# Why no traditional media in modern handhelds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 12, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951 "2010-06-12T21:07:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/21 "2012-06-07T03:31:11Z")
I have a super-small Sansa 8GB mp3 player that I bought specifically because it has an FM receiver, and will also record radio. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/22 "2012-06-07T04:12:13Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > no longer empty and frantic > like a cat > tied to a stick fitter happier more productive has no freaking idea what this has to do with radio It’s possible to do 99% of radio reception in software if you have an antenna, an ADC of sufficient quality to feed enough bits per second to the CPU, and a CPU fast enough to be a radio in addition to being a cell phone and Angry Birds game platform. Back not too long ago, the idea of getting a CPU that beefy into a phone would have been ludicrous, but this is The Future and things are different now. You can even cheat a bit and have the ADC partially tune the raw radio signal such that it only needs to feed the CPU a fraction of the data, but that data is sufficient for FM reception. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/23 "2012-06-07T07:54:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > It’s possible to do 99% of radio reception in software if you have an antenna, an ADC of sufficient quality to feed enough bits per second to the CPU, and a CPU fast enough to be a radio And radio broadcast, too. It doesn’t even take that much of a CPU! I remember doing this with a radio set up near the cabinet for a CDC 3200 Mainframe, and running a program that would broadcast ‘music’ to the radio. And the CDC 3200 mainframe CPU was probably much less powerful than the chip in a digital wristwatch today, or even the controller for a wash machine. But you could broadcast with it! ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/24 "2012-06-07T08:46:30Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > And radio broadcast, too. It doesn’t even take that much of a CPU! > > I remember doing this with a radio set up near the cabinet for a CDC 3200 Mainframe, and running a program that would broadcast ‘music’ to the radio. And the CDC 3200 mainframe CPU was probably much less powerful than the chip in a digital wristwatch today, or even the controller for a wash machine. But you could broadcast with it! Clever hack; I bet you couldn’t get very high-quality audio out of that setup, though, but I know pretty much how it would have worked. I’m talking about [GNU Radio](http://gnuradio.org/redmine/projects/gnuradio/wiki) or something very much like it; [software-defined radio](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_radio) is the general term. You can in fact use _that_ technology for broadcast as well as reception, but, as a practical matter, the FCC is a lot touchier about broadcast than reception. Also, as a practical matter, it’s currently probably a lot cheaper to just get an FM radio-onna-chip and feed the CPU nice, clean, demodulated audio. Kinda kills the possibility of ever picking up an AM signal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/25 "2012-06-07T10:04:28Z")
There have been products that incorporated terrestrial analogue and DVB TV and FM radio into smartphone handsets - I remember looking at one running windows Mobile 6.x about 4 years ago - and it looks like such things are still out there - but typically limited to weird unbranded devices from China (which may or may not deliver the promised features), or brands not common/popular/targeted in western markets. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/26 "2012-06-07T11:27:23Z")
I can read the New York Times on my iPhone. If that’s not “traditional media”, I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/27 "2012-06-07T11:50:43Z")
If You don’t know then it can only be because you haven’t read the thread. I specifically asked about legacy portable media technologies in the sequence of broadcast radio, cassette, mp3 players etc. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951/28 "2012-06-07T12:11:35Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Why doesn’t Apple allow me to utilize a function that’s already available, free, and doesn’t use internet data transfer? Because it’s free, and doesn’t use internet data transfer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-traditional-media-in-modern-handhelds/542951.md?page=1)