Welcome to 'Transmitting to Earth'. I'm Charssun and I'll be your host. This blog and podcast is a byproduct of VoyagerRadio.com and is intended to provide the most timely information about this Internet radio station. It is also intended to be a fun and accessible electronic journal with commentary focusing on Internet radio, podcasting and webcasting issues and technologies, music, and some of my other interests. I also offer personal perspective about being an Internet radio broadcaster (and podcaster).
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Griffin's TiVo-like radioSHARK Should Swim in Open Waters Okay, radioheads, it's time to talk shop. You've heard of TiVo, right--the time-shift recording device that allows you to digitally record your favorite T.V. programs so you can watch them later? Well, last year Griffin Technology announced a product called radioSHARK, a time-shift recording device for radio. The radioSHARK plugs into your Mac and allows you to record your favorite, AM, FM, and Internet radio programs in a digital format so that you can listen to them later or download to your iPod (or other MP3 player) to listen to at your leisure. And like the TiVo, you'll also have the ability to skip commercials. The radioSHARK also includes a fin-shaped antenna to tune in local AM and FM radio stations. Sounds great, right? I'm sure we're all ready to buy one...Unfortunately, the device was due for release by the end of last summer, yet here we are nearing the second month of a new year and we still haven't seen the radioSHARK. In fact, the only real news we've heard about the gadget is that the price of the device has increased 40 percent. So what happened to the radioSHARK? Obviously there've been some delays, and after promising the device for several months Griffin has now completely dispensed with a ship date. This provides an opportunity for some lucky entrepreneur to develop a similar product, perhaps one that works with both Macs and PCs. As for Griffin, unless they are already working on a PC version of the software that operates the radioSHARK, they would benefit both themselves and their customers by sharing some information about the radioSHARK's underlying technologies so some coders can hack up Windows and Linux flavors to allow the device to work with their computers. Griffin, however, specializes in Mac products, so they probably won't make it easy for developers to port their products to a PC platform. Yet they should follow Apple's example; by making the iPod available to Windows users Apple captured the market for MP3 devices. (In fact, a week ago HP announced that they would be reselling the iPod--with their own HP brand name on it, of course.) Apple has really opened up their market to PC users; Griffin should follow this lead by making the radioSHARK available to PC users. Not only would that make for a fabulous apology for shipping the product so late--it would also open up Griffin's doors to a wider market. This is one shark we want to hit our beach, so we'll be scanning the ocean for signs of a fin. Hopefully Griffin will also do the right thing for it's customers by lowering the price--at least temporarily--to its original mark. They'd also stand a chance at having the device survive much longer once it hits the shore by allowing it to move freely from the shallow Mac waters through the deep PC sea.
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