What’s Next? A Mandatory 8-Track In Your Xbox?

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 8/24/2010 | David Hogberg

[Slyscribe]

The cell phone industry is lightly regulated. As a result, the quality of cell phones has grown at nearly an exponential rate in the last two decades.

But praising markets is soooo 1990s. Today the in-crowd is all about using government to force consumers to buy their products.

[Salamander]

I already have an FM radio app on my iPhone.

Screw them.

[Red Badger]

Atari................

[jim_trent]

I remember when Congress passed a law requiring FM radio in automobiles. Before that, an AM radio was either an option (on real cheap cars) or standard (on more expensive cars). FM was an even higher cost option. When they made it a requirement, all cars began having AM/FM and the cost increase was rolled into the car price. That (and a bunch of other things) increased the cost of a small, but decent car from about $2,500 to $10,000 in a very few years.

[Nashvegas]

At least add a AM radio so I can listen to Rush and Mark Levin :-)

[Dr. Sivana]

You can get a Go Phone or Impulse phone for under $20, adding FM won’t help that. Let us not forget the large class of people (oldsters and button-up business types) who JUST WANT A PHONE.

Since these phones tend to be made for a world market (yeah I know about CDMA etc.) adding FM will just make the economies of scale that much less efficient. The cutting edge phones can barely fit what they have in the package now (e.g. iPhone 4). I believe an FM add-on will make FCC registration THAT much more complicated.

This is DOA.

[Salamander]

$1.99 at the iTunes stores will fix you right up.

http://www.tunein-radio.com/index.html

There’s more but that’s the most efficient and cost effective one.

[musicman]

"What’s Next? A Mandatory 8-Track In Your Xbox?"

...and next they'll probably put in one of these for a small increase in price.....

[Myrddin]

Using political muscle instead of market appeal is common practice among losers. Unions do it...except in right to work states. The idiots pushing "microstamping" of ammo by handguns are trying to force that technology on firearms manufacturers by putting it into state laws. Nobody wants it. Ethanol in gasoline is another example. MTBE as well. Both are bad ideas. Corn farmers love ethanol. The folks trying to deal with the MTBE hazardous waste were thrilled to get it mandated as a gasoline additive.

[Willie Green]

I remember when Congress passed a law requiring FM radio in automobiles. Before that, an AM radio was either an option (on real cheap cars) or standard (on more expensive cars). FM was an even higher cost option. When they made it a requirement, all cars began having AM/FM and the cost increase was rolled into the car price.

Baloney.... the goobermint didn't give a rat's hind end what kind of radio we had in our cars.
The Big Three simply got fat & lazy by nickel & diming consumers to death with an endless list of "optional upgrades".

The Japs (Toyota) cut through this marketing B/S and simply offered high quality AM/FM stereo radio as standard equipment.

The Big Three crapped their pants and had to start offering the same bells and whistles as standard equipment.

It was competition, not gooberment mandates that supplied us with better tunes in our autos.

[6SJ7]

What about reel-to-reel?!

[musicman]

(I could REALLY use one of those!!)

[Ed Condon]

That that that that looks looks looks looks like like like like a a a a four four four four track track track track.

[jim_trent]

I take it you were not shopping for automobiles in the mid-1960’s. You need to read up on the All Channel Receiver Law that was passed by Congress in parts between 1962 and 1964.

It was originally a requirement by the Feds to force television manufacturers to include tuners for UHF channels in their TV’s. It increased the price for everyone who bought a TV. The TV manufacturers fought this in court and lost. Of course, the extra cost was useless too (at least in the long run) since UHF has been bypassed by cable.

Anyway, someone thought it would be a great idea to require other things, too. One of them (and there are other things than these two) was to require all AM radios to also include FM receivers. The automakers tried to get themselves exempt, but they lost just like the TV manufacturers. AM/FM was added to all cars and the cost was passed onto the consumer. The Feds required it, NOT competition.

You should really try to learn things before starting out a conversation with “BALONEY”. There are a lot of things that other people have learned from actual hands on experience that you have NO idea about.

[50mm]

Downloaded and using it right now. Works great. Thanks for the link.

[Salamander]

You’re welcome....:)

[Willie Green]

Baloney.

[Hegewisch Dupa]

thanks for the good info, from which a majority of us have benefited.

[jim_trent]

> “Baloney.”

You have posted to me before and then, like now, this seems to be the limit of your vocabulary and your erudition. Grow up.

[Willie Green]

You have posted to me before and then, like now, this seems to be the limit of your vocabulary and your erudition. Grow up

As you wish...

>You are full of manure.

The All-Channel Reciever Act of 1962 did not apply to automotive radios.

The Big Three didn't start making them standard until the '70s in response to intense Japanese competition.