Closer to an iPod than a theyPod

Is this your new radio?

I have long argued that people generally will only buy a radio when it comes bundled with something else they are going to buy anyway.

While the new iPhone does not literally contain a radio, it functions like an iPod (among many other things) and can thus fulfill that part of you that wants your tunes in a groovy cross-category package, albeit one with a $600 entry fee.

Just as we are seeing more music consumers choose the singles they want (digitally) rather than the ones they don’t want (by buying CD’s), we will increasingly see those same consumers demand control over their passive music environment (i.e., radio) as well. Not by seeking out more choices but by controlling the nitty gritty of the choices they have. Actively or passively, listeners will gradually become their own programmers.

When it comes to music, future radio will have to be much more responsive to the individual than to the collective.

Closer to an iPod than a theyPod.

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