DJALCHEMI

Radio on mobiles

Two recent developments in bringing radio to mobile phones bring ubiquitous access one step closer. So I'm adding them to my collection of harbingers of 'martini media'.

Sony Ericsson has revived the Walkman brand with a mobile phone, reviewed in The Register by Andrew Orlowski. As well as playing MP3 and AAC files, and having a slot for a memory stick, the phone has an FM radio, and you can connect it to your hi-fi or TV.

I don't have the details, but I assume 'FM radio' means what it says — i.e. one that you tune to receive radio waves between 87 and 110 MHz. So far, so ordinary. By comparison, this announcement from Virgin signals more technological convergence, as Virgin Radio stations (and, so far, only their stations) are being made available via Virgin's 3G network to its customers. Wisely, customers who have unlimited access 3G packages for a set monthly fee will not be charged any extra for access to the radio stations.

Now if anyone were to couple that offering with some recording feature set — similar to what TimeTrax offers for satellite radio — you would have a seriously flexible and convenient service.