what brand of radio I use to tune them in. When in reality, they shouldn't care what brand I use, but that I do at all because those are ratings. And as we all know ratings = cashola.
cellodad said 11:43PM on 10-13-2009
The only radio I listen to is Interlochen Public Radio which is streamed to iTunes and available on my iPhone already. I suppose in an emergency or a hurricane situation I might tune in but otherwise, not likely.
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Faye said 11:50PM on 10-13-2009
Well I listen to the radio most of the time at work (or if I'm not riding the subway). That's why I got the new iPod Nano (even though my iPod Classic worked fine; I got sick of having to have the FM adapter connected to it). I must warn, though, that listening to radio drains the battery very fast. I barely get 7 1/2 hours from the iPod Nano when I listen to radio, and when I've used the iHeart Radio app on the iPhone, it also drains the battery real fast. Not exactly a good thing when you might need to use the phone for something urgent.
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JGO said 11:58PM on 10-13-2009
How about AM radio? I would love to be able to tune into talk radio broadcasts.