An MP3 player that gets AM radio?

[bassrique]

Last year around this time, I checked and checked..........nothing. I can think of several people that would love something like this for a holiday gift [myself included].

The thing is, the AM receiver is about the size of an index finger, and that's just too large for manufacturers to put on a tiny MP3 device.

Come on! Why can't someone make a MP3 player for sports enthusiasts?

[bassrique]

Here's something:

http://www.etronics.com/p-79737-pogo...ame=GoogleBase

Strange though. Who wants to record AM or FM radio? Small memory.

SD/MMC Expansion Slot

How much memory can you get from those chips?

[bassrique]

More info:

http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/10/mp3...s-amradio.html

Consumer Electronics
A Prayer For AM Radio
Louis Hau, 01.10.07, 1:27 PM ET

Las Vegas -

I don’t ask for a lot out of life. Enough food to fill my tummy. A warm place to lay my head at night. And an MP3 player with an AM radio.

Oh well. Two out of three ain't bad.

Why oh why do makers of portable digital music players keep outfitting their wares with every feature imaginable except for the one that I want the most?

Many MP3 players come with an FM radio. But FM won’t get you most news talk shows. It won't get you ethnic programming. Most important of all, it won't get you sports. In most markets, that means no sports talk radio. No local college athletics. No Major League Baseball. No NFL. No NBA. Take your MP3 player out on the day of a big game, and you might as well be lugging around a worthless piece of tin.
CESblog: More From The Consumer Electronics Show

In search of answers, I strolled over to SanDisk's location at CES, where I related my frustrations to Mitch Cohen, the company’s vice president of product management, retail engineering and customer quality. SanDisk is a major manufacturer of flash memory and, for the last two years, a maker of MP3 players.

Without AM radios.

Why Mitch? Please, tell me why.

Much to my surprise, the affable Cohen didn’t laugh me out of SanDisk's meeting room and actually warmed up to the topic. He explained that an AM radio requires a longer antenna than an FM receiver. Even if you coiled up the antenna tightly inside a player, it could add unwanted bulk.

More importantly, he said, the relatively poor sound quality of AM radio and the greater susceptibility of AM to signal interference means customers could get a subpar listening experience that they might wrongly associate with their player.

Then came some truly exciting news: despite these drawbacks, Cohen said that SanDisk is exploring the possibility of adding an AM receiver to some of its MP3 players. (YES! YES! YES!)

Whether or how this will happen isn't yet clear, and it'll be months before a decision is made, he said. The company could potentially offer a model with AM but not FM to keep costs down. Or it might offer AM in Britain only, because customer surveys there show a proportionately larger interest in getting AM broadcasts on MP3 players.

Cohen said the issue requires further study of "the value proposition." But as a sports fan himself, he added with a smile that, "If I had the wherewithal, I'd do it myself."

God bless you, Mitch Cohen.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Only seen one's with FM radios

[SuperDuck]

I have often wondered why AM radio is not an option. I suppose the key demographics of young hipsters aren't as likely to listen to Paul Harvey anymore.

[geoff chartier]

Originally Posted by bassrique

Here's something:

http://www.etronics.com/p-79737-pogo...ame=GoogleBase

Strange though. Who wants to record AM or FM radio? Small memory. ?

The reason most MP3 players don't get AM radio is the length of the antenna that is necessary. Because of the wavelength of the AM band (kilohertz), you need a long antenna to pick up the wave. This is just not possible to fit inside a small player. FM radio, however, works in the megahertz range. This requires a shorter antenna due to the shorter wavelength.

Originally Posted by bassrique

How much memory can you get from those chips?

At least 8Gb

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by SuperDuck

I have often wondered why AM radio is not an option. I suppose the key demographics of young hipsters aren't as likely to listen to Paul Harvey anymore.

Even hipsters like sports, no?

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Is this the best bet ? [CNET vid review of the C. Crane Witness AM/FM MP3 Player]:

http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/...-33351260.html

$229?

http://www.ccrane.com/radios/am-fm-r...c-witness.aspx

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This is just not possible to fit inside a small player.

It depends on what is considered small. Why does everything have to be microscopic these days?

[MJ5150]

I'd like a little media player that gets AM radio too. I can't be away from my sports radio very long.

-Mike