New Listening
Have you got an iPod? Of course you have. I could be the last person on Planet Earth to own one. Actually I’m not the last. Trevor White, a friend of mine who programmes the radio station Planet Rock stalwartly refuses to own an iPod because he’s a radio man through and through and believes, probably quite rightly that iPods will be the death of radio. I think I might agree. Since I got my video iPod I’m afraid I’ve also got an attachment which enables me to play the iPod audio through the car radio. So now I’m listening to more than just the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio. Sure, I’m listening to my old record library - but how much Level 42 can any one man take? Worryingly I am listening to all kinds of spoken word content. Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, the original Podcast, gets a listen a few times a week but not until I’ve heard the various F1 podcasts. There are quite a few of these now. The AT&T Williams F1 podcast and the ING Renault F1 Team Podcast are a couple of good ones and the Sidepodcast is cute and engaging. Radio 4’s Start The Week and Five Live’s Wake up to Money are also in my pod listening mix.
If we’re talking music there is a must listen place for me. It’s PANDORA.COM where you can create your own radio station to listen to. Just put in one of your favourite tracks and the software will start to play you a radio station that mirrors that selection. The really great thing about PANDORA.COM is that I don’t know all the tracks it plays. That is what I miss most about regular radio today. I started listening to the radio because it was the place to hear all the new stuff. Now there are very few radio stations where I don’t know almost all of the tracks some of which I have become thoroughly fed up of hearing because of the extremely tight rotations and high repetitions. Listening to Pandora as I write this I have never heard JD Blackfoot and “One time Women Don’t Bother Me” and I probably don’t want to hear it again for a while but hearing it once was a joy.
What are you listening to?
ROB JONES
james m said on March 28th, 2007 at 7:03 pm:
You should tell Trev (if I may be so familiar), that there is an FM adapter available for the iPod. That way he can still own one, without killing radio. In fact if enough peeps bought the FM adapter it might encourage Apple to include it by default. In which case it’s his DUTY to purchase said device.
Right now, am listening to Le Show, by Harry Shearer (him off the Simpsons).
JM
Martin said on June 10th, 2007 at 12:36 pm:
Rob, I have always embraced new technology constantly. The way in which media has moved in the past few years is breathtaking and the iPod has to be the ultimate music carrier at this time (even though the compressed bit rate is sometimes annoying). It will be interesting to see how the convergence of music, TV, film etc comes together. The iPod’s position is safe for now, but that may change as it’s all moving so fast. I think that the iPod is not even all about the media it can carry. As with all successful brands he look and feel of this product is the key to its ubiquity. Apple have it exactly right!!
Actually I don’t agree that radio will be killed by the iPod as people want to always be instantly entertained with innovative programmes that stimulate and entertain. The iPod can be seen as an ‘add on’ to my own enjoyment of music and other meida, not a replacememt. However, I do firmly believe that the iPod should act as a kick to the radio industry to move out of the rut that I feel it is firmly in. I firmly feel that radio is lacklustre in it’s curent form. Despite the proliferation of stations now it feels as if it is less exciting that it was when you were on Luxembourg in the late 70s. Playlists are narrow and many presenters (not all) have zero personality. And this isn’t pure nostalgia talking either. Radio Luxembourg has no place in the current media age, yet at the time it was personality led and engaging to listen to. There is no reason why that approach cannot be used again successfully. Someone has to try and break this current situation. The stations may deliver to their shareholders, but do they really deliver to their audiences?
In the meantime I will format and shuffle my iPod…both at home ad on the move in the car. Thise MP3 connectors are so handy!!