Smartphone Apps

Artisan opens what for me is a big question and I do not know many answers...

Are Smartphones and the other tiny cellphone devices the new radios of our day?

iPhones, tablets, SmartPhones... I don't know all the types now in almost everyone's hand...

I don't carry any such device, but I realize that I'm the only one... everyone has something, and I see people all over the place either talking into their little phones or looking at them with deep concentration while tapping on them.

From what I read you can watch TV and movies on them and view video that the device can shoot and listen to sound the device can record.

Basically, it seems to me like these devices the size of a chunk of cheese have become total entertainment centers.

But given the human limitation that we can only concentrate on one thing at a time, how often are cellphones used to listen to radio?

How many radio stations can be found on cellphones?

Should all of us who stream get ourselves on tiny phones?

How is their sound quality?

Do they do stereo?

Yes, the IPhone, SmartPhone, Android, etc. are a computer in the palm of your hand with telephony, email, texting, web browser, video and still camera and a plethora of "apps" many of which are free.  Most if not all are WIFI capable.

How many radio stations can you listen too?  All that are streaming on the internet, literally thousands.

With headphones the quality rivals the home entertainment center playing either stored A/V or live streamed A/V media.  And yes, in stereo.

Although most don't receive "off air" radio broadcasts yet, FM receivers are already in use and the AM receiver is being pushed for also.

You'll just have to try one out to see what is possible...

MRAM describes these devices succinctly.

There are 2 methods to listen to streams - one is through the browser that is on the device, just like on a desktop or laptop computer.

The other is through an app such as the one I described - i.e., Radyo or Tunein.  Those apps have literally thousands of streams available.  Or, there are also plenty of apps dedicated to a particular station, usually developed by that station (such as the one I'm doing for Artisan Radio).

Thanks for the tour MRAM of the amazing capabilities of the tiny phones.

But given such a galaxy of choices, is there any reason to expect anyone to listen to a particular radio station?

Even without counting the phones, online streams are so numerous across the internet that the majority of radio streams have zero or one listener, and the one listener is probably the station operator.

The few stations showing hundreds or thousands of listeners are suspect, in my skeptical view, and I wonder what kind of trick they use to "pad" the listener tally.

The greater majority of stations are doing formats already available everywhere, so the only point is the personal satisfaction of the station owner. In other words, my taste trumps the tastes of anyone else, even when it's the same.

I am a techie, a ham radio operator, an

"all frequency" radio listener, and a Part 15 dude.

I refused to have a cellphone for the longest time.

I still wonder about the RF radiation. 

I didn't break down and get one until just a few years

ago.  As one who can't drive for medical reasons, I

finally HAD to get a cellphone to survive - in other words

- to get where I needed to go.  It's really hard to get

a taxi without a cellphone these days.  You have to be

out on the street to flag down the taxi as you are talking

to the driver on the cellphone or you might miss the cab.

And they are not very forgiving if you miss them.  

My latest cellphone came into posession after my daughter

dropped her cellphone into the ocean and had to get another.

Then somebody else in my family got one, and I got a

"hand me down."  What an increbible piece of tehnology!!!

This cellphone is not a "smartphone," but it has a touch

screen and can download MP3s off the net, serf the web

(sort of) film videos, take pictures, and do all sorts of

other great things.  

So why do I feel like this?  I'll explain.  

I have listened to a lot of downloads from a

bunch of your stations on my phone.  Great

stuff.

But - I'll say this - and it happened to be when

I first started listening to Carl's station - KDX.

I used to play KDX's stream on the computer

and record it on a microcassette recorder.  Then

I would take the microcassette machine around with

me to all sorts of places.  One day the microcassette

unit turned on accidentally in my backpack.  It got

bumped somehow, I guess.  So there was Carl's voice

coming out of my backpack while I was riding on the bus.

Why was listening to KDX this way so much more fun

than getting it on a cellphone?

I guess I'm an analog person at heart.  And this wasn't

very long ago.  Only about 2 years ago.  

If I had a phone that could stream live broadcast

audio, I would use it for a few AM stations

because the audio quality is good (usually.)

It would probably be the best all news station

(about 80 miles away,) and 2 stations that work

really hard at being "local."  One of these

stations is an AM that lowers power at night.

I would have to stream it to hear it at night.

But I wouldn't be listening to zillions of

streaming stations.  I just don't seem to

need to do that.

(Oh, and I would listen to the stations on this

board and the ALPB board that stream.  That's

all I need.

Bruce 

It seems like you (Bruce) are saying that KDX and maybe a few other streaming stations are already receivable on tiny phones, even if we don't know it.

Huh.

Well, I guess if I did IDs I's mention that KDX is sending extra power to cell phones.

But I don't do station IDs because the part 15 rules don't require it.

At the same time the part 15 rules don't forbid giving IDs, so maybe I should slip in some promotion about the phones.

I know very little about what I'm doing, but I like doing it.

My little phone can't stream audio - it can

just download MP3s and play them.

It is not a smartphone - I don't even

know if smartphones of any kind can

stream KDX or any of the other Part 15

streaming stations here.

What I guess I meant is - I think it is more

fun to listen to your station or another by

having a whole lot of hardware connected and

then take part of that with you - such as the

microcassette unit. 

I can download some of your shows and shows

from other Part 15ers on my phone - and yes -

i do listen to some of that.  It's not that it isn't

fun - but - for me - dealing with a bunch of hardware

and getting something out of it - is more fun for me.

The teeny little phone doesn't have the fun of

running a bunch of interconnected hardware.

Or running a computer program audio through an FM transmitter

and sending the programming around the house

through radios.

I can say that - if I am away from a computer for

a long period of time - it's nice to get the Part15.US

website up on the screen of my phone so I can get

a jist of what is going on.  It's remarkable that it is

possible - - but for me it isn't easy. 

Bruce

P.S  Oh yeah - Carl - you know a lot

about what you are doing.  And much much

more than I do.

You were very clear in that first post but when I talked I jumped to a conclusion that KDX can probably be picked up on phone streaming, which you didn't say.

Maybe it can. I actually like the mystery of not knowing. It's like regular radio sitting at the audio board sending records and time/temperature announcements and not knowing how many people are listening or maybe no one is tuned in.

With part 15 transmitters we know the signal isn't going very far, but we always imagine some kind of rare skip wave with a listener miles away DXing your signal and wondering what city it's coming from.

As we go through life we imagine many things. I'll start making a list.

Right now on my Android phone I'm listening to the KDX Radio Icecast Streaming audio.  I don't have an "app" for ShoutCast streaming - yet.

I can make Skype calls, watch YouTube videos, browse websites, record and play audio and video, pretty much everything I do on my PC.

Brag time.

I have been heard on AM, FM, SW, CB, landline reel-to-reel and now... Android!

Resume getting a bit lengthy.

Carl, I heard you on the other end

of the telephone.

Bruce

I wouldn't have known that an

Android cellphone could get an

Icecast stream.  That's the sort of

thing I have wondered about.

Bruce

We have post-fixes for almost everything in radio:

WCFI-LP is an LPFM station;

KDX1 AM 1550 is an AM station;

WGN-TV is a television station;

KC8GPD is an amateur HAM station;

Artisan is an FM station;

Icecast is a directory of web radio stations;

But what will we call a station that comes in on Android phones?

Phony Radio?

There's really nothing different between listening to a radio station on a smartphone and listening to a CD.  Both are digital formats.

And, in fact, if you use mp3's with Zara, output through a sound card to a Part 15 transmitter, you're essentially doing the same thing (except adding a step to convert the digital music to analog for the transmitter).

When you listen to satellite radio, you capture a digital stream (over-the-air).

In many ways, you can argue that listening to a stream on a smartphone is a 'truer' radio experience, as you're going computer to computer, with no intervening digital to analog conversions.