News

Good Morning America: The war for listeners between XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio has seen MLB go to one broadcaster (XM) and Howard Stern to the other. On June 21, Sirius announced an agreement that will put the BBC's popular Radio 1 on a time-shifted broadcast schedule. The time-shift will enable American listeners to hear Radio 1's broadcast day "as it was intended—with Chris Moyles' Breakfast Show in the morning, Scott Mills' show in the afternoon, and kicking off the weekend with Pete Tong's Friday night Essential Selection," according to a press release.

BBC Radio 1 mixes contemporary pop, rock, R&B, and hip-hop music, covering popular music events taking place throughout the world. The BBC channel broadcasts exclusive interviews, live performances, and special live in-studio sets from musicians from all over the world. In the UK, Radio 1 boasts a weekly audience of more than 12 million listeners, primarily because of the high standards set by its presenters and the programs it transmits.

Stereophile editor John Atkinson and I have just returned from a road trip that had us scouring the radio dial through eight states, and it's safe to say that there's nothing like Radio 1 on terrestrial radio in the US today. The acquisition of Radio 1 makes a compelling addition to the reasons for switching to satellite radio service, based on our recent experience.

Sirius will begin broadcasting Radio 1 "later this summer."

iPhones For Real: According to a Reuters article posted on June 24, Cingular Wireless is preparing to offer cell phone service that can access Apple's iTunes music service. Rumors of this "killer app" for cell phones have been floating around for the last year or so, but Reuters says that RBC Capital analyst Mark Sue recently claimed "that Apple and Cingular were working out final details on revenue sharing."

There are already PDAs that play music and phones that double as PDAs, but many industry analysts seem to believe that a cell phone that can wirelessly download music for immediate consumption will be an unstoppable multipurpose tool. By refusing to comment on its plans to add music downloading capabilities, Sprint coyly fueled speculation on its plans to do so, while Verizon Wireless has admitted that it intends to do so.

There are a few European companies that have begun offering downloads, but so far they all employ proprietary schemes. The allure of Apple's iTunes is undoubtedly the large user base that already exists for the service. The downside for audiophiles, of course, is that the iTunes Music Store only downloads 128kbps files with a DRM wrapper. In all fairness, audiophiles are probably the only group that such as device will not be marketed to.

Her Majesty's A Pretty Nice Girl: In the strangest example of corporate spin we've seen this week, Macworld reported that "iPod user HRH Queen Elizabeth II has admitted she finds Sony products too difficult to use."

Apparently, Her Majesty complained to Howard Stringer, Sony's new CEO, about Sony's remotes being hard to operate because they had "too many arrows." According to Macworld, "Hopefully Her Majesty finds the iPod with its scroll wheel and human-friendly interface somewhat easier to use."

Gizmodo.com interpreted this news quite differently, stating, "What Queen Elizabeth II neglected to admit, however, is that due to the long history of in-marriage in the Hapsburg line, she has only a single lobster claw at the tip of each arm."

We're sure that's not the case, but we'd be willing to bet $5 that the next iPod ads will feature a silhouette with a tiara and the ubiquitous white ear-pod cables.