CES 2009 Preview: Internet radio in the car
 

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At next week's Consumer Electronics Show, Blaupunkt and miRoamer will announce the first in-dash Internet radio receiver. The press release we received says the radios will be offered as "built-in original equipment" but doesn't go into detail about what automakers will offer the system or even how the radios receive the data.

"The beauty of Internet car radio is the customized user experience," said George Parthimos, Founder and CEO of miRoamer said in a press release. "Today, users want to jump in their car and go – no pulling out third-party devices or plugging in cords to access their music and information. miRoamer's development with Blaupunkt is the first seamless Internet radio solution. Now, with the simple push of a button, users can access AM/FM stations or Internet radio's thousands of music, entertainment, news and talk stations from around the world, all from the same car stereo."

Users of the new head units will be able to tune into Internet radio stations offered by miRoamer as well as add stations of their choosing by simply inputting the URL. The photo above is of Blaupunkt's prototype New Jersey head unit.

We're looking forward to getitng the details on this next week, and will put up a post as soon as we do.

Hmmm. Very curious. I wonder if they are using the driver's data package on the phone (since it'd be paired via BlueTooth) or if you add a SIM to the unit (more $$ please to some provider.) Either way, who listens to compressed (i.e. crappy) Internet radio in their car? How do they expect this to compete with the quality of XM/Sirius/HD Radio etc.?