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Radio goes “interactive” in the dash

Posted on: May 21, 2009 in Radio's Future

Harve Alan tips me off to this video from VW and Intel.  

It features an all-new "infotainment" in-dash system that features all kinds of interactive content along with a handy, dandy AM/FM radio (and not the HD kind).

The thing you need to understand about this (inevitable) technology is this:
Anything that occupies space with a radio and consumes the same attention and time as a radio competes with a radio and substitutes for a radio. 

That means those are your competitors – and it also means you're in that "business" too.

That means you must either dive into the fray or offer an alternative so compelling it beats the competitive offerings.
  
View Comments
  • transistro radio
    This is your brain listening to music on the radio. :-|
    This is your brain listening to music on HD radio :-|
    This is your brain listening to Pandora in your car.
    :-) Any questions.
  • pocketradio.livejournal.com
    There is no reason for a manufacturer/automaker to spend approximately $45/radio to install HD Radio, with thousands of Internet Radio stations available. Too bad that terrestrial radio didn't go full-tilt-buggy on the Internet, instead of investing so much into HD Radio, by possibly creating interactive services, such as Slacker and Pandora - smart move by CBS to acquire Last.FM. Portable Slacker seems like the perfect iPod killer, with zillions of preloaded songs, and the ability to personalize "radio stations" - I wouldn't be surprised to see Slacker integrating into in-dash devices. Could you imagine Slacker coming preloaded in-dash, and now with the ability to update playlists from WiFi hotspots seamlessly, and probably eventually WiMax? I think that Slacker in-dash could be a real winner. Of course, any in-dash device must work seamlessly and effortlessly, almost like tuning into analog AM/FM. I understand that tuning and bandscanning HD radios is a nightmare. I remember an old article by Kurt Hanson (RAIN) when he was able to tune in-dash Internet Radio from around the world, as an experiment in Hawaii - he said that it almost brought tears, and it worked great!
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MRM President Mark Ramsey has worked with innumerable television and radio broadcasters over his career, including all the biggest names, from Clear Channel, CBS, Bonneville, Sirius XM...

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