"It looks and works like a radio, but it's an internet radio, so instead of picking up just 20 stations, it could pick up 20,000," says James Gable, the president of Kerbango. "And it does it without using a personal computer!"
The Kerbango radio is intended to appeal to computer users who are already listening to radio stations via the internet, but it has four advantages. First, it is a dedicated appliance and therefore easier to operate. Second, you can listen to local radio stations all over the world - though listening to your old home town radio is a more attractive feature in the US than it is here.
Third, it handles data, so it can offer two-way services such as letting users vote on songs, or buy albums or concert tickets. And fourth, you can put a Kerbango radio in a kitchen or bedroom where you might not want a conventional PC.
The Kerbango is also at the forefront of the "everything IP" movement. In the long term, almost every kind of data - voice, radio, television, movies - should be available via IP (internet protocol) as well as, or instead of, using traditional delivery systems.
Of course, the Kerbango does not really avoid using a personal computer, and at the moment it won't appeal to the long-promised "appliance" market, but that's the concept. While it looks like a retro-styled radio, inside, the Kerbango is actually based on a personal computer board with an 81MHz Motorola/ IBM PowerPC processor running Montavista's Hard Hat Linux (a version of the GNU/Linux clone of the Unix operating system). But these are shielded from the user, who operates the Kerbango using menus on a quarter-VGA monochrome LCD (liquid crystal display) screen.
There isn't a "tuning knob" for finding thousands of stations, and you don't have to type in internet addresses to get them. When connected to the internet through a phone or Ethernet socket, the radio accesses the free Kerbango Tuning Service ), which provides a thematic menu of options. First, you choose the kind of music you want - Oldies, then 50s pop, for example - then pick a station to try.
The listing also includes many internet-only stations, and things like police scanners. The Kerbango radio can "play" RealAudio streams and streamed MP3 files, which Gable says covers about 80% of the market. It doesn't work with Windows Media Audio "but,"Gable says, "we'd like to support it."
When not plugged in to the internet, the Kerbango works as a traditional standalone AM/FM clock radio, picking up signals via an aerial. Marc Auerbach, Kerbango's director of marketing, says: "We really want to replace your AM/FM radio, not just upgrade it." Internet stations are available only when the Kerbango is connected to the internet, which means it is not really practical for people with dial-up connections. Normally it will be plugged into an Ethernet local area network. These are standard in businesses, but a growing number of home users with "always on" broadband internet connections are also installing Ethernet, especially in the US.
"Internet appliances" are supposed to appeal to late adopters - people who don't want to make the effort to cope with connecting a personal computer - but Gable says: "We realise this is an early-adopter product." He thinks the sort of people with broadband internet connections are the most likely to spend $299 on a portable MP3 music player, or a Palm electronic organiser, or a Kerbango.
From what I heard using a 56k modem connection, the sound quality leaves something to be desired. Part of the problem is that many internet broadcasters are targeting users with slow dial-up modems, and even the music stations may stream mono instead of stereo feeds. The quality should improve as broadband becomes more widely used. Users who want better amplification can connect the Kerbango to a hi-fi system.
Another small drawback is that when you select a station, it doesn't start playing immediately: as with any PC, the signal has to be "buffered" (held in a temporary cache) to compensate for network congestion and the stop/start nature of internet communications.
Still, internet radio is seen as an important development, and Kerbango should get a fair crack at the market. This summer, it was taken over by 3Com, a California-based networking giant, and Thomson, a consumer electronics company, has signed up to market a version under its RCA brand label. This should give Kerbango an advantage over rivals such as AudioRamp.com of Tustin, California.
The Kerbango is expected to go on sale in the US in December. So far there are no plans for a UK launch, but the radio comes with a universal power supply and would work here, too.
