Pandora has taken yet another step forward towards bringing internet radio into vehicles by partnering with car electronics manufacturers Pioneer and Alpine, with products available starting in March.
Pioneer will starting selling a navigation device - dubbed the Pioneer AVIC-X920BT - that allows iPhone users to easily access and stream the service in their cars. The double-din navigation system, which will MSRP for $1,200, will detect iPhones that have Pandora installed, and put the consumer's Pandora settings on the 4.1" screen. The AVIC-X920BT will also include HD Radio.
According to teh Wall Street Journal, no money was exchanged for the partnership. Instead, Pioneer sees it as an opportunity to tap into Pandora's 42 million users. "This gives us the ability to talk to an entirely new group of consumers," Ted Cardenas, director of marketing for Pioneer, told WSJ.
Next up is the Alpine iDA-X305S.
With the iDA-X305S (the "S" designation indicates it's an upgrade from the iDA-X305) users are similarly able to control the Pandora app on a connected iPhone over a 3G data connection. The key differentiator is the interface is optimized for an in-vehicle experience.
You'll be able to log in and access all of the Pandora app's functions using the 2.2-inch color display and double-action rotary encoder knob on the iDA-X305S. All metadata like album artwork, track and channel name is available, as well as changing stations, skipping tracks, thumbs up/down functions, and bookmarking songs are all available from your dash.
According to CNET, the Alpine iDA-X305S will be released later this year and it's estimated to be priced at an MSRP of about $350.
Should Sirius XM Radio Inc. be worried? Well, maybe not yet, but they would be stupid to ignore the pending threat.
here we go, this is the beginning. Although I don't quite see the reason to pay the expense of a new stereo when most cars factory stereos are more than sufficient for most people, some even being designed by bose, pioneer, etc, and have an aux jack, usb or both. Once this is standard on cars is when xm will have a problem. Personally I can't even bear 2 minutes of xm/sirius music anymore, without the exsculsive programing (O@A, nfl radio, Ron and Fez)My subscriptions would be gone. I have been streaming slacker through my iphone for a while now when not using my ipod. still pretty cool though to see the beginning of the end of in car entertainment as we have always known it!
Thanks Ryan!
Is Pandora a fad? Very possible. Take a look at this report Ryan
Pandora's Achilles Heel
http://www.bridgeratings.com/press_01.06.10-Pandora.htm?
By the way $1200 and an iPhone too?? LOL
oh that is so dope!
My hope is that this has a positive effect on radio -- satellite and terrestrial -- which is still far more flexible, widely-available and cost-effective than a service that requires a costly 3G connection and mobile device to work, and probably could not be counted upon to work reliably outside of major metropolitan areas.
Hey Sirius...
Nah Nah Nah Nah Hey Hey Hey...Goodbye!
This could be the beginning of the end for SiriusFM.
Sirius better wake up and take a hard look at itself.
Get rid of these talkaholic DJs and start widening your playlists cause I tell you, Internet radio is SOOOOO much better than satellite.
XM had a vision of what satellite radio should be. Sirius took it, shit on it, and have been serving it up cold to its subscribers for a long time now.
Trust me, folks, this Pandora is just the start to getting better radio into automobiles. If you don't believe me, get Internet radio software for your computer and start streaming some of these stations. You won't believe how much better they are for music.
That's what I hope, too -- that this will provide some motivation for Sirius XM and other broadcasters to restore the lost quality. I like Pandora, but as good as it is, it's not radio. What I like about good radio is that it has a voice and a presence that Pandora does not.
Don't forget the Ford Sync news that will include Pandora service, announced at CES. Not to mention caching for the iPhone on Slacker.
You people are delusional. Sirius XM is much more cost effective and have better content, hands down. Pandora is music, nothing else. Pandora requires an internet connection, which will NEVER be free. 3G is already stressed beyond belief now. I would rather pay $13.95/month for quality content than the $40-$50/month it will cost to get real wifi in your car down the road.
All you Pandora fanboys need to wake up. There is MORE overhead to having Pandora in the car. Free is only an illusion.
Also, if the now-free internet radio stations and music services start to become wildly popular, I think many will start to explore ways to enhance their revenue streams by selling advertising or charging for subscriptions.
EgisCodr,
I am being very respectful to you in reply which I am not certain you deserve.
SiriusFM has better content hands down?
Well, you may be half right. You can't get sports content nor Howard Stern/Opie Anthony on Internet radio.
But for music? Have you really heard the music channels on Sirius and even taken the time to compare the same genre on Internet radio?
Sirius is running its music channels like FM radio. It's even worse. Playing edited versions of the songs and having DJs doing their own "shtick" right up to the posts actually has brought us back to the golden days of AM radio.
Now download an Internet radio software gateway for your computer. Listen to the same genre of music, be it a decades channel or whatever....
What do you hear? Music. Nothing else. Most channels have no DJs. The playlists are so big that you hear stuff you haven't heard in decades. You don't hear the same songs or artists played day in and out.
I'm listening to a 70s channel out of Canada called DreamRadio 70s Plus. Anyone that loves 70s music has got to listen to this station. I am downloading more music than I ever have before because I am hearing songs I never knew existed. There are no DJs. There are no commercials.
Internet Radio is going to be in cars very soon. No, it will not be free. However, if I can pay what I am paying for SiriusFM and get FAR MORE and FAR BETTER music content without the jingles and obnoxious DJs then that is the best money I have spent on music delivery.
And, realistically, it will not cost $40 or $50 to get that content. Don't you think car manufacturers are aware that people will not pay that kind of money for Internet music access? Give it time and the technology will become very affordable and very accessable to everyone.
The days of satellite radio are numbered unless SiriusFM can start thinking outside of the box like Internet radio has.
"What do you hear? Music. Nothing else. Most channels have no DJs."
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NJRonbo, most of us do NOT want a glorified iPod playlist. We like the feel of actual radio, complete with DJs and personality. Minus the 20 minutes of commercials on terrestrial radio. That's what set satellite radio apart.
There are plenty of people I truly enjoy, and legendary DJs like Carol Miller who make satellite radio special. Some DJs like Madison aren't exactly my cup of tea, but many people still enjoy them.
Joe,
I remember Carol Miller from WNEW FM radio.
I would suspect the DJ chatter you are hearing on the rock stations are far different than the nonsense on the decades channels.
To have someone as distinguished as Carol Miller talking about the history of a certain song or providing a calm intro to a song is fine. I can agree with you on that point.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the 70s channel. Only for about 20 minutes. You tell me how obnoxious the DJs are. This isn't the only channel with DJ problems, either.
Pandora, Slacker and the like have unsustainable business models in their current form. Great services, but I suspect like Hulu you'll see(hear) longer & more ads in the free service and/or fatter subscription prices on top of your wi-fi to cover increased royalties and gigantor operating expenses. Not to mention, based on overall TSL they'll give into tighter playlists. In the meantime, I'm enjoying Slacker on free on my pre.
(1) XM radio makes internet-based live streams available to subscribers. So you can listen to XM either thru the iPhone or the native car HD/XM in-dash.
(2) People will soon be able to setup their own custom internet "access point" for their finite universe of music sources - and then use that access point on the iPhone, in the car, at work, or wherever. Those sources selected from the growing glut could be any combination of terrestrial radio simulcasting on the net, or satellite, or a net-based jukebox service such as iTunes, or any number of the established internet radio stations such as SoulPatrol.com
(3) But at the end of the day, Alvin Toffler's social rule of synchronization will still apply, and people will want to know that terrestrial radio is still there, and they are not isolated from society; the world goes on.