Hi-Def Radio Tagging: Hear It on the Air, Buy It on iTunes

Because it is digital radio, information about each song played is streamed to your receiver. If the receiver has the ability to store a small amount of data it can store the info on any song you tag. When you sync your radio with your computer, any stored song located on the iTunes Store is made available for you to buy.

Did you see this? I know this has been around for awhile, but there is something significant going on here.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and a company called iBiquity Digital teamed up to provide a service to folks with digital HD radio that will let people "tag" a song they hear for purchase at the iTunes Store.

The service is called "iTunes Tagging" and it's pretty cool technology.

Find It, Keep It

Because it is digital radio, information about each song played is streamed to your receiver. If the receiver has the ability to store a small amount of data it can store the info on any song you tag. When you sync your radio with your computer, any stored song located on the iTunes Store is made available for you to buy.

This answers a nagging problem with any non-subscription music service: How do average Joes and Jills find new music?

This service also gives radio in general a huge shot in the arm. I don't know about you, but the only reason I turn on a radio these days is to receive the signal from my iPod's FM transmitter, and maybe check the weather for pop-up hurricanes. (This IS Florida after all.)

I used to listen to radio all the time, but commercials started taking up more airtime. It got so that 15 to 20 minutes of every hour was taken up by loud, annoying ads that insulted my intelligence and left me deaf. Even National Public Radio (NPR) had these increasingly frequent fund raising telethons where they came just short of begging the public for money. (I think NPR should be fully funded by tax dollars as it is one of the few easily accessible public services, but that's just my opinion.)

The Feeling of Discovery

Fed up with the ad jibber-jabber I wound up turning the radio off altogether and fired up CDs and, now, my iPod when I want music.

Hi-Def Radio could change that by offering CD quality tunes and fewer commercials, and now, iTunes Tagging. It would certainly be an attraction to me even if I only occasionally turn the radio on.

One thing I sorely miss is discovering new music, and radio, for all of its problems, was the best way to get introduced to new stuff without having to go through a lot of effort: just turn on the radio and listen.

Of course, this begs the question to be asked: How will Apple support Digital Radio?

Phone It In?

You may (or may not) know already that Apple has included hardware in iPhones that will let you receive FM radio. Will the iPhone pick up Digital FM radio?

I don't have a clue, but it does seem like a reasonable thing to do.

There you are, out in the wild, jamming to a new tune on your iPhone. Since a song rocked, you tag it. The next time you fire up iTunes on your iPhone, a list of tagged songs appears and iTunes asks you which, if any, you would like to buy. You buy them all, they get downloaded into your iPhone, you jam to new tunes that automagically get synced to your Mac or PC at home, and all is right with the world.

What's not to like about a scenario like that? All I can say is, bring it on.

Technorati : Air, Buy, Hear, Hi-Def, Radio, Tagging:, iTunes