Well,
the answer is yes -and it has been here for a long time.
Just
no manufacturer has seemed to be able to get a grab on the consumers.
There are so far 3 major manufacturers who all make internet radio
tuners. These tuners are capable of tuning in stations from around
the world via the internet and they will even play your CD music
or mp3 collection straight off your harddrive.
The
times has changed and are changing rapidly.
Every day new gadgets and devices are being introduced. These days
mostly in a wi-fi domain. In this article I will focus mainly on
3 devices from: Philips, Rokulabs and Linksys.
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Philips
has been around for the longest. Actually for years! Philips had
the FW-1000 and then later the MC-i250 on the market. Even though
these radios have been almost imposible to find on the shelves they
have sold through the internet. Please click the following link
to read an in-depth article on this radio. MC-i250
Article!
Rokulabs
hit the market recently, Who are these guys? -well they are the
ones who also makes an HD video player with no harddrive. Yeah I
know what you are thinking, me too. I still havent gotten my head
around that one. One very interesting thing about this company is
that their products are actually avialable off-the-shelves. I was
happy to see if just one or two devices at Fry's electronics this
week.
Linksys.
Now what happened here? Has anyone looked at Linksys.com lately?
This company has grown from nothing to: "oh I bought the wrong
wbsr-811s...this is for cable but I just wanted a wireless access
point -duh". Most everyone has tried to come home with a wrong
Linksys box by now. Under specialty products all the way in the
bottom we find this out of this world internet radio tuner -and
my god it looks like a radio!!!! -Guys why is this radio not on
your front page???
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I
have for your convience placed links to the manufacturers websites
and their products here below: |
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So
eventhough its been hard to find these radios on the shelves its
been a pleasure following the development of something extraordinary
and different. Radio is once again here to stay. Welcome to the
new world of internet radio.
Jakob
Nielsen Feb. 28th. 2005
http://www.suite108.com
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