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The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

npr.org

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Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#91

Post by ossreality »

mrshoe wrote: post #51

While half-baked conspiracy theories are fun, a good journalist would've consulted a few more sources to get to the bottom of this story. FM radio requires a large antenna. It will not work without one. The 5th generation iPod nano (2009) was the first iPod with an (enabled) FM radio. We used the headphone wire as the antenna. It worked well enough. While there was a tiny speaker in those iPods, headphones were the o…

""It's becoming less and less common to plug headphones into these devices.""

You must be kidding me.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#92

Post by ossreality »

ctdonath wrote: post #81
Dylan16807 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every phone supports headphones. Headphones are not a horrible experience.

Requiring them is.

For a completely optional add-on feature.

What mental magic are people doing to conclude that this is a bad idea? Is it because the Apple guy said something against it? Christ.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#93

Post by bmm6o »

mrshoe wrote: post #76
Pyxl101 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it not be reasonable to recommend plugging in headphones before using the FM radio? People who really want radio for whatever reason can do it.

For iPod users, that is entirely reasonable (since they are basically required to have headphones handy to use the device at all), and that is exactly what we did. For iPhone users, who never took their headphones out of the box, or lost them months ago, or simply left them at home today... it's less reasonable. The fact is, most iPhone users don't have their headphones with them most of the time. That means the vast…

Maybe it's just the people I know, but I can't remember the last time someone played music from their phone without headphones. The only time I do it is by accident.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#94

Post by unsignedint »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #67

On the devices that do have FM receivers such as many MP3 players and so forth, why do they never have an AM tuner? There is a lot of stuff that people want to hear that only comes over AM, like baseball games, for example.

AM broadcast requires a relatively larger antenna larger antenna to receive. Though, most of portable AM radios use a bar shaped antenna inside. There are several problems with it.

1) You will have to integrate that antenna somewhere in the device, and you can't really make it "smaller" than a certain size. 2) Even if you could integrate the antenna, it is directional; with a use case for mobile devices, unless you are getting an exceptionally strong signal, you'll get varying results out of it.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#95

Post by [deleted] »

cbhl wrote: post #50
bfg wrote: post #21

What's the downside of turning this on? From the article it just seems like it would mean more capabilities, more consumer choice. Is the only "downside" that it allows you to bypass cell networks when getting content?

It only works if there are headphones attached, which confuses users. Plus, Google or another company has to pay an engineer to write an app for it, and test it against the hardware in the phones, etc. etc. Usually this functionality is a byproduct of some random other chip on the phone that is multifunction, usually Bluetooth. So people who don't use Bluetooth get confused/upset/paranoid/tin foil hat when their FM R…

[deleted]

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#96

Post by r00fus »

nulltype wrote: post #15
nostromo wrote: post #10

This is poor journalism, particularly coming from NPR. The NAB (including NPR) are lobbying to force all phones to include an FM radio. Since they can't say, "we want this to increase our ad revenue," they're using the tried and true, "it's a must for national security" approach. They've previously tried to get language added to Homeland Security bills that would force phone manufacturers to include radios. Besides,…

I used to listen to FM radio all the time. I personally think podcasts are way better and would not be surprised if most consumers agree.

My only use for FM radio would be to listen to the TV audio at a gym.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#97

Post by a8da6b0c91d »

unsignedint wrote: post #94
a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #67

On the devices that do have FM receivers such as many MP3 players and so forth, why do they never have an AM tuner? There is a lot of stuff that people want to hear that only comes over AM, like baseball games, for example.

AM broadcast requires a relatively larger antenna larger antenna to receive. Though, most of portable AM radios use a bar shaped antenna inside. There are several problems with it. 1) You will have to integrate that antenna somewhere in the device, and you can't really make it "smaller" than a certain size. 2) Even if you could integrate the antenna, it is directional; with a use case for mobile devices, unless you a…

The headphone wire isn't enough? The cheapo AM portables everybody has been plopping down next to the beer bucket since the 70s never seemed to have an antenna longer than 2.5 ft. I understand the wavelength is longer and the power is lower.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#98

Post by seba_dos1 »

cbhl wrote: post #50
bfg wrote: post #21

What's the downside of turning this on? From the article it just seems like it would mean more capabilities, more consumer choice. Is the only "downside" that it allows you to bypass cell networks when getting content?

It only works if there are headphones attached, which confuses users. Plus, Google or another company has to pay an engineer to write an app for it, and test it against the hardware in the phones, etc. etc. Usually this functionality is a byproduct of some random other chip on the phone that is multifunction, usually Bluetooth. So people who don't use Bluetooth get confused/upset/paranoid/tin foil hat when their FM R…

>which confuses users

So users are why we can't have nice things.

Also, on Nokia N900 they simply didn't do an app at all. Lots of them were quickly written by community and everyone was happy.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#99

Post by unsignedint »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #97
unsignedint wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AM broadcast requires a relatively larger antenna larger antenna to receive. Though, most of portable AM radios use a bar shaped antenna inside. There are several problems with it. 1) You will have to integrate that antenna somewhere in the device, and you can't really make it "smaller" than a certain size. 2) Even if you could integrate the antenna, it is directional; with a use case for mobile devices, unless you a…

The headphone wire isn't enough? The cheapo AM portables everybody has been plopping down next to the beer bucket since the 70s never seemed to have an antenna longer than 2.5 ft. I understand the wavelength is longer and the power is lower.

Those whip antennas are for FM broadcast. For the AM broadcast, the bar antenna has a coil of wire wrapped around an iron bar to compensate for requirement of a longer antenna to receive AM broadcast. It'd be actually size prohibitive to make an antenna like FM radio, but designed for AM.

Re: The hidden FM radio in your pocket and why you can't use it

#100

Post by wtallis »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #90
grecy wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work at a telco that constantly makes ridiculous patronizing arguments. The people making those statements are drinking so much kool-aid they honestly don't even know they're talking nonsense. They actually believe it to their core.

I'm 32, pay $10/month for Spotify, and T-Mobile doesn't count music services towards my data cap. I haven't listened to the radio in my car in over a year. Even if I'm an outlier, Spotify still has a free tier. Why would I go back to the radio? That would be like trading Netflix back in for Blockbuster Video. shudder

How enticing would it be if T-Mobile's net neutrality violation were stopped?
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