The idea of an FM receiver in the iPhone has excited many a commentator over the last several years, because sometimes, you’ve got to set aside podcasts and iTunes and just listen to the radio.  The hyperlocal nature of terrestrial radio makes it a cultural staple, yet it’s conspicuously absent from the iPhone.  Apparently, that may be changing when iPhone 3.0 hits some time in the next 8 - 10 months.

And how about song-tagging, so you can purchase the currently-playing song from iTunes.  Some folks think High Definition (that is, digital) Radio is required to do this.  Actually, the text labels embedded in most FM broadcasts should be sufficient to drive links to iTunes Music Store…. if this was Apple’s style.

iHeartRadio and similar apps already pipe HD-quality data into the iPhone (over 3G)–and those don’t offer links to the iTunes store. If an FM chip is coming in iPhone 3.0, it will probably be used first and foremost for navigation-related features like traffic advisories and weather, and if we get radio out of the deal (like on some of the Nokie N-Series phones), then it will just be a happy little bonus.

Me, I’ll take photo messaging and a camcorder app, please.

Tags: camcorder, fm, gps, hd, hd radio, iphone, itunes, navigation, nokia, radio, software, video

With the introduction of a DRM-free iTunes catalog, it appears Apple is signaling that ringtones are, in effect, free acceptable use for purchased tracks.   In effect.

Ask them, and they’ll give you a different answer.  But the new GarageBand has a feature that lets you create ringtones out of basically any waveform.  So if you have it–you can put it on your iPhone as a ringtone. Read Jimmy’s details on the DRM-free ringtone debate here.

Tags: create, drm, garageband, itunes, make, ringtone

The iPhone blog posted a picture of a home-brew iPhone stand made with pencils and rubber bands.  While we’re not altogether excited by the loss of productivity involved in the conception of this silly home-brew device, we are impressed with the ingenuity of its office-dwelling inventor.

But the accessory that takes the cake for silly-ness has got to be the iShelf, a stand for music CDs that holds the up so that they look like the images in a cover flow view on the iPod.  Hehe, can’t say we’ll be buying one of these any time soon.

Tags: accessories, cover flow, homebrew, iphone, ipod, ishelf, itunes, stand

According to our insider, new iPods will be introduces Tuesday, including a new model based on the new iPhone form factor and plastic case. Historically, Tuesday is new music day in the record business, so we expect to see a significant upgrade to iTunes unveiled as well. Maybe an improved (and HD) movie selection, so movies-via-iTunes actually becomes relevant.  See ya Tuesday if not sooner!

Tags: apple, ipod, itunes, rumors