Will the iPhone kill radio? Not for awhile yet--for lots of reasons. You can get a really groovy short-wave set that will fit in a purse or the small zipper compartment of a knapsack for around $20. There's no subscription charge, and the reception is pretty good. It runs on batteries that I get in CVS or Giant, and it will also use rechargables. Until you can get an iPhone (or equivalent) for $20, and until satellite radio is free, and until computer batteries are cheap and recharge in 5 minutes, I'm not worried that over-the-air radio is going to disappear.
With radio, you don't have as many choices as you would with satellite or internet radio, but then lots of people have limited choices (and limited budgets). What I can get on my mini-shortwave set around town beats anything we had when I was growing up. (What I would really like, a station that plays early music 24/7, isn't available anywhere anyway.) I might buy an iPhone-type device some day, because I love cool gadgets. But for now: Should I pay hundreds of dollars to get an iPhone, and switch phone services to a service that doesn't work very well in this area (and that will lock me into a two-year contract), just so I can listen to RADIO? I don't think so. I don't think too many other people will, either. --Constance Warner ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
