Several electronics makers are releasing new products that promise to do for radio what the TiVo digital video recorder has done for television.
These digital radio recorders, which can be preset to record a program at a certain time, enable customers to record any radio program they want and have it converted into a digital format. They then can listen to the program or upload it onto a PC in a transferable file.
Like TiVo, the audio recorders will let customers fast-forward over commercials -- although this isn't a feature the industry is actively promoting.
"What you do with it is your own doing and there's nothing we can do to stop you," said Bob Fullerton, director of marketing for one of the manufacturers, PoGo Products. "But the main use is not to skip commercials, but to record your favorite talk-radio show or the ball game you're going to miss because you are at work."
Fullerton's company has been taking orders for the Radio YourWay AM/FM recorder, which costs $150. It's a palm-sized device that weighs 2.8 ounces and will arrive in computer stores later this month. The device is primarily a radio and program recorder that converts files into a digital format, Fullerton said. Secondly, it's an MP3 player, he said.
Digital Innovations, another manufacturer, plans to release an updated version of its Neuros MP3 digital audio recorder in September.
While the current version of Neuros can record music on FM stations in real time, the upgrade will include a timer to record programs at any time.
Debbie Hall, spokeswoman for Digital Innovations, said her company hasn't decided whether the new version of Neuros will record AM programs. But she said it is a feature that often is requested by the company's current customers.
As companies prepare to release more of these digital radio recorders, the potential conflicts the devices raise over copyright issues remain unresolved. While it is legal to record material off the radio, swapping certain digital files as was the case with copyright music on Napster is not, said Fred von Lohmann, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
The legality of exchanging files of radio programs between friends would depend on whether that content was considered "fair use" under the law, he said.
"It would depend as to what extent it has hurt the market," said von Lohmann. "If you had a friend who was interviewed on a news program and you sent him a copy of it, I think there's a pretty strong chance that would be considered fair use. On the other hand, if you taped all the top singles off the top 40 stations and sent it to all your friends that is more likely to be illegal."
Still, von Lohmann said he doesn't expect too much of a fuss from the music industry over these digital radio recorders because the quality of radio today is not nearly as good as, say, music ripped off of a CD.
"I don't see how radio represents a new threat," he said.
But Digital Innovations' Hall said it will be "interesting to see" how the copyright debate ensues once radio stations convert to digital signals and companies release devices that can record perfect copies of that content and distribute it freely over the Internet like MP3 files.
For now, industry analysts don't view digital radio recorders like the Neuros and Radio YourWay as much of a threat to any company that provides content to a radio station since digital copies of radio programs will sound only as good as their analog format, including the static that plagues many AM stations and those FM stations far away from the receiver.
"We are not convinced these products will sell particularly well … until the signal coming in has to be digital," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Forrester Research.
The movement of radio stations to a digital format has been slow in comparison to that of television stations.
While television broadcasters were given free airwaves to broadcast digital signals in exchange for their analog spectrum, the Federal Communications Commission never struck a similar deal with radio stations. It didn't even mandate that radio stations offer content in a digital format, as is the case with the television industry.
Some radio broadcasters plan to offer digital programming by using technology developed by a private company called iBiquity Digital. iBiquity's high-definition radio technology enables broadcasters to use their current spectrum to offer both analog and digital signals. If a broadcaster were to adopt this technology, listeners would be able to hear a higher-quality digital signal if their radios were equipped to receive signals in the HD radio format.
But as an iBiquity spokesman pointed out, HD radio was not approved by the FCC until October of last year, so hardly any radio stations are equipped to emit digital signals today. Adopting the technology is also purely voluntary, so there is no assurance that radio broadcasters will offer digital programming at all.
So far, iBiquity has signed up 130 radio stations that will use the technology, although the company doesn't expect a significant product rollout until the end of this year.
"There's always going to be that lag between licensing and starting to turn on the digital signals," said Joe D'Angelo, director of business development for wireless data services at iBiquity. "We are in the first year of rollout."
While Forrester's Enderle doesn't expect digital radio recording to catch on with a large number of music listeners for another five years, he said talk show and sports fans may make the most use of digital radio recorders poised to hit the market this year.
"If it's for people who like a show that is on at midnight or 1 in the morning; you can listen to it where you otherwise might not have," Enderle said. "While this is not a small group, it's not a majority of the people, either."
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