Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"Just in case the Logitech Squeezebox Boom didn’t do it for you, ARCHOS has taken the wraps off a new Wi-Fi Internet radio boombox called the ARNOVA Web Radio & TV. Not sure why ARCHOS felt compelled to call this product the ARNOVA (makes me think it’s an ARCHOS knock-off from the streets of Beijing), but it offers niceties the competition doesn’t."

The streaming device market is getting awfully crowded these days. The HTPC industry is seeing some healthy competition but that is usually relegated to the living room and a few other select places. Companies like Sonos and Apple recognize that there is a market for smaller devices and Archos now has another entry to glaze over. Streaming internet radio or local music is nothing new, but I have to wonder just how enjoyable watching a movie on a 3.5" screen is. Sure, we do wit with our phones and PMPs, but that is because anything larger tends to be cumbersome to carry. Still, if the interface is good, and the price is right, it might act as a good media server!

"Not a big surprise here. Last.fm is announcing that their ad-supported model, like the one used on their website, does not work on mobile and connected home entertainment devices. As such, Last.fm will switch to a premium subscription model — with higher quality audio — that will charge users $3/mo to access the service"

Listen up everybody! Today's word is "Freemium". Many successful businesses seem to be finding a home with that business model. Pandora seems to be doing well with it. Google has several services that follow that structure. Zynga's entire existence depends on it. Now it seems that Last.fm joined in on the fun. With ads not always working for all delivery devices, it makes sense that they have to offset costs through other means. All that we really need now is a service that will manage our various subscriptions to the bazillion different Internet services we use. Perhaps Mint.com will offer a premium paid service to do that.

"Want a Wi-Fi radio that can play just about any audio source and you can control from your smartphone? Video blogger Tinkernut details how to make one. In the video above, Tinkernut shows us how to take an Asus WL-520GU and a USB sound card to make a Wi-Fi radio for under $50."

There are a lot of options for streaming or playing back music and streaming Internet radio around the house. The problem is a lot of them tend to cost a fair bit of money. With standalone Internet radios edging below $100, and far more when they are on sale, this kind of solution is not extremely cost effective, but where Internet radios usually limit to what you are able to play, either from a list of radio stations they provide, or possibly from your computer, a solution like this, using MPD, allows you to play almost anything you come across. The only thing that is missing from this kind of solution is that it acts as a single device, instead of something you can use in multiple rooms with synching. For that, you likely do have to shell out a bit more money and go with something like a Squeezebox. I am in the process of figuring out how to stream music around my appartment and this caught my eye, but I think I want something a bit more sophisticated than this. What do you use to stream music? I have already mentioned Squeezebox. I know that Creative Labs has a solution, then there is Apple's AirTunes and there's Sonos as well.

"During an early afternoon panel at the SF Music Tech Summit, chief technology officer Tom Conrad said the company’s mobile strategy will first hinge on a transitional phase in which its smartphone apps will be controlled from dashboard or steering-wheel interfaces, before dispensing with the smartphones altogether as the service is built into web-connected cars."

Some of you must be thinking, "Ha! I already have Pandora in my car! I have a <insert trendy smart/featurephone> that streams the music for me!" Well, that's true, and Pandora recognizes that fact. However, unless you have figured a way to control Pandora by voice, controlling it could be dangerous, or in some cases, against the law. The goal is to integrate controls for Pandora into a vehicle's dashboard, much like what you can do with an iPod, or Sirius, so things are easier to use. Of course, that will not stop Pandora from picking the most inopportune song when you drive by a bunch of your friends.

"On Tuesday, after a two-year battle, record labels and online radio stations agreed on new royalty rates that cover music streaming. Many of the music sites had argued that the old rates were so high that they were being forced out of business. That could have come back to haunt the record labels, since for many people the sites are becoming a useful way to discover music. “This is definitely the agreement that we’ve been waiting for,” said Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, one of the most popular Internet radio sites with 30 million registered users."

It has been a long road, and while the results may not please everyone, an agreement has been inked between web radio stations and music labels. Music streaming has existed on the Internet for years, even in the era of dial-up, but music labels, through an organization called SoundExchange, started noticing the growing popularity of Internet radio and wanted to bill these stations for playing their music. At first, the rates were high, going up to 0.19 cent per song, though finally, after two years of negotiations, they have worked out a deal that seems to have satisfied most of the parties involved. The rates are still much higher than what is paid by radio stations, though to be fair, Internet radio stations do offer a far greater degree of flexibility and interactivity than traditional broadcasting mediums. There are lots of other details I could question. Will musicians, especially the smaller ones, ever see any money generated by this agreement? What constitutes an Internet radio station that must pay these fees? I am mostly just relieved that a deal has been reached that companies like Pandora (which still does NOT serve Canada! Grrrr!) have an agreement that they believe they can work with.

"The SANYO R227 will make your life easier by finding you the stations you want to listen to while you pretend to work. As Sanyo’s vice president, Tom Van Voy states, the device needs no tethering to a computer. It seems that it has an own database for Internet stations. Oh, and it looks quite ugly. You have to wait until January to get one for $169.99."

Living in a digital household means being able to listen to your music collection all over the house. Over the years, I've experimented with a wide variety of music streaming solutions, including Internet Radios, old laptops and PDAs. While Internet radios are a great way to stream music while using relatively little power, I've found them too expensive for what they offer. Also, if I want to stream my own music, I need to set up something like a shoutcast station. In the end, I found the best solution for me is a low-fi solution; my server plays music through mpd with a web interface and it broadcasts on an FM transmitter. This solution allows anything that can pick up an FM signal (which is still a LOT of stuff) can play my music. Just have a radio in the kitchen? No problem! Like to sing in the shower? No problem! Out in the yard raking leaves? No... well, you get the picture. Has anyone found a good, low cost solution for in home streaming? Solutions like the Sanyo R227 are great, but hit the wallet.