Media Advertising: Radio Embraces IPod Nano FM Tuner – Advertising Age – MediaWorks
I worked in radio for a dozen years, and one thing I never understood was why the broadcasting industry never put more pressure on Apple to include an FM tuner in iPods. To me, this was a glaring omission and one that would (and has) done huge damage to the industry. That’s about to change:
Apple’s launch this week of its fifth-generation iPod nano, the first iPod to include a video camera, drew heavy chatter from bloggers and tech nerds alike for its affordable attack on the Flip camera. But the unlikeliest benefactor of the new nano? The radio industry, via Apple’s first FM tuner, compatible with new 5G nanos.
The radio tuner will allow users to tag songs they hear on the radio, sync them with their iTunes and identify the song’s artist and title and purchase it, where applicable, from the iTunes store via the Radio Advertising Bureau’s “Buy From FM” platform. Additionally, the FM tuner also enables DVR-like, on-demand functionality to live radio, allowing listeners to pause a song from a live radio feed, rewind it or resume listening after switching to another station.
via Media Advertising: Radio Embraces IPod Nano FM Tuner – Advertising Age – MediaWorks.
Of course, the tuner makes it easier to download songs and line Apple’s pockets. So as radio continues to turn away from compelling, original content in favor of an it’s-all-about-the-music philosophy (with Program Directors increasingly telling their air talent to keep their mouths shut and General Managers increasingly automating airshifts), one wonders if radio has been reduced to nothing more than a long commercial for iTunes.
