Where's the WiFi 'Walkman'?

I just bought a Roku Soundbridge to hear my PC's music library and Internet radio on the stereo in the kitchen, thanks to WiFi.

Holland Cooke, a nationally prominent radio programming consultant for McVay Media, asks, "Where the hell is this kind of a portable device? Where is the Walkman-sized Web surfer?" 

When it gets here, Cooke adds, broadcasters are in for the challenge of their lives.

"The availability of someone to hear an Internet streaming radio station means that you and I and any 15-year-old boy in Philadelphia with media files on his PC can, theoretically, compete for listeners against the city's #1 radio station, KYW."   And when EarthLink and the City of Brotherly Love have rolled out their city-wide blanket of wireless access, that's what will be possible.

Talk about "Let a thousand flowers bloom."  How about a thousand voices roar?

"Why isn't this device already in rental cars," Cooke exclaims  "The buttons should be there now. AM, FM, Sat1, Sat2, Web1, Web2, Web3 and so on."

There is a company which has demonstrated a wireless radio.  Torian Wireless, based in Australia, showed Infusion at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.  The company said it expects to release the product "late" this year, priced at $199.  It would have an FM tuner, a timer, and an SD card to allow recording.  Torian's Infusion will be able to connect with the thousands of streaming stations distributed over the Net by Live365.

Hope Torian comes to market and calms Cooke down.  But I'm not optimistic.  Torian showed Infusion at the 2005 CES also, and the section of their Web site for "Investors" is a blank page.  An e-mail to the company, to ask for a status report, was not immediately answered.

Listen to Holland Cooke's pitch for a Walkman-like WiFi radio.

Comments

[Steve Prior]

With podcasts out there the wifi connection (and associated power draw and connection issues) is maybe a little less important. You simply download the podcast to your device and listen when you feel like it. And aside from that you have exactly the scenario you mentioned.