I think I just broke my radio...

Update: Blaupunkt has a 3G car radio, but its attached to miroamer. Using your phone as your internet radio is much better than buying a specific car radio that is tied to a single source internet radio content provider



Pre thoughts:
If you are coming to this site from one of the hacker blogs, you have undoubted already thought of this concept, but its a proof that the concept works: end-to-end streaming music from a server into a mobile device to be used on your person while walking, to be used in your car while driving, or to be used in your house.
If you are not a DIYer, or a hacker or whatever, than consider this: why do you need to have XM radio to listen to the same station coast to coast? Why is it that you can only listen to Hot97 in New York, why can't you listen to it while vacationing in Los Angeles? Why can't you listen to Rush Limbaugh while walking the streets of Cairo? Well, you can. And my mini project proves it.
I hope that this proof with lead some enterprising entrepreneur to take a chance on killing analog and digital radio and satellite radio. I hope that this project will lead someone to think outside the 88.6-107.9MHz spectrum. Its quite silly that in 2009 we still have not harnessed the power of packet switching to replace traditional radio.
The technology is there to have a limitless amount of audio content at your fingertips anywhere you want, at anytime.
This is the future of music.
===

I have a G1 Android phone with unlimited data service ($20/month); however this concept should work equally well with a Blackberry or Iphone.

I began the morning shelling out $10 for a mini-USB-to-earphone connector at the local T-Mobile store. You can get the same adapter for $3.99 here.

I, then, cruised over to my local Circuit City (liquidation sale) and bought a Griffin iTrip Universal.

After purchasing my stuffs I downloaded StreamFurious for my Android phone (search: "streamfurious" in the Android market). For Blackberry and Iphone users: search for a program that allows you to listen to streaming music and/or ShoutCast radio stations.

I plugged everything in, set my car radio to 107.7 and listened to streaming audio from all sorts of different stations. Proof-of-concept stage 1 is complete and proven.

After this I went for a bike ride, plugging my earphones into the G1. I listened to streaming radio for more than an hour and a half. Very little battery power was used up (if you are in a car and use an adapter this is not an issue). The music never stopped. At one point my 3G network even fell back to Edge network, however I didn't notice because there was no interruption in audio.

Extra Credit:
I was extremely pleased with my mini project so far, however I wanted to see if I could stream content myself. I used my Linode slice to load the GnuMp3 streaming server and put The Federalist Papers audio book on that guy. I pointed my phone to the server, and lo' and behold, it streamed perfectly.

Final Thoughts:

1. This proof-of-concept opens the door for anyone to make their own streaming radio station and play it in their car.
   
2. Most of todays cars have an auxiliary jack for music (Ipod) players. This makes buying the FM transmitter unnecessary.
   
3. Some entrepreneur needs to, finally, stick a fork in satellite radio and, hopefully, conventional radio by making a 3G audio solution for the home, car, boat. The only products that have not evolved since their inceptions are radio and toilet paper.
   
4. I will never listen to Soldja Boy again. Never.