Laptops Desktops Monitors & LCDs Graphics Cards Handhelds Phones Software Networks Printers More »
search
AnchorDesk

David Coursey
The day the music died--and why I still love Internet radio

David Coursey
Executive Editor, AnchorDesk
Monday, April 16, 2001
TalkBack!Add your opinion
I am sitting here waiting for my Internet radio--a Kerbango device--to die. I know this will happen, maybe today, because 3Com recently killed its Internet appliance division and has laid off the Kerbango staff, before the award-winning product ever got to market.

Audrey--3Com's flagship Internet appliance--won't be missed, thought I still expect something like Audrey will eventually find commercial success. Kerbango, a stand-alone tuner for Internet radio stations, is a greater loss. The radio--which you can still see on the company's Web site--will stop working when the server that provides its tuning guide is shut down.

AT $299, KERBANGO WOULD have been $100 too expensive--blame the cost of the LCD screen--but that would have come down over time. But all the people who had review units, at least the ones I know, fell in love with the radio, which allowed the user to listen to Internet stations without using a computer and provided a Web-based system to create presets for the push buttons. Take a look at the site, if it's still up, and you'll see what I'm trying to describe.

I am led to believe that after 3Com announced Kerbango would be closing that there were suitors prepared to buy the group, admittedly for much less than the $80 million 3Com had paid, but 3Com was too busy to be bothered with such a small-potatoes sale. 3Com has become such a loser company of late that this, alas, doesn't surprise me.

There are other companies that have announced Internet radios, although none are quite like the Kerbango, and I don't think any have shipped. The closest product--at least in terms of allowing you to listen to Internet radio in places more convenient than sitting in front of the PC--is a device from iM Networks, formerly Sonicbox.

THE COMPANY OFFERS--though it seems to be perpetually out of stock--a tuner that works with software on your PC to transmit Internet radio to any radio in your house. It comes with a remote-control tuner that allows you to select stations from wherever you happen to be.

I have played with this device for a while now and have some reservations--related to the range of the remote transmitter for the audio stream--about recommending it. But for less than $100 it's an interesting toy.

Of much greater interest is an iM Networks device called the "Planet Radio" that Philips has designed and is due out later this year. This is fairly standard mini-stereo system that also tunes Internet stations and promises to be pretty cool if it works right.

IM NETWORKS ALSO DOES something for people without special hardware: The same software that drives the remote tuner can also be used as a desktop application, connected to the company's radio portal with links to hundreds of stations, many of which you might never find on your own. Of course, the major audio players offer radio tuners of their own. These can be accessed from RealAudio or Microsoft Windows Media Player.

These tuning services--essentially radio-specific search engines--are very useful for finding the stations and programs you are interested in. Internet radio has pretty much made shortwave obsolete as a means for countries to talk to one another. All my favorite shortwave programs are now available over the Internet, either as a live stream or convenient on-demand basis.

Visit the World Radio Network site to get a sample of this programming. The Voice of America and BBC World Service are both available online, as are dozens of stations in many languages, a great way for people to hear news and other programs in their native tongue (or a language they'd like to learn). And, of course, our own CNET Radio (and yours truly) is available on the Internet. You'll find those links near the bottom of this page.

TO BE SURE, INTERNET RADIO has had a tough time, and it got tougher last week when two major U.S. radio chains jerked their streaming audio off the Net, silencing hundreds of Internet stations. Shutting down these stations is probably a good thing, actually, and these growing pains will, eventually, subside.

The shutdown, caused by disputes over how music and advertising royalties are (and aren't) being paid, has mostly taken stations off the Net that only people who could otherwise hear them over the air would care about. Having so many of these stations on the Internet, essentially playing the same music, limited the opportunity for any one of them to become a commercial success as an online venture.

Someday, Internet radio will be a major medium. It won't touch over-the-air radio in terms of revenue, perhaps ever, but it will offer the diversity that people associate with cable television and satellites. The Internet offers an essentially limitless radio spectrum, something that can't be done over the air; and that's great for listeners.

Have a favorite station? Love or hate Internet radio? TalkBack to me!

AnchorDesk on radio and television: David is now getting up bright and early to visit with Brian Cooley every morning at 7:45 a.m. PT on CNET Radio (910AM in the San Francisco Bay Area and at www.cnetradio.com online). He is also co-host of an hour-long program every Friday at noon PT on CNET Radio. You can also catch David on CNET's News.com TV program, which airs twice every weekend on CNBC (see airtimes) or by going to the special CNET TV page featuring his most recent appearances and a link to the Friday radio program.

Previous Story  Next Story 

Special sponsor stores

Virtualization

advertisement
Click Here