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

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

#101

Post by csixty4 »

bmm6o wrote: post #93
mrshoe wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's always one guy (and it's usually guy) who wants to share his tunes with everybody on the bus or subway. As for me, I do it when I'm at home all the time, when I'm doing chores or working from home.

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

#102

Post by toomuchtodo »

wtallis wrote: post #100
toomuchtodo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Probably the same. I'd just switch to their $50/line unlimited plan.

Strangely enough, I only have a problem with net neutrality violations when you're charging me extra for certain packets, not when you're giving me certain packets for free. Go figure.

Not all data is equal, spectrum is limited, and I'd rather users be permitted to get music bits that don't count towards their cap than some twit using spectrum for bittorrent. I would pay more because of T-Mobile's disregard for net neutrality in this case, because it benefits me as an end user. I've never seen Comcast, Verizon, or any other throttling of video content benefit someone (while at the same time they not being constrained by shared spectrum bandwidth limitations).

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

#103

Post by MatthaeusHarris »

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.

The phone uses the headphone wire as an FM antenna. It's not arbitrary; it's a necessary part of making an FM radio work well.

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

#104

Post by whoopdedo »

cbhl wrote: post #56
wtallis wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And selling hardware that's been crippled in some way always makes people uncomfortable. Whether it's an FM tuner being turned off, tethering being blocked, CPU features turned off, or whatever, manufacturing a working product and then selling it in a less-working state is worrisome and shouldn't be automatically considered acceptable. It's a strong indicator of a possible market failure and a sure sign that the cons…

The hardware isn't crippled; you can root your phone and install an FM Radio app yourself.

There's no guarantee that the FM antenna pin on the chip is connected to anything.

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

#105

Post by RubyPinch »

wtallis wrote: post #100
toomuchtodo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Its only a violation if its a paid exchange or an affiliate, no?

I don't know if that is the case or not in this situation, but it could be. Not everything becomes a violation

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

#106

Post by wtallis »

RubyPinch wrote: post #105
wtallis wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Its only a violation if its a paid exchange or an affiliate, no? I don't know if that is the case or not in this situation, but it could be. Not everything becomes a violation

If there's money changing hands, it's bribery or extortion. If there's no money changing hands, it's still at least non-neutrality: the ISP is picking winners by determining which service providers get a competitive edge.

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

#107

Post by cxseven »

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…

I wonder if it's possible to use a USB cable as an antenna.

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

#108

Post by BorisMelnik »

dethstar wrote: post #32
BorisMelnik wrote: post #22

Am I going crazy? One day I woke up and could not find the Android app "FM Radio" (even had a shortcut on my home screen.) Looked and looked and looked and could not find it anywhere. Eventually I verified the apk was included in the original install. Did my provider (Sprint?) or my manufacturer remove this during an update? Did Gooole remove this during an update? Side note: anyone know of a good FM radio app on And…

I just checked after seeing this and I do have the FM Radio app. I'm not from the states so, it wasn't google?

you wouldn't happen to have a link to the Google Play app?

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

#109

Post by StavrosK »

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

> That would be like trading Netflix back in for Blockbuster Video.

Not to be the "analogy not exactly right" guy, but it would be like closing Blockbuster Video just because "NETFLIX IS SO MUCH BETTER AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN TOUGH SHIT".

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

#110

Post by StavrosK »

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…

> While half-baked conspiracy theories are fun

I was on the same boat as you, and then I found out that these FM receivers are only disabled in the US. Seriously, the same models have perfectly enabled FM receivers in other countries.

When I open the FM radio app on my Z3, it goes "please plug in your headphones to listen to the radio, they act as a necessary antenna", and refuses to start otherwise, and that's that.

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