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Aug

19

2010

FM Radios in Cell Phones to become mandatory

9

by Chris Moor
tagged , ,

This is a strange one. Congress is going to mandate that FM Radio receivers be built into all cell phones, smartphones, PDAs, and portable electronic devices. Some Android phones, if not most of them, already have an FM Radio built in. This would allow every Andorid device built after the deal is finalized to have a built in FM Radio.

However, on my Droid Incredible, the reception for the radio is terrible, so even if you have one, good luck finding stations.

[via Arstechnica]

» See more articles by Chris Moor

Categorized as Android Phones

Comments

  • atomjack

    Did you even read the arstechnica article? The RIAA and NAB (radio’s RIAA) want to have congress do this. Nowhere does it actually say that Congress is going to enact this.

  • Paul

    This really DOESN’T make sense to me … and I never use FM radio on my phone, that’s kind of what my $15k car is for …

  • Eric

    I love the mindset that people with $500 phones aren’t already potential radio listeners.

    Further, i love the mindset that putting a chip in our phones is suddenly going to make us WANT to listen to predefined, crappy music with 20 minutes of commercials per hour.

    ..vs. you know, the many many customizable, nearly commercial free streaming services we all have access to already.

  • ari-free

    Many phones are doing this anyway. Having to mandate this is stupid

  • Mickey Jones

    Need to report more accurate information.

    This isn’t even a bill yet. Just lobbying.

  • Shawn

    This is just another attempt by the traditional media providers to try and save their revenue source. I’m sorry to all the supporters out there of this old method of providing media but I am sick of being force fed 20 minutes of audio spam between the music or any audio content i Imight not even want to listen to but don’t have a choice cause it’s “radio” and I don’t get to control the lineup. Same goes with TV. I would gladly pay a subscription or a la carte fee for a show without 3 minutes of advertisement crap every 10 minutes. For every hour show that’s like 15 minutes of our lives wasted. Thank god for services like Pandora and technology like TiVo and other DVR,s Fast forward baby!

  • http://mill-industries.com Eric Mill

    Er, this headline is extremely misleading. This is an extremely contentious industry proposal that has not gotten any visible Congressional support yet. In fact, the only thing to come out of Congress that the article mentions is a bill that makes radio stations pay royalties to artists, it has nothing to do with FM radios in cell phones.

    Please read articles thoroughly before you discuss them with a modified headline.

  • Shawn

    Listen to CNET’ buzz out loud and twit’s tech news today, they broke it down and explained that yes the industry is “requesting” for congress to mandate that mobile devices must start having the capability to recieve radio. Whatever the reason they use, ( so one can get emergency bulletins or singers getting royalties or whatever.) I don’t care the who’s, how’s or what’s. It is not right and I am sick of any media that forces any kind of advertisement on you. Especially when you as the individual can not specifically specify and tailor every single bit of content being played to you. Like I said before I will gladly pay for the ability to choose content. Radio…,stay off of my mobile devices unless I choose for you to be there.

  • James C

    Yep. Those RIAA and NAB quacks are asking the Gov to stick its nose in things it shouldn’t (Re: FM Receivers).

    The main focus of the article is hardly FM receivers in cell phones. It regards the ability to receive royalties for recording companies and artists for songs that are played on the radio.

    I can understand their (RIAA and NAB) desire to pull in $$ when a radio station plays a song they produced. Only the songwriter gets money from a radio song. What about the band that spent their time in the studio? Yes, of course people can go out and buy the cd, but the radio station is making $$ from the band’s time in the studio and the recording company’s efforts. They should have a little $$ flow back to them.

    Other than that. I expect TalkAndroid to give me a truthful headline. As was mentioned before, it’s NAB (most likely) that is lobbying for FM receivers and by no means is it at the point where congress will approve it. So, to say “FM radios in cell phones to become mandatory” is inaccurate based on available info and thus rather annoying.