Car Controlled Radios /
I recently bought a new radio and so much about it is lovely. It looks beautiful, and underneath the attractive retro exterior lies a capable computer with a wifi card and an FM and DAB radio. You can even download an app to use as a remote control. New DAB Radio Now because my lovely new radio can receive FM, DAB and Internet streams I can choose to listen to Radio 4 either on FM, DAB or via the Internet. And I hate it. Whenever I switch it on, once I’ve decided which station I want to listen to I have to decide which broadcasting technology I want to use. As a user experience this is ridiculous, I really don’t care if it’s FM, DAB or Internet. I just want a good quality signal that doesn’t break up or noticeably suffer from interference. All I want to do is choose a station or programme. Why can’t the radio work out the best way for it to be delivered? After all it is a capable computer. iPhone app UI This brings me to a discussion I had on twitter recently. There have been a number of articles about the auto industry removing FM/AM radios from cars. The first claims that AM/FM will not exist in cars in 5 years. The second contains the results of an online study which seems to ask you if you’d rather “automakers removed FM/AM radios from my next new car” or not. Unsurprisingly people don’t want something they use and like using “removed” from their new car. Car Dashboard This survey isn’t that useful because it implies the options are either an in car FM radio or your mobile phone and its data connection. In reality this is very unlikely – how would this benefit the auto industry? FM receivers are so cheap it’s unlikely to be about saving automakers money. It’s far more likely ... Read More