FlyTunes, unveiled recently at CES, is an Internet Radio service that touts itself as being "better" than satellite radio.
The free service - which isn't available until January 21st - claims it will make it easy to play internet radio on your iPhone or other cellular/wifi-enabled device.
FlyTunes works much like Slacker does, in that it pre-caches the songs on the device so that you can listen uninterrupted even in areas where you have no signal. By default, it saves 30 minutes worth of music on your iPhone, and syncs up with additional music when it sense a good wireless connection. If you know you're going to need more time (e.g., a 4-hour plane ride), FlyTunes can pre-cache as much music as you want on the device.
The service acts as a middle-man to the thousands of Internet Radio stations already in existence. What it instead does is deliver these stations in a simplified interface. FlyTunes then creates its own channels, based on your preferences, that you can tag as a "favorite" tune or that you "hate" it. Again, similar to Slacker, only without the dedicated device.
As a result, FlyTunes is claiming it has features that satellite radio could never have, and even lists itself as being "better" than satellite radio.
Watch the video below of FlyTunes in action:
This is what I have been saying for years... internet radio over WiMax is the threat to Sat rad. Thes MP3 players will create a personal music station of your favorite songs and throw in the occational new song thats simmilar. This and Slacker are the threat. This is why Sat Rad's Expensive content deals should have been Exclusive Audio partners and not just exclusive to one sat rad company or the other.
They've got to make it a lot more convenient to use while flying down the road at 70 mph.
Yeah, like it's really hard to make a car dock.
forget car dock, forget making the interface easy.. Fords Sync does the interface fine. Just needs an update to receive this. Point is that this , not HD radio, is the threat to Sat Rad. Second point is that the high content costs should have been Exclusive Audio partners, Not Exclusive Sat rad. NFL is not restricted from an internet based broadcast. MLB is not either. You must own the content to survive. If you have the content that people want ... then you can Syndicate and survive.
Sat Radio need to keep up with Apple and Slacker and HD radio....it can't afford to sit back and wait for a merger. Slowly people are going to other servies and that can't continue to happen.
More choices being added everyday, and all Satellite Radio can do is sit back and wait for the government to save them from themselves. If you figure that sat radio should be following the same level of innovation that other companies like Apple are, then the Inno should have 16GB capacity with Internet Radio capabilities by now. But this merger has ground everything to a halt.
The Inno was announced over 2 years ago. The merger was announced less than a year ago. Plenty of opportunity for XM to innovate in there.
Don't go blaming the merger on that. XM has no one to blame but themselves.
Don't go blaming the merger on that. XM has no one to blame but themselves.
-banff21
...and the RIAA!
If its free ware- I will get it.
If it has a demo- I will try it.
If I have to pay for it- not a chance.
I got a free ipod nano or mini for free a couple of years ago. I just got an 8gig touch for free a couple of months ago. My wife and I still barely use them.
They do not even have nice docks for these units.
Ha! Ha! No HD Radio! What ever happened to all of that hype, about HD being on the iPod and iPhone.
Yes, this is a real threat. .....even more than Slacker. I hope someone at XM & Sirius are working on something like this.