An awesome alternative to Satellite radio (Free!)

Uh, your internet connected phone is free?

 

wanna know whats even more better? Pandora Skip Hack on your phone(i.e UNLIMITED music skips and ZERO ADS) without paying for pandora One

 

Lousy assumption. Some of us are still too cheap to pay for phone service with internet.

 

FWIW, even though I have an iPhone 4 (w/lowest voice plan, no text message plan and grandfathered into unlimited data), Virgin Mobile has $200 Android phones but they have plans w/unlimited texting and data for as little as $25/mo and no contract. See Cell Phone Plans - Pay As You Go and Prepaid | Virgin Mobile.

Pandora's been out for Android for awhile now and I've used it on my iPhones and Android before.

 

Ugh. Triple the annual cost of Tracfone or ATT prepaid, with an even worse coverage map.

 

Why not try HD radio? Totally free, no subscription and very high quality. Plug radio into AUX jack.

 

OTA (over the air) HD radio is free but programming choices are greatly determined by your local radio market. Here, I get one station; luckily it's the one I want.

Besides Pandora which I don't like the skip feature limitation (thanks for the hack link) and now frequent ads, I recently found another iPhone freebie that looks to be a variation of the Pandora model: HiDef Radio over 3G or WiFi through your iPhone

HiDef Radio - Free News & Music Stations - iPhone app from New & Popular | Appolicious â„¢ iPhone and iPad App Directory

If this works for my limited needs, I'll hold off getting the $3/mth satellite radio iPhone app (in addition to your standard monthly fee) I was considering. Both the XM sat. and pandora apps will stream via bluetooth but AFAIK, the HiDef radio app will need to be plugged into via USB or aux in.

 

Try iHeartRadio and Slacker also. They are free as well. I find iHeartRadio sound quality is better but the connection breaks more often and it does not resume like Pandora.

HD radio requires a new hardware. I was going to get the add-on module for my Kenwood until I discovered those apps for my iPhone 4.

I also installed OpenTable and MovieTickets. Those are the apps that will be in the upcoming Entune audio system in Prius v.

 

Most cases, yes you need to purchase an additional HD tuner that connects to your head unit but a few new OEM radios have them built in. Ballpark range: $50-100 depending on brand. AFAIK, you CAN'T mix and match brands as they can use proprietary connectors to the head unit. You'll need to find one with an aux. in type connector for generic/universal applications.

HD radio stations can have up to 5 channels of different programming per station. Check that the tuner offers multicasting as the low costs ones may not. If not, you'll only get the first channel offering.

 

say goodbye to your battery life, unless you buy the official iPhone car charged. Pulling a 3G signal, and sending it via bluetooth eats the battery. Ask me how I know.

 

I would think *anyone* with an iPhone (or worse yet - Android based OS) already has a car charger (???) - but then again, some people don't even have a data plan

 

I use a free app called MP3VCR along with Live365. It breaks up the stream into MP3's. Then you can load them onto a flash drive or a CD. Set up separate folders for each station. 255 songs per folder. Voila! Free radio!

 

Yes, it takes a special receiver or an adapter with your existing receiver. Also be aware the HD FM range is less than regular FM radio.

If your local HD radio has the programming you want and reliable coverage for your driving area then it can be a good thing. That's two very big ifs, so check before buying.