Dear Microsoft, Please bring back my Radio

[CSJr1]

Dear Microsoft

I have been using your products for years. From DOS to PPC2002, your leading and acquiring skills are the bedrock for the software industry. As a third party developer, I took interest in the WP7 platform just to see it succeed. I must admit, I have dabbled into Android development as well but I find the VS IDE better than Eclipse.

I am trying to understand why you would remove a feature from a product you are so intent on having succeed? The FM Radio, while not known or used by all, was important for me. It gives me that sense of freedom from carrier data. If ever out of range of cell or wifi services, it can be a comforting feature for a live human voice.

Every place that I have searched online, I experience the same conclusion. Whether it be from the spec sheets of current WP8 devices or screen shots lacking the Radio item on XBox Music, the FM Radio Option is removed from WP8. The Qualcomm chip-set supports FM Radio, so is it possible to retain this feature in an upcoming update?

Lets not have carriers data clock my Radio streaming, in some cases all stations are not available or sound is delayed. I would prefer that I didn't have to buy unique headphones just for the radio, any headphones should suffice.

While I can't say this is a deal-breaker, I hope you know that this small feature is/was important to somebody.

thanks

http://www.change.org/petitions/mic...io-receiver-in-their-phones-with-qualcomm-soc

 

[firstness]

Microsoft is doing you a favor. Every time I listen to the radio I nearly gag from the terrible ads which are designed for morons and the lowest common denominator. I can feel my IQ lowering as I listen.

Reject commercial mass-consumption radio and take control of what enters your brain. There are plenty of free audiobooks and podcasts you can download at home and sync to your device.

 

[jeffm87]

@firstness

While personalizing your audio is great, a lot of people do still enjoy listening to the radio. One of the stations in my city has a fantastic morning show host, he's truly hilarious and some of the conversations and events they put on are a blast to listen to. I stream it at work on my phone every morning from 8-10, and I'm sure theres plenty of people out there that would like to do the same. Not to mention we can't all be bothered to take the time to load up new audiobooks and podcasts every week for listening material.

That said, the FM tuner is not a big deal to me, as my radio station in fact is playable from a radio app I used, I hope that with time WP8 will have some similar apps for radio streaming. Still, ebsn's complaint is valid, and it's a bit of a headscratcher as to why Microsoft would remove the feature

 

[Winterfang]

Microsoft is doing you a favor. Every time I listen to the radio I nearly gag from the terrible ads which are designed for morons and the lowest common denominator. I can feel my IQ lowering as I listen.

Reject commercial mass-consumption radio and take control of what enters your brain. There are plenty of free audiobooks and podcasts you can download at home and sync to your device.

Man this board had gone to ****. There's no reason for lack of features. I myself have a good station pinned down and I use it very much, it will suck to lose it once I upgrade to a WP8 device.

 

[firstness]

Perhaps I'm influenced by the distinct lack of decent radio stations in my area.

I wonder if Microsoft's removal of FM was a concession to carriers in an effort to gain wider carrier support for WP8. They would love it if people used their proprietary music services and/or run up data charges on streaming radio.

 

[Winterfang]

The removed quite a few things. The one that makes me saddest is the lack of
quick Upload to facebook" shortcut.

 

[berty6294]

I need my 98 rock morning show with mickey, amelia, and spiegel!

 

[firstness]

The removed quite a few things. The one that makes me saddest is the lack of
quick Upload to facebook" shortcut.

I think they removed the dedicated "upload to facebook" shortcut in order to put all social network services on an equal footing, and in case facebook goes the way of MySpace.

 

[Mystictrust]

I need my 98 rock morning show with mickey, amelia, and spiegel!

Have you guys tried iHeartRadio? Does the trick for me. It also has a couple 98 Rock stations on it for you, berty6294 (assuming one of them is the correct one for you, haha).

Sad that there's no FM radio support. This thread is the first I've heard of it. All the more reason for me to keep using my Zune HD for workouts (that and it's thinner and lighter than any phone )

 

[aubreyq]

I think they removed the dedicated "upload to facebook" shortcut in order to put all social network services on an equal footing, and in case facebook goes the way of MySpace.

It'll be a while (if ever) before FB goes the way of MySpace, but I agree about the equal footing thing. With 7.5, you have "share" AND "share on Facebook." MS is just trying to keep those menus simple even if that means an extra tap by the user.

 

[berty6294]

have you guys tried iheartradio? Does the trick for me. It also has a couple 98 rock stations on it for you, berty6294 (assuming one of them is the correct one for you, haha).

Sad that there's no fm radio support. This thread is the first i've heard of it. All the more reason for me to keep using my zune hd for workouts (that and it's thinner and lighter than any phone )

yeh, iheartradio works but i have such terrible coverage most the time so fm works well

 

[Laura Knotek]

My Nokia Lumia 900 is the first mobile phone I've owned that had an FM radio. I only tried it once, just to see if it worked. FM radio here is awful. The only local radio that I listen to is AM, not FM.

I am not aware of any Android devices with built-in FM radio, and the iPhone does not have that feature. It does not appear to be something that most consumers desire.

 

[mlm1950]

My Nokia Lumia 900 is the first mobile phone I've owned that had an FM radio. I only tried it once, just to see if it worked. FM radio here is awful. The only local radio that I listen to is AM, not FM.

I am not aware of any Android devices with built-in FM radio, and the iPhone does not have that feature. It does not appear to be something that most consumers desire.

My Android EVO4G has an FM radio, though you need a set of headphones plugged in to use it. Not sure if newer Android phones have it or not.

 

[helios_]

I expect they ran out of development time and so less used features got cut.

 

[muvig]

Have you guys tried iHeartRadio? Does the trick for me. It also has a couple 98 Rock stations on it for you, berty6294 (assuming one of them is the correct one for you, haha).

Sad that there's no FM radio support. This thread is the first I've heard of it. All the more reason for me to keep using my Zune HD for workouts (that and it's thinner and lighter than any phone )

what we are saying is that we need this feature on Nokia becoz we prefer it (920) than other Phones. Our older nokia phones has it.
>we don't need internet radios becoz some of our local stations are not on internet.
>internet is very expensive in our country and this phone was made for everyone who can afford (the phone not bandwidth) in every corner of the world, in our country it cost US1/10MB & radio require 80MB/Hr. there are no data plans.
>Radio is not for music only.
> They are Live debates/discussions done on one of our local stations (in our country) which phone & contribute whilst on the move, the station is not on internet.
> Nokia gave us what we needed in the past.

 

[CSJr1]

I expect they ran out of development time and so less used features got cut.

I have a strong hunch that it is much more nefarious than that. I think the carriers are forcing OEM's and software distributers to disable the FM Radio feature. I seriously expect AT&T is in on the deal. It makes much more sense for AT&T if the user streams the radio over their data instead of the free FM channel. More money for them. The more I think about it, the more disturbing it is to me. How greedy can they be?

AT&T is thinking about their bottom dollar which limits my freedom of music choice. We got hooked into a contract and cant even use the full potential of the phone because they want more of our money for radio streaming.

Think of this.. In a case of a regional emergency when cell lines are down or gridlocked, internet/data radio alerts will be useless. Even in this rare case, I feel AT&T will subjugate public safety for the extra dollars they get by forcing internet radio.

Like I said, the more I think about this, the more strongly I feel. Maybe we as a consumer community can stop this trend of disabling FM. I have already emailed them and I hope more will do the same. Does anyone know if radio censorship violates any FCC rules?

 

[mlm1950]

I have a strong hunch that it is much more nefarious than that. I think the carriers are forcing OEM's and software distributers to disable the FM Radio feature. I seriously expect AT&T is in on the deal. It makes much more sense for AT&T if the user streams the radio over their data instead of the free FM channel. More money for them. The more I think about it, the more disturbing it is to me. How greedy can they be?

AT&T is thinking about their bottom dollar which limits my freedom of music choice. We got hooked into a contract and cant even use the full potential of the phone because they want more of our money for radio streaming.

Think of this.. In a case of a regional emergency when cell lines are down or gridlocked, internet/data radio alerts will be useless. Even in this rare case, I feel AT&T will subjugate public safety for the extra dollars they get by forcing internet radio.

Like I said, the more I think about this, the more strongly I feel. Maybe we as a consumer community can stop this trend of disabling FM. I have already emailed them and I hope more will do the same. Does anyone know if radio censorship violates any FCC rules?

Wow.

 

[brmiller1976]

I didn't even know you could get radio on a Windows Phone. How... quaint!

 

[danferan]

Yes there is

My Nokia Lumia 900 is the first mobile phone I've owned that had an FM radio. I only tried it once, just to see if it worked. FM radio here is awful. The only local radio that I listen to is AM, not FM.

I am not aware of any Android devices with built-in FM radio, and the iPhone does not have that feature. It does not appear to be something that most consumers desire.

My old Droid X has an FM radio. I never used it, but it's there, staring at me in the face.

 

[camstreet1]

It's really weird to see people on here making fun of other people for wanting a feature like FM radio that most other phones (smart or otherwise) have.