Radio Shark

Radio Shark from Griffin 

Now this is an interesting device. Some of you may know that I am in search of technology to replace the worst human interface ever invented - the radio dial. Millions of Euros worth of content are hidden behind a number which needs to be sung by jingle companies in the vain hope you will remember the dial position.

So what is Radio Shark? It costs 70 US dollars (plus 30 US dollars shipping to Europe). The radio SHARK adds an AM/FM radio to any Mac or PC, but it can record any AM or FM radio broadcast in real time. It suupose it is a bit like TIVO - you can record a scheduled show, or ‘pause’ live radio so you can return right where you left off moments or even hours before (now that's better than the DAB radios in the UK). Bill Whitacre in Washington (see comments) says they already using them successfully for remote monitoring facilities, i.e. being able to listen to the FM band in another city and tuning the radio remotely.

Favourite station presets can be set with the click of a mouse, and new stations can be scanned and tuned. The Radio Shark connects to and is powered by USB. The fin-shaped device acts as an antenna and can be positioned for best reception and recording. Any recorded broadcast can be transferred to an iPod or any other AIFF-compatible digital music player to replay on the go.

Don't know what the performance is like on AM if it too close to the computer monitor. I will try and pick one up on my travels to the States.