About FM Radio Software
FM radio software, when combined with an FM radio receiver, allows the user to receive and decode FM radio on a home computer. Most software will also allow the decoding of AM (amplitude modulation) as well as FM (frequency modulation). While broadcast video has almost always been recorded and edited by the viewer, thanks to the video cassette recorder, radio has mostly been overlooked in this sense. The modern equivalent of the VCR, the personal video recorder (PVR) or digital video recorder (DVR) is capable of recording multiple streams of video, decoding high-quality digital broadcasts and is easily scheduled to record individual programs or whole series of television shows, all without any consumables. The modern equivalent of the audio cassette recorder, however, is the home Hi-Fi and CD player - in general, a system that plays pre-recorded media or allows the listener to tune into radio broadcasts passively. Recording is still mostly achieved using the same audio cassette technology that has been stagnant for decades. Recordable CD systems are available, but the high price-tag and complexity make them uncommon in the home.
FM radio software, however, brings the flexibility of modern digital video recorders to audio over FM radio. All of the features that are now expected in a video system are brought to the radio table: pausing live streams of audio, recoding scheduled radio shows, rewinding the radio broadcast at will and more. The hardware, the receiver itself, will normally be in the form of a PCI card or USB module, although ISA, RS232 and firewire receivers are also available. The most common receivers are manufactured by D-Link, 3DFX, Pinnacle, Hauppage, Aims Lab, Aztech, Packard Bell, Reveal, Gemtek, ADS technologies and possibly the most popular, Griffin Technology. The FM radio software gives the user control over the hardware, controlling the features (pause, rewind, schedule and so on) and the tuning as well as the volume. Almost all of the receivers are shipped with software that will be installed on the user's computer. Griffin technology use their won "Shark" software, enabling what they refer to as "time-shift recording" - the ability to pause live radio, allowing the user to come back and continue listening to the show when it is convenient, even if it is hours after the stream was paused. Hauppage cards are also TV tuners, and so ship with one of the various versions of their "WinTV" software, combining TV and radio into one interface but providing less functionality than Griffin's Shark. Even though each receiver ships with bundled software, the market for general FM radio software has been identified and exploited. Snaptune, for example, works with most receivers to automatically record and partition radio shows. That is, songs and shows are identified automatically and saved as separate audio files on the user's PC for later listening or downloading onto a portable audio device. VCRadio, formerly RadioWave, provides a basic level of functionality on a very wide range of devices, from very new USB receivers to much older devices that are plugged into the serial (RS232) port of a PC. While its range of features is limited to named stations and time-based recording scheduling, the common interface and lower price tag (18 dollars compared to SnapTune's 30) make it a tempting purchase. |
