iPod Radio Remote Announced

Apple — 10 January 2006

I am not sure if I should be disappointed or excited, but at least Apple’s new iPod Radio Remote add on uses RDS, a technology we mentioned in a recently acquired patent by Apple. The iPod Radio Remote is a wired remote control that connects via the headphones, and provides FM radio. The RDS part I mentioned, assuming the station listened to utilizes the tech, allows the iPod to display song info on its screen. The iPod Radio Remote starts shipping right away for $50, and includes a shortened cord to offset (assumption here) the inclusion of the remote.

Source: Press Release.

The Apple Store is currently down, so safe to assume they’re adding product(s).

UPDATE: Now up with the Product Page.

About Author

Christen Costa

Grew up back East, got sick of the cold and headed West. Since I was small I have been pushing buttons - both electronic and human. With an insatiable need for tech I thought "why not start a blog focusing on technology, and use my dislikes and likes to post on gadgets."

http://www.blogger.com/profile/2230483 ::Aaron

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Anonymous

Yawn. When’s the last time you listened to FM radio? And RDS? whoopie. Apple should have made a deal with XM or Sirius. Now that K-Rock has gone talk, there is NO LONGER a rock station on FM in New York City. Face it, FM is dead.
http://andersonfam.org erik

Face it, FM is dead.

I agree with you that *most* FM is dead, however, when you live in a state with an incredible public radio orginazation, FM is still quite valuable.
Anonymous

There still are rock stations though in the greater NYC/NJ area. To name a few off the top of my head:

G106.3
105.5 WDHA
89.5(?) Seton Hall Pirate Radio
Q104.3 (Classic Rock–though it’s owned by CC)

But, yeah even with these station FM is by and large crap.
Anonymous

No iPod mini support = useless to me
Anonymous

can you record radio? thats what i wanna know. And how advanced is the software if you can. I would love to set up an automatic recording of my favorite morning show WHILE listening to music, now THAT would be cool.
Anonymous

never listened to radio in new york, but here in chapel hill, NC we got lots of great FM stations… lots of college stations,.. from UNC, NCSU, SHAW, central … and of course (WUNC)public radio. I listen to several of them via internet, so I can listen to them while on the run from my phone(treo650) or when on the road going out of town or out of state.
Anonymous

Is RDS even used in the US? I have an RDS capable receiver at home, and I have seen exactly one station use it. That station doesn’t even use it anymore, so RDS seems to be useless to me. Europe on the other hand…
Anonymous

FM may be dead in NY, but it’s alive and kicking in NZ (:
Anonymous

the thing that pisses me off
this and the ipod camera connector says it requires firmware 1.1
and both the iPod and the Nano are only 1.0 sofar
Anonymous

Many workout facilities broadcast the TV audio via FM (i.e. Lifetime Fitness).
http://www.blogger.com/profile/13215145 Loweded Wookie

It’s all fine and dandy you lot that have Satellite radio but not everyone in the world has it.

FM and AM are the only types of radio we get here in NZ. I just bought an iFM just so that I could listen to FM so that I can listen to new music instead of just the music on my iPod.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/17106909 J.White

Up here in Boston the airwaves are so full its hard to find a dead spot for my iTrip, and there are more rock stations than I can count. Most use RDS.
Anonymous

Yep, you can record radio straight to your computer…

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/radioshark/
Matthew

Oi, Americans wake up there’s a world outside of America, I know you may find that hard to believe but there is and a lot of places where FM is far from dead.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/820599 Nigel

LA still has great FM radio @ 88.1, 88.9, 89.9, 91.1, 91.5, 103.1, 105.1
Anonymous

i use it to listen to milliondollarhomepage.com
http://www.pusakal.com feanne

At last. FM radio connectivity is like a standard feature (along with voice recording…) on most other MP3 players… so I’ve been wondering why the iPod didn’t have it.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/3070415 Alisa

Sweet. My MD player had a radio add-on, and I was kind of disappointed when my iPod didn’t. I guess some of your other commentors don’t live in good radio areas. I remember I had some friends fly out to Phoenix from the East and they were amazed to find several good rock stations. The Edge has always been a music place of choice for me…
http://www.blogger.com/profile/5297274 Andrew Thomas

Not impressed with this accessory. Firstly, a radio? Surely the iPod is like having your own personal radio station. Secondly, FM and not DAB? Only available in white, too. What about all the people with black nanos.

This MacWorld announcement was overhyped.
Anonymous

What about AM band ? Can’t be that hard to add it in as well?
http://www.blogger.com/profile/6497503 merkin

FM might be dead in NYC, but WFMU alone makes this device worth the price.
Anonymous

All I have to say is:
NPR.

Though, do they make you use their headphones?
Anonymous

FM is alive and well for the majority of people, and pretty hard for XM to replace. Besides, HD radio should become pretty common soon. Then multiple channels per station, crystal digital sound and a lot more.
Anonymous

XM is far superior to FM, especially due to no commercials. However, I still use FM when jogging and at the gym. This unit looks like the best solution to add FM to the Nano
Anonymous

This still would be a good buy in case of an emergency. I had a mp3 player w/a radio on it during the blackout in NYC 1 1/2 years ago. I was the only one who knew what was going on! With all the uncertainty of what will happen…its better to be safe than to be sorry!
Anonymous

yes! Someone actually has heard of Hd radio. I have one and there are actually a lot of stations that use it. on the east coast DC101, WMMR,WCCC,and WBCN all use it.
Anonymous

RDS is a HUGE plus for me, and as a matter a fact, the main reason I’m getting this. RDS is widely used in Europe.

Too bad it doesn’t support recording.
Anonymous

Should support to display song names. Most car stereos do that.
celeste

i want 2 get 1 !! so HA u losers tha dont like fm radio!!!!
El Roddo

Just picked one up for my iPod and it’s great. Toronto radio is quite wide and varied in selection and almost all major stations I’ve preset so far have RDS. If I happen to catch an interesting tune on a radio station, I will go buy the CD or download a few tracks and add it to my iPod. If nothing else, public radio here (CBC Radio) is great for news and analysis and that’s great to have on the go.

To those that claim FM is dead–it might be *to you* but keep in mind most cars, clock radios and receivers still sell with radios built in. FM may seem arcane in this age of digital this-n-that, but it is so widespread and manufacturing is so cheap that it is a stretch to claim it will be dead in–oh–10 to 20 years or less. The sound quality is not bad enough for most users to motivate a widespread replacement with digital radio. (Remember that the costs to broadcasters to switch over wholesale would be tremendous in terms of licensing and infrastructure, and could only be justified if there already exists a large user base.) Actually I’ve heard a few satellite radios recently, and they sound more like a badly encoded MP3s–a clear FM station sounded better. The ongoing cost of Sirius/XM is not much but it is enough to be annoying. And it is not ideal for local interest stuff. It only seems to be worth it if you drive long distances often or you happen to live in the remote areas of the mid-West where there is little on other than a few AM stations.

Speaking of which, I wish this thing had an AM receiver so I could listen to sports broadcasts. I suspect the necessary circuits cannot be miniaturized small enough to fit in these devices. And the interference from harddrive and processor would probably screw up AM reception anyway.

Having said all that, this particular FM radio is not cheap but it is not unlike other similar devices. And for anyone who can afford the luxury of an iPod, it is not totally unreasonable.
audiophiliac

i like stuff and okay its good but, you know.. its a radio so it’s good. music.. hmm…
i masticate waaaay to often.
USA ROCKS!!
http://pixiepurls.com pixie

I listen to the radio all the time, I am in Atlanta Georgia in the states. I wish it came in black so it would match my black video iPod :)
Pingback: Apple News » FM Radio Enabled iPod Announced
Tato

It’s all right. I got one and am happy so far. Found it a bit expensive though, but great for listening to the news at the office, and FM still rocks! There is no satellite radio in Panama, so for the time being it’ll do.
Scott

FM isn’t all dead in NY. Theres still Z100 (100.3) and on Long Island, theres BLI (106.1). They’re good if you like new hits.
Jason

Just got 1 for my girlfriend. In the winter, it’s nice in the gym for the tv’s that transmit by FM
auboyssy

just because you think radio i the US is crap doesnt mean it is in Australia here we cant get enough of FM radio this is a great feature So you suck you come from the USA were you all Suck and dont do anything yo u just watch tv and eat fast food and get fat you dont have the right to say that FM is Crap DO NOT DIS IT
ilovemyipod

I agree with those who are wondering about recording on the ipod fm radio attachment but the RIAA would never let them make something like that but maybe some tech savvy genious could modify the ipod fm radio attachment with the voice recorder thing for ipod and there ya go
Ashley

hello i am from england and it is brilliantly clear nearly clearer then my digital radio
superkev

We all know the ipod has taken a big chunk of the mp3 player market, almost enough that people are starting to think that FM radio is dead! I think Apple has done a great job wih the ipod, imac, and iphone, but really how long is it going to be before the “idevice” will come out to replace all of these and more, and when it does I hope it has the fm radio built in. i have not bought an ipod just because it has no radio built in.I have my MD, and it has a radio attachment. I find this to be to much to carry around. and if apple dosen’t do this soon i would recomen getting a phone that has removable meida (such as a SD card) to fill with your MP3′s and built in satelite radio.
superkev

Oh! as for recording you raido program on the go the HI-MD from Sony can do this, and has been for me for years!
sue

thanks
Karla

FM IS NOT DEAD!!!
i live in new jersey and i always listen to the radio in the morning while getting dressed for school
i would so use this ipod because i luv z100 and their phone taps but i dont always get to listen to them otherwise i would be late for school
insalubrious

You can record radio on Cowon iAudio, iRiver T30 and lots of other gadgets. Lots of mp3 players have built in voice recorders too. iPod is totally retarded on the recording front–Apple just assumes you are too passive to ever want to record something. ,
DocRon

WHAT ABOUT AM reception?
Pingback: iPod » Blog Archive » FM Radio Enabled iPod Announced
kingy

ipod is one of the most over rated product ever produced.
Tinker

Why on earth Apple would not include in the iPOD not dangling outside. It is clumsy way to carry dang things. It is bad enough with earphones so we try to use bluetooth with phones. Apple should embed FM and bluetooth in Nano. Wireless, that’s where everybody else is going. New 1st and 2nd generation iPods will not replace Nano’s convenience.
John Casey

While at the moment I find it hard to defend Apple, with it’s iPod Classic video out lock, in this case I must. Yes it would be nice to have bluetooth and a radio built into ipods, and while we’re at it lets add wi-fi and retractable earbuds. Then all of a sudden you will get people complaining the ipod is no longer thin.

You can tell many teens and early 20′s have posted here. For those of us who lived through the Walkman, or even Discman era (remember carrying your library of CDs or cassettes and the AAs you chewed through), the you can only watch a video at home or at the theater and video games were only available at home or at the arcade, to have all this capability in such a little device is quite amazing…not withstanding the #!&@ video out lock on the iPod Classic.

I, like another poster above, also live in Toronto and I can’t believe the number of FM radio stations that the iPod can pick up. It actually rivals other audio equipment I own that have FM tuners and in such a small package to boot. Yes FM is basically dead when you have thousands of songs at your fingertips, but when you are looking for new tracks and you have already raided your kids and wifes MP3 collections, FM on the iPod to find new songs to download is convenient.