Grazie, Steve

iPod e radio: Touch no, Nano sì. Ma il tagging?

No, ancora nessuna traccia di una radio FM sul nuovo Apple iPod Touch presentato poche ore fa a San Francisco, iPod peraltro identico a un iPhone 4 senza telefonia 3G. Se questa somiglianza include il famoso, presunto chip Broadcom che include un ricevitore FM - a questo punto mi chiedo se è vero, se questo benedetto chip è davvero inserito nell'iPhone - la sua funzione radio non è stata attivata, neppure questa volta.

In compenso, la radio FM rimane nella nuova versione di iPod Nano con display multitouch (si può cambiare la frequenza sfiorando lo schermo). Eppure c'è un fatto sorprendente: nelle specifiche si parla di funzione Live Pause, quella che permette di sospendere e riprendere l'ascolto, ma non si trova assolutamente menzione del tagging, che nel precedente iPod Nano consentiva di marcare una canzone ascoltata via radio e di acquistarla successivamente su iTunes. Questo mi fa pensare. Il tagging era stato implementato grazie al supporto di RDS e di alcune sue nuove estensioni (RDS-ODA). Ora, se il tagging non c'è più, significa forse che anche l'RDS è sparito? Non sembrerebbe, perché il sito Apple indica che sul nuovo Nano il display visualizza i nomi dei brani e dei programmi ascoltati (come, se l'RDS non ci fosse?). Possibile che il tagging sia stato silenziosamente messo da parte perché nessuna stazione lo utilizzava? In ogni caso la notizia merita un approfondimento.

La storia d'amore tra Apple (almeno per uno dei suoi prodotti) e la radio FM continua, mi pare positivo. Tra l'altro continua nel segno dell'analogico, visto che Apple continua a ignorare il DAB europeo/australiano, ma soprattutto l'americanissimo HD Radio di Ibiquity, per il quale probabilmente non sono disponibili chipset sufficientemente miniaturizzati e a basso consumo. Il nuovo iPod Nano è veramente minuscolo e la conferma della sezione FM, anche se un po' monca, dimostra che gli acquirenti apprezzano questa feature.

Prezzi a partire da 149 dollari. Certo, le radioline cinesi costano meno, ma credo che il display a sfioramento e tutto il resto possano valere la spesa.

Radio nano.

Ride the airwaves on iPod nano. The FM tuner shows the artist, song, or program you’re listening to. Just tap to see the radio controls, flick the radio dial to change stations, and tap to set your favorites.

Live Pause.

If you need to take a break from listening, don’t miss a minute of radio time with Live Pause. Tap to pause a song or show, then tap again to continue where you left off. You can rewind as far back as 15 minutes or fast-forward to catch up to the live broadcast.

RDS RT+, metadati per la radio (e iPod Nano)

Una interessantissima recensione di Alan Jurison su RadioWorld svela molti particolari tecnici della funzionalità di tagging integrata dal nuovo Apple iPod Nano nel suo ricevitore FM/RDS. Per implementare la funzione - che permette di marcare i brani ricevuti via radio e successivamente collegarsi all'iTunes Store per eventualmente acquistare questi brani - Apple ha utilizzato una parte dello standard RDS introdotta già da qualche anno, il Radiotext Plus o RT+.
E' veramente incredibile pensare a quante cose sono possibili già oggi con la radio analogica e una manciata di metadati. Cose che chissà perché nessuno si immagina di utilizzare. Le specifiche RT+ hanno introdotto, grazie ai campi delle Open Data Application previste dalla normativa che regola questa codifica, un discreto grado di informazione all'utente e interattività. Sto parlando in questi giorni del nuovo sistema RadioDNS, proposto per ovviare ai "limiti" dei metadati trasmessi con i segnali della radio analogica e digitale. RadioDNS è stato definito alla fine del 2009 ma già nel 2006 la rivista tecnica dell'EBU di Ginevra pubblicava un breve ma dettagliato articolo che spiegava che cosa era possibile fare con RT+ (l'articolo si può prelevare qui). Il sistema, sviluppato guarda caso da Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Nokia e Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT), consente di inserire nel flusso informativo RDS dati relativi al TMC, al tagging, alle emergenze e può consentire un certo grado di interattività con l'inserimento di informazioni come numeri di telefono e URL. Tra le aziende che producono encoder RDS che offrono questa opportunità c'è per esempio l'americana Audemat con il modello FMB80. Lato ricevitore, è semplicemente questione di programmare la decodifica a valle dei componenti che già oggi demodulano la sottoportante RDS (o RDBS negli USA, che con l'avvento di ricevitori come iPod Nano e lo stesso Microsoft Zune HD, che supporta RT+ nella parte analogica, sta scoprendo un sistema finora diffuso principalmente in Europa), una semplice questione di software. Eppure siamo qui a lamentarci per una radio che non riesce a stare al passo di Internet. Ma chi l'ha detto?
L'articolo di Jurison è chiaramente rivolto ai tecnici delle stazioni radio interessate a sfruttare la funzione di tagging dell'iPod Nano. L'autore osserva giustamente che maggiore è il numero di stazioni impegnate a diffondere questi metadati, maggiore sarà l'interesse da parte dei costruttori di ricevitori, nell'eterno gioco uovo-gallina che caratterizza l'industria. Certo che appare francamente stupido il clima di attesa che inevitabilmente trasforma ogni nuovo standard tecnico in una possibile "rivoluzione", quando i primi a non accorgersi delle rivoluzioni possibili con gli standard precedenti sono proprio i tecnici.

(...)
FM radio review

If you have used the classic iPod user interface, you’ll be right at home. For those new to the iPod, the wheel user interface may take a little time to get used to. Apple also does a great job with its music playing, display, interface and organization on this device. Seeing album art when playing a stored song is a cool and slick feature, and the buttons and controls within the Music, Video and Photos section are intuitive.
The radio, though, is why I ran out and bought one. (Note that we’re talking about only analog FM here; there’s no HD Radio and no AM capability.) The FM tuner works internationally. When you launch the radio for the first time, it asks what region you’re in (Americas, Europe, Japan, etc.). You can then select “Play Radio” and you’re ready to scan the dial. You can use the outer “wheel” or circle of the control pad to scan the virtual radio dial at the bottom of the screen. Clockwise moves the frequency up in the FM band, counterclockwise moves down.
Once you’ve tuned to a station, or after a period of inactivity, the virtual radio dial display goes away and the functionality of the outer wheel changes to become your volume control. Again, for the non-Apple person, this can take time to get used to. At first, I found myself inadvertently changing the volume when wanting to change the station.
If the virtual radio dial has disappeared and you want to change the station, lightly tap the center button; the dial will return. If you’ve come across a station you like, hold the center dial position for about a second and you can select “Add to Favorites.” Once you’ve added several stations to favorites, use the left/right “Last Track/Next Track” buttons to navigate to your presets. This will navigate the stations in order by frequency, from the bottom of the band to the top. There’s no way to have your own preferred sort order, or to position your most favorite stations first, which could be an improvement.
The sensitivity of the receiver is excellent; even with the supplied earbuds, the radio works as well as you’d expect any portable. I’ve used it indoors in many occasions, especially in larger business structures, and it performs well. The Nano seems to do a great job at decoding RDS even on stations that have a low RDS injection rate.

Radio Live Pause

By default, the radio “Live Pause” feature is turned off; as far as the user interface is concerned that’s probably a good thing because when you turn it on, it does make navigating the iPod a little more difficult. That’s because the center tap and next track/previous track/volume buttons now serve three purposes: to turn up the volume, change the station and fast forward/rewind the recorded audio from the station.
This gets a little tricky and at times annoying, so it has been my preference to turn off the Live Pause function unless I want to use it. I would suggest that Apple add another physical button or two in future models to reduce the many functions of the center button. Perhaps moving the volume controls to dedicated buttons like on the iPhone and Touch models would be the best way to handle this.
The radio “Live Pause” feature is neat. Once you turn it on, it continuously records the station to which you are tuned. It even caches the RDS messages the station sent in real time with the audio and displays a little marker of the time of the event; e.g., if you go back at noon through five minutes of recordings, it shows 11:55 a.m. as the time of recording.
You can use the left/right “Last Track/Next Track” buttons to jump one minute behind or ahead, or you can use the wheel “circular” control for precise fast forward/rewinding. Keep in mind that you cannot store the recordings. This feature is just a way to pause 15 minutes of live radio; the content is lost as soon as you tune away from the station.
While this is an interesting feature, I’m not sure of the usefulness for consumers other than to pause something they are enjoying if they are interrupted and need to attend to something else, or to “rewind” something they just heard that they wanted to hear again.
For some, however, this will be a noteworthy addition. It means that if you are listening to a station and you have “Live Pause” activated, you can go back at any time to re-hear the last 15 minutes of radio content. This “radio rewind” lets you go back for a phone number, or the name of a song that the DJ gave at the top of the song but not at the end; or to listen to what a fast-talking traffic reporter just said about the backup on I-81. A user can now catch anything that normally goes by too fast on the radio.

RDS support

When you tune to an FM station that has RDS, the Nano immediately resolves the short, eight-character PS field. If the station also transmits the longer RadioText (RT), or the 64-character field, it will replace the short PS with the full RT. The Nano does a great job displaying your RadioText, and will scroll it if it’s too long for the display. It’s important for stations that have RDS to make sure their PS and RT are correct. I know of stations that have focused on the short eight-character PS because many car receivers only support that field or only display that field automatically. More radios are supporting RT and more radios are now displaying it prominently, so make sure your station’s PS and RT have the station name, song information and other information you want conveyed in the RadioText. If your station doesn’t do RadioText right, your listeners will miss out on what you want them to see.
The Nano also supports RT+, which is the internationally recognized RDS standard to allow you to denote where the Artist and Title reside in the long 64-character RadioText field. With stations that support RT+, this gives a listener with the Nano an “MP3 Player Feel” while listening to your station.
As soon as the Nano decodes the RT, and if the station has RT+ tagging packets, it will copy the Artist and Title out of your RadioText and display the Artist and Title in a separate section of the screen. Kudos to Apple for keeping the original RadioText on the screen, as this allows people to see other promotional messages and station branding still while tuned into the station. It’s quite a handsome display.
If the station you’re tuned to has RT+ encoding, you’ll also note that, next to the title, is a paper clip icon; this denotes that you can “tag” the song. Hold the center button of the Nano when you see this for about two seconds, and a menu will pop up that allows you to “tag” the song for later purchase. This is a great way to enable listeners who like the song you’re playing to purchase it later when they connect their Apple Nano to their computer with iTunes. Here in Syracuse, Citadel (my employer) and Clear Channel stations are encoding; other stations are not.
In future versions, Apple should explore integrating Wi-Fi (802.11) connectivity so you wouldn’t need to hook it to a computer to purchase a song.
The Nano supports Apple’s proprietary iTunes Tagging RDS protocol as well, which allows encoding stations to send the specific Apple ID of a song to allow the listener who tags a song to download the exact version of the song you played. This is particularly helpful for songs that might have various different versions, which will provide a better user experience.
It also allows you to transmit a unique identifier so your station can get credit for a song purchased through iTunes and allows the station to get a commission from Apple if you participate. Luckily, Apple does not require this in order for the Nano to do tagging, so stations that just encode with the international RT+ standard don’t appear to be much different than those who use Apple’s proprietary iTunes Tagging protocol. The next time you attach the Nano to your computer and it synchronizes, any tagged songs show up in iTunes for download. You can click on the tag and look at the song, preview it again, and look at the album art and other songs on the album. If you already have your iTunes associated with an account, you can buy the song with one click.
While some critics have questioned the usefulness of this feature, I think this is an important way to stay relevant with our listeners. Now, when they hear songs our stations play, they can tag them for later purchase. The “killer app” will be when Apple develops a device using this technology that has a Wi-Fi or 3G/4G connection, which is probably not far from happening. Once the music player is connected to the Internet directly, the listener would be able to tag and download that song to their personal connection immediately.

RDS issues

On the whole, Apple did a great job for its first attempt at an FM receiver with RDS support. I did discover a few issues related to the RDS RT+ support. I found that the Nano initially had a problem in its software and would not decode RT+ packets that are placed in a station’s Open Data Application (ODA) groups of 8A or 9A. There was also an issue where the Nano was using the RadioText (group 2A) “Text A/B Flag” as defined in section 3.1.5.3 in the U.S. RBDS Standard as part of the decision process of whether to display a tag instead of solely relying on the Item Toggle Bit as defined in the RT+ ODA Standard, Annex P.
Upon finding these issues, I got in contact with Apple’s engineers and presented my findings. They were very interested and immediately started working on a solution. Apple quickly released the Nano 1.0.2 revision of software on Nov. 9 that corrected the issues. Your Nano can be upgraded by just connecting it to iTunes; it should suggest that you download the new version of software. My contact at Apple was easy to work with and I am encouraged that the company was able to dedicate resources and respond to this problem in relatively quickly. I think Apple is going to be a great partner; there are exciting possibilities when broadcasters and Apple work together.
While the new software release is out, remember that many Nano units in the field probably haven’t been upgraded. Also, I’m sure most stock at retail outlets will have the original version of software for some time. If your station is airing RT+ tagging, I would review which ODA group you are running it in. Some RT+ hardware installations use 8A as a default, and that means it won’t work on the Nano until the user has upgraded their software version. Since it’s difficult to predict if and when all Nanos will have the newer software, I would suggest moving your RT+ ODA groups away from 8A or 9A just to avoid this problem.
After the 1.0.2 release, I noticed another small issue with the Nano’s RT+ tagging support that Apple has acknowledged and is working on. If you’re tagging more than just ITEM.ARTIST and ITEM.TITLE, you should note that in some cases the Nano doesn’t like when these two fields are separated in separate tags.
So, for example, if you are tagging ITEM.ARTIST, ITEM.TITLE and ITEM.ALBUM, be sure to put ITEM.ARTIST and ITEM.TITLE in the same RT+ tagging packet, and then send ITEM.ALBUM in a different RT+ packet. This is a simple work-around until the problem has been addressed by Apple, and it’s compatible with other RT+ receivers like the Zune.
Also, I hope that Apple starts supporting ITEM.ALBUM on the display. Right now, if your station encodes and send the song’s Album data via RT+, it never will show up on the display of the Nano. The Zune HD supports this feature and I hope the Nano does someday too.

Summary

The new Apple Nano offers a good FM tuner and a great user experience for its first product to support an integrated radio. I hope Apple continues to work on improving the user’s experience by improving on some of its issues with RT+ support that I noted above. I also hope Apple publishes its proprietary iTunes Tagging RDS protocol public for the entire industry to see.
If your station isn’t encoding with RDS, you should consider encoding to support this device and a whole host of new products that support RDS on the marketplace.
If your station is encoding with RDS, make sure that you’re paying attention to the data you’re sending in the short eight-character PS, as well as the longer 64-character RadioText. My testing with the Nano shows that most stations are not encoding with the new RT+ standard. With the Nano and the Microsoft Zune line of products, it’s important for all stations that support RDS to add RT+ encoding. Those that don’t encode with RT+ don’t offer the same user experience; and your competition might already be encoding. I strongly suggest you consider adding this functionality; it’s in the best interest of your listeners. As more broadcasters ask for their vendors to support RT+, better, lower-cost solutions should come to market as well.
If broadcasters get on the RT+ encoding bandwagon, it will encourage receiver manufacturers to embrace the standard and incorporate FM tuners and tagging in their devices. I think this is a great opportunity for broadcasters to rally for the RT+ standard and start rapid deployment. If we can get this done, I think we’ll all be delighted at the results. Meanwhile, I hope Apple will consider FM (and HD Radio) tuners in future revisions of its iPhone and iPod Touch flagship products.
Maybe even AM?

Le nuove frontiere dell'EPG e del tagging per la radio

Trovo di grande interesse la seguente nota della National Association of broadcasters (NAB) sui lavori della commissione incaricata di studiare nuove applicazioni di EPG (guida elettronica dei programmi) per la radiofonia, in questo caso per la radiofonia numerica HD Radio.
Date un'occhiata - anche al sito del progetto FASTROAD, Flexible Advanced Services for Television and Radio - ché il discorso prosegue più avanti.

HD Radio EPG at the NAB Radio Show

Next week's NAB Radio Show (Philadelphia, PA, September 23-25, 2009, www.nabradioshow.com) provides a perfect opportunity to showcase some of the results from the NAB FASTROAD HD Radio electronic program guide (EPG) project. Through the FASTROAD (that's Flexible Advanced Services for Television and Radio On All Devices, www.nabfastroad.org) technology advocacy program, NAB has been funding the development of business requirements, system architecture and specifications of an HD Radio-based EPG for local radio broadcasters (see the August 3, 2009 issue of Radio TechCheck for additional information on this project).
In the Radio Show exhibit hall (booth 310), the project team of BIA Advisory Services (Chantilly, Va. www.bia.com), Broadcast Signal Lab (Cambridge, Mass., www.broadcastsignallab.com), and Unique Interactive (London, UK, www.uniqueinteractive.co.uk) will be demonstrating various aspects of the HD Radio EPG system which they have developed. Four specific demonstrations will be available (see diagram below):

* EPG service bureau demo - a number of the EPG system "models" developed by the FASTROAD project team involve use of a "service bureau" which collects EPG data from stations on a market-wide (or broader) basis, then organizes this data and sends it back to the stations in a format suitable for transmission over the HD Radio advanced data services channel. In the booth at the show, a demonstration of the EPG service bureau interface located at the radio station will be given, highlighting how the station uses/edits the EPG database, then uploads this data and other necessary parameters to the service bureau;

* Remote link to Boston field trial - since July of this year, a live EPG field trial has been underway in the Boston, Mass. radio market. Stations from the markets adjacent to Boston, including Worcester, Mass. and Providence, R.I. are also involved, showing how an HD Radio EPG can serve listeners as they travel. At the show, a live EPG monitor running on a computer in Boston will be mirrored to the Radio Show booth via remote desktop connection, showing EPG data received off-air from the field trial. This demo highlights what is called the "shared" EPG model, in which one or more "bearer" stations transmit EPG data for all other participating stations into the market;

* EPG transmitter/receiver demo - an HD-Radio Importer and transmitter will be in the booth, connected to a dummy load and feeding a signal (with EPG data) directly into two receivers an iBiquity EPG-enabled prototype receiver (a PC peripheral implemented on a printed circuit board) and a prototype EPG-enabled portable HD Radio receiver being developed by consumer electronics manufacturer Cydle Corp (www.cydle.com). Here, the "parochial" model of EPG service will be highlighted, in which each station transmits only its own EPG data, including all multicast services the station may carry;

* EPG Web browser demo - in addition to the over-the-air broadcast of EPG data using the HD Radio advanced data services channel, the Boston field trial also includes a demonstration of how local station EPG information can be made available over the Internet for display on a PC or a Web-connected mobile device (such as an iPhone). Shown in the booth will be PC and iPhone Web-browser displays of EPG data from an EPG service bureau Web server. This demonstration highlights one aspect of the "network" EPG model whereby a general EPG resource on the Internet is filtered by information about the listener's location, so that the device being used to obtain the EPG information (in this demo, the PC and iPhone) can obtain localized EPG data from a master database.

Disporre di una guida interattiva che riesca in ogni istante a indicare quali programmi si possono ascoltare alla radio, o alla tv, è una questione ormai fondamentale in un panorama mediatico complesso e multitematico come quello attuale. E' necessario implementare reti radiofoniche a standard numerico per avere a disposizione certe soluzioni? La risposta a mio parere è che sì, un sistema come il DAB o HD Radio aiuta, ma che anche per l'FM (e forse per le onde medie) analogica abbiamo la possibilità di trasmettere i metadati necessari attraverso l'RDS. Non conta insomma che le informazioni digitali siano inserite in un contesto di frame numerico su portanti modulate numericamente o se invece queste informazioni viaggiano su sottoportanti di una portante analogica opportunamente modulate a loro volta.
A questo proposito vi invito a leggere un recente post di Nick Piggot che fa un punto della situazione del sistema RadioTAG, proposto nell'ambito del più esteso progetto di "DNS aperto per la radio" chiamato appunto RadioDNS. Nick fa le sue considerazioni all'indomani dell'annuncio del nuovo Apple iPod nano con radio FM integrata e funzioni avanzate come l'iTunes Tagging per l'FM analogica (dove, spiega Nick, i metadati che servono al nano per contrassegnare i brani e allestire una lista della spesa su iTunes dopo la sincronizzazione nano-computer, viaggiano appunto su RDS). RadioDNS costituisce un formato per metadati universale e aperto la cui documentazione è disponibile sul sito ufficiale. E non perdetevi i link di Nick ai post di Mark Ramsey e James Cridland (che si dilunga sull'uso di RDS da parte di iTunes Tagging) sullo stesso argomento nano.

Apple iPod Nano – now with FM and Tagging. Is that good?
10/09/2009 Filed under: radio, technology — Nick Piggott

Just when you think there’s nothing interesting you can blog about, Apple come and chuck fresh meat to the wolves.
Of course, everyone’s excited about Apple including radio in one of their devices for the first time. That’s clearly good news. It would be amazing news if it was a DAB Radio in Europe, and an HD Radio in the States, but let’s work on that one. Baby steps.
Let’s assume that Apple don’t incorporate functionality into their devices unless they think users are going to go “wow – cool”. As Mark Ramsay says, Apple didn’t just throw an FM tuner in there; they “enhanced radio”, so it includes pause/rewind and tagging. Adding this kind of functionality costs real money (in material and engineering time), so we should be pleased that Apple see that as a worthwhile investment. Yes, Radio is still cool, and still valued even by the cool kids who buy Apple iPod Nanos. This is a “radio” that 15-24s will love to have.
James explains a bit about how the existing Apple iTunes Tagging works. It’s a system designed to do one very specific job, for one specific group of stations and listeners. It transmits Apple iTunes Catalogue IDs in spare RDS ODA (Data) groups, using a form of encryption (discuss…). The radio station incorporates the iTunes IDs into their FM RDS transmission, the iPod Nano receives/decodes this, and when you hit “Tag” it stores the ID/Artist/Title in memory. When you sync up your Nano with iTunes, iTunes converts that into proper store links, and offers you the downloads. It works. Listeners can tag songs on the radio, and buy them in iTunes. A similar service is also available on HD Radio, and was launched earlier, IIRC.
So what’s not to like. Isn’t this the perfect demonstration of innovative revenue generation in a digital media world?
Maybe, but I don’t think it was initially designed with the listener in mind. It looks like a system designed to turn radio listeners into Apple iTunes customers. There’s nothing wrong with that, incidentally. The rather depressed radio business got a big kick out of being able to announce a tie-up with Apple, who are highly regarded. There’s significant kudos is being allowed to play with the smartest boys on the block.
James has pointed out the weaknesses in the existing system. It doesn’t scale terribly well (although I believe either FM or HD have also started parallel transmission of Amazon IDs for their MP3 store?), and it only works for iTunes and material that’s in iTunes.
There another weakness in the system, in my opinion.
If you look at how the meta-data moves around, it goes in one direction only. From the radio station, via FM, the Nano, iTunes and to Apple. After the radio station has splurged the meta-data out on the broadcast platform, it has no control or visibility of it from that point onwards. There has to be a contractual relationship between Apple and each Radio Station for Apple to pass information about the songs sold back to the radio station. I have no idea how detailed that information is. Does it list every transaction, by every device, by time of day? Does it report transactions, or tagging events, or both? Or do they just get a $ total each month and a check for the affiliate fees?
Excluding the broadcaster from the process, and obfuscating the outcome, diminishes the value for radio. It turns us into an customer acquisition vehicle, without getting rich information on listener behaviour.
There’s also the small problem of ne’er do wells “stealing” the meta-data. Let’s assume that someone nefarious decides to strip that meta-data, and amend the affiliate ID to be their own. You might use an apparently legitimate streaming portal, or attractive device, and that money would go to the middle-man, not the radio station. The value of meta-data is increasing, and we should be more careful about whom we exchange it with. In my opinion, broadcasting meta-data risks destroying value. I do agree that meta-data should be open, but I generally think that you should know who you’re providing it to. (I’m going to blog about the side-effects of this shortly).
As you’d expect, I think the RadioTAG model is fairer. It keeps our meta-data relatively secure, whilst still allowing legitimate users (like listeners and Apple) to have access to all the information they need. It scales well, because it’s not transmitting vendor specific information over the air. The broadcaster can see who is requesting what meta-data when, and use that to track listener behaviour in real-time. And very importantly, it lets people tag *anything* interesting they hear on the radio, not just the songs.
I’m excited that Apple are into radio. I’m excited that the Nano is such a great little device. I’m excited for the prospects of Tagging on the Nano. I just want to make sure we make it great for listeners, as well as for radio stations and for Apple.

Una radio FM (e una videocamera) per Re iPod

Alla fine, dopo tanti rumors relativi ai lanci delle precedenti novità della famiglia iPod, il popolarissimo e fichissimo player della Apple avrà la sua radio FM incorporata. E non sarà una radio "normale". Con gli annunci di mercoledì, che tra l'altro hanno segnato il grande ritorno di Steve Jobs dopo il suo trapianto di fegato, iPod nano oltre a incorporare una videocamera (!!, iPod che affronta a testa bassa un dispositivo come Flip Video di Pure Digital Technologies, acquisita da poco dal gigante dei router Cisco), mostra per la prima volta tra le voci di menu la ricezione dell'FM. La pagina del sito Apple sembra quasi uno sgarbo nei confronti di Microsoft Zune e della sua compatibilità con la radio numerica di HD Radio. Jobs sembra quasi dire allo storico concorrente che lui, della radio digitale se ne fotte altamente. Ancora non è del tutto chiaro come, ma la radio FM di iPod nano dispone di due funzioni molto avanzate. Una è l'iTunes Tagging, finora apparentemente riservato alle sole stazioni HD Radio. Con questa funzione il nano benedetto "ricorda" le canzoni ascoltate e contrassegnate da un click della rotella e alla fine presenta la lista dei brani da acquistare direttamente su iTunes Store. Come avviene la cosa, con le informazioni RDS? Lo capiremo nei prossimi giorni. L'altra funzione si chiama Live Pause e consente di interrompere la riproduzione di un brano o di un programma e di riprenderla dallo stesso punto dopo la pausa. Immagino che questa funzione sia implementata con un buffer di memoria, ma in questo caso non è ancora dato capire quali sono i limiti operativi, per quanto tempo si può tenere in sospeso una canzone. Il filmato che illustra la funzionalità mostra sul display di nano un piccolo cursore con una indicazione oraria e lascia intuire che Live Pause sia una specie di time machine capace di portare indietro nel tempo la ricezione, almeno per qualche minuto.
In occasione del penultimo annuncio iPod, si era diffusa la voce che Apple avrebbe utilizzato radio "single on chip" della Silicon Labs (mi correggo, i rumors di qualche mese fa parlavano di chip della Broadcom come il recente BCM4329 che in effetti incorpora Wi-Fi, Bluetooth e FM 76-108 con RDS/RBDS) in ricezione e trasmissione, per applicazioni quali l'ascolto della musica dall'autoradio). E' possibile che siano questi i componenti del nano? Forse sì, ma bisognerebbe aprirne uno. Il punto più interessante riguarda il Tagging su iTunes, che su HD Radio non è un mistero ma nel caso della normale modulazione FM non si capisce bene come sia stato implementato, a meno di non pensare a un canale Radiotext di RDS, o a qualche strana macumba che consenta a iPod nano di estrarre le informazioni dei canali dati del sistema ibrido di Ibiquity. Si sa solo che per il momento il Tagging funziona solo negli USA e con le stazioni compatibili, che finora appartenevano alla categoria di quelle che avevano attivato le sottoportanti numeriche di HD Radio. Ma se la funzione di tagging può fare a meno di HD Radio, si spalancano opportunità molto interessanti qui in Europa, dove tra l'altro RDS è enormemente più diffuso rispetto al corrispettivo americano RBDS. L'argomento è di quelli da approfondire. Il costo del nuovo scatolino supermusicale? 149 dollari per 8 giga di memoria.

Apple Introduces New iPod nano With Built-in Video Camera
World’s Most Popular Music Player Now Available in Nine Brilliant Colors

SAN FRANCISCO—September 9, 2009—Apple today introduced the new iPod nano, adding a video camera, mic and speaker to the world’s most popular music player. Music lovers can now shoot video wherever they are, view it on their iPod nano and use their computers to easily transfer their videos to YouTube. The new iPod nano features an ultra-thin and sleek design with a larger 2.2-inch color display and gorgeous polished aluminum and glass enclosure. iPod nano also features a built-in FM radio with live pause and iTunes Tagging, as well as a built-in pedometer. The new iPod nano is available today in an 8GB model for $149 and a 16GB model for $179, and comes in nine brilliant colors including silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, (PRODUCT) RED and pink.

“iPod nano is the world’s most popular music player with over 100 million sold,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And now we’ve added a video camera to its incredibly thin design, without any additional cost to the user.”

iPod nano features a larger 2.2-inch display for easier navigating, enjoying album art, or shooting and viewing video clips. iPod nano is ultra-portable so users can shoot video wherever they are, in either portrait or landscape. iPod nano customers can share videos instantly with friends using its display and speaker, or sync with a Mac or PC and share them on YouTube, MobileMe, Facebook or via email.
iPod nano can even shoot videos with fun real-time effects such as Thermal, Film Grain, Kaleido and X-Ray.
iPod nano now has a built-in FM radio with live pause and iTunes Tagging. Live pause lets iPod nano users pause and resume playing their favorite FM radio shows. iTunes Tagging is great when users hear a song they like, they can simply tag it, and then preview and purchase that song when they sync to iTunes.** iPod nano also features Genius Mixes, which automatically creates up to 12 endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library that go great together.
iPod nano is also now an even better workout companion with the new built-in pedometer. iPod nano can keep track of your steps taken and calories burned, helping you meet your short and long-term fitness goals.
iPod nano provides up to 24 hours of music playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge. The 8GB model holds up to 2,000 songs, 7,000 photos, eight hours of video and seven hours of captured video; and the 16GB model holds up to 4,000 songs, 14,000 photos, 16 hours of video and 14 hours of captured video.

Pricing & Availability
The new iPod nano is available immediately for a suggested price of $149 (US) for the 8GB model and $179 (US) for the 16GB model in silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange and pink through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 8GB and 16GB iPod nano in yellow and (PRODUCT) RED are available through the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and Apple’s retail stores. iPod nano requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later and iTunes 9; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 9.

Il NAB chiede a Apple di integrare l'FM nell'iPhone e iPod

Secondo RadioInk, citato da Podcasting News, a sua volta segnalato da Francesco Delucia, il presidente della National Association of Broadcasters, David Rehr avrebbe scritto al Chief Operating Officer di Apple, Timothy Cook, per chiedergli ufficialmente di integrare nell'iPhone e negli iPod il supporto della ricezione della radio FM. Rehr osserva che i dispositivi musicali Apple sono gli unici grossi protagonisti di un mercato con un numero sempre più diffuso di lettori mp3 e telefonini con funzionalità FM a non offrire tale opportunità se non con appositi accessori esterni. Al NAB Show per esempio Motorola presenta il nuovo modello di telefonino ROKR EM35 che addiritttura incorpora una antenna FM e l'RDS
L'evidente obiettivo è che la radio non risulti troppo penalizzata dalla presenza di dispositivi del tutto alternativi dal punto di vista dei consumatori, ma l'appello di Rehr desta parecchie perplessità perché ricevere la radio consuma la batteria di un telefonino smart già fin troppo famelico di corrente. Senza contare i possibili costi aggiuntivi per gli utenti: in Germania per esempio si deve pagare un canone solo per il possesso di un dispositivo capace di ricevere programmi radiotelevisivi.
Ricordo però che secondo le ultime anticipazioni la terza generazione di iPhone potrebbe davvero integrare un chip con capacità di ricezione e addirittura trasmissione (per la diffusione dell'audio tramite autoradio, per esempio) in FM.

Rehr Asks Apple To Add FM To iPods

WASHINGTON -- April 13, 2009: Nearly all MP3 players and an ever-growing number of cellphones can receive over-the-air FM radio, but Apple continues to be a high-profile holdout. Now NAB President/CEO David Rehr has written to Apple COO Timothy Cook to urge the electronics maker, "as a recognized leader in both the mobile phone and portable music player arenas," to begin including FM radio capability in iPhones and iPods.
Rehr notes that some mobile phones now include an integrated FM antenna and don't need a wired headset or connections to external speakers, and that some Bluetooth circuits now include FM radio capability, meaning there's no need to make room for an FM receiver in the mobile phone's case. He also points out that the NAB will be demonstrating the new Motorola ROKR EM35, with an integrated FM antenna, at the NAB Show this month in Las Vegas.
As he has done in letters to other mobile execs, Rehr spells out for Cook some of the benefits of including FM radio in devices, saying it is a "value-added and low-cost feature" that consumers appreciate; a source of incremental revenue from song tagging that leads to sales; a source for emergency alerts that doesn't involve the mobile infrastructure; and a potential source of promotion for new phones and media players with FM capability.
Rehr says the U.S. lags behind the rest of the world in mobile phones sold with FM Radio, but tells Cook, "With Apple as our partner, I am confident that we will be successful in convincing the U.S. mobile network carriers and their customers that FM radio is an indispensable feature for their mobile phones. Also, the radio industry would enthusiastically provide significant public promotion of FM-enabled Apple iPhones and iPods."

Radio digitale (DAB) per iPod

Intempo Digital propone per 99,99 euro un ricevitore DAB di dimensioni molto ridotte (4x4 cm) da "innestare" negli iPod per ricevere la radio digitale. Scusate la recensione in tedesco ma questa è particolarmente ampia, trovate i dettagli tecnici anche sul sito Intempo in inglese. iDAB può essere utiizzato anche in tandem con le docking station dell'iPod. A che serve oggi una radio DAB non compatibile con il DAB+? A niente. L'unica speranza è che i costruttori si decidano a piantarla con questa specie di "suicidio di massa" (massa, si fa per dire).

Digital-Radio für den iPod

Radio für die iPod Generation: Falls die gespeicherten Musikschätze mal wieder nicht ausreichen, wird der iPod jetzt mit nur einem Klick DAB-fähig - und bietet so noch mehr Songs und Informationen für unterwegs. Der iDAB wird direkt an den iPod angesteckt und funktioniert mit jedem Modell, ausgenommen dem iPod Shuffle.

Intempos iDAB auch direkt mit jedem iPod-Lautsprechersystem verbinden. Den kleinen Adapter gibt es ab sofort in Silber und Granit-Schwarz im gut sortierten Fachhandel und im Intempo Online-Shop unter www.intempodigital.de zum Preis von 99,99 Euro (unverbindliche Preisempfehlung des Herstellers).
„Der iDAB ist unglaublich praktisch: Einfach nur Plug-and-Play und schon kann man unterwegs Digital-Radio hören. Der zusätzliche Anschluss für die iPod-Dockingstationen machen den iDAB zu einem echten Allrounder in Sachen DAB-Radio", erklärt Katie Richards, Marketing Manager bei Intempo.
Der iDAB ist extrem kompakt und damit genauso mobil wie der iPod: mit den Maßen 4cm x 4cm x 1cm und einem Gewicht von 5 Gramm passt er in jede noch so kleine Tasche. Einfach in der Handhabung ist er außerdem: Nur an den iPod anstecken und einschalten. Die Tasten zum Abspielen, Suchen oder Scrollen befinden sich an der Seite des iDAB. Dank des kleinen Bildschirms haben Musikfans immer den optimalen Überblick über die Radiostationen und Song-Titel. Außerdem lassen sich die eigenen zehn Lieblingssender speichern.
Für alle, die von der Digital Radio-Vielfalt nicht genug bekommen, bietet der iDAB auch einen Anschluss für iPod-Lautsprechersysteme. Einfach anstecken und in geselliger Runde oder gemütlich zu Hause die „Zukunftsmusik" in bester Qualität erleben. Eine Besonderheit sind die Kopfhörer, die als Antenne für das Digital-Radio genutzt werden - sie bleiben deshalb am besten auch bei der Benutzung des iDAB mit iPod-Lautsprechern angeschlossen.
„Unsere Kunden lieben Musik, deshalb arbeiten wir ständig daran, neue Wege für einen perfekten Musikgenuss zu finden", sagt Katie Richards. „Intempo war das erste Unternehmen, dass DAB mit iPod-Lautsprechern kombiniert hat - so entstand der RDI. Der iDAB geht diesen Weg jetzt konsequent weiter und ist derzeit das einzige Produkt auf dem Markt, dass sich sowohl mit dem iPod als auch mit Lautsprecher-Dockingstationen verbinden lässt."

Il nuovo iPod riceve la radio digitale. Forse.

Un paio d'ore fa VNUnet ha pubblicato uno di quei "rumors" che tanto piacciono agli appassionati dei prodotti Apple, sempre alle prese con la estrema segretezza che circonda di solito le caratteristiche dei nuovi prodotti del brand della mela bianca. Secondo il sito specializzato i prossimi modelli iPod saranno in grado di ricevere la radio digitale:

Apple is expected to launch a new range of iPods this week designed to receive digital radio.
The company will make an announcement about the new products on 5 September, but is remaining quiet about what changes will be made. However, a reliable industry insider has told vnunet.com that the announcement will include plans to bring digital radio to the iPod along with an option to buy music using the device.
The source said that the new iPods will be able to receive digital radio, and will include a 'buy-now' function to allow the user to download and buy tracks as they are being played. This facility will be limited to tracks sold from the iTunes store, but Apple hopes to dramatically increase the number of tracks available via the service. It is not known whether the same functions will be included in the iPhone.

Insomma un iPod capace di ricevere musica in qualità digitale via radio e con la ghiotta possibilità di acquistare, salvandolo in memoria, un brano che ci è piaciuto ascoltare. Resta un delicato problema forse sfuggito a chi ha riportato questa voce: "radio digitale" non significa niente se non ci si attacca l'etichetta col nome dello standard trasmissivo. E' del tutto plausibile che Apple abbia preso in considerazione il lancio di un iPod con tuner per HD Radio per esempio, e in questo caso sarebbe una dichiarazione d'intenti forte, capace di imprimere al sistema Ibiquity una spinta decisiva. Ma nascerebbe anche la questione delle versioni non americane del prodotto. Oggi iPod è un oggetto di culto su scala internazionale e per Apple non sarebbe facile giustificare l'uscita di una versione quasi completamente inutilizzabile fuori dai confini USA. A meno di non ipotizzare l'uscita di più versioni, ciascuna compatibile con gli standard di riferimento nelle varie aree geografiche. In ogni caso non c'è molto da attendere, i nuovi iPod dovrebbero uscire tra due giorni.