“miRoamer Platinum” Expected to Launch in Early 2010

The original miRoamer is an online portal where users can access the world's largest and most diverse selection of Internet radio content…all for free. miRoamer offers you the ability to wirelessly access all of the same Internet Radio content via portable hardware devices, cell phones, in your car, and wherever else the Internet eventually becomes available. Organize once, and listen from anywhere.

The improved miRoamer Platinum is expected to launch in early 2010. All stations are professionally arranged and fully-customizable, offering a tailored OEM and distributor solution with the upcoming launch of miRoamer Platinum.

"miRoamer Platinum will be the foundation of customized Internet digital media across all regions, cultures and genres of the world," said George Parthimos, Founder and CEO, Mi Media, and creator of the world's first portable Internet media player. "The basis of this acquisition underwrites the rapid evolvement of Internet media delivery and once again Mi Media Holdings is the first to find the pathway to connect the market to the most exciting technology changes of the next decade. We are now in an outstanding position to pursue merger and acquisition opportunities which align to our overall business model and add value to the miRoamer business. The Stripe acquisition furthers our push to become the global industry standard for Internet content management by enabling us to offer complete radio station customization through our end-to-end global Internet radio platform, miRoamer."

Future of Radio in 2010

Internet radio continues to attract more unique listeners.

In 2007, Bridge Ratings conducted a study on which primary daily “devices” were most commonly used: Terrestrial Radio, Internet Radio, HD Radio, Satellite Radio, Cell Phone, MP3 Player.

Comparing it to 2009, terrestrial radio dropped 9% while internet radio increased 6%.

More people are listening to radio via the internet than terrestrial. If you take a look at cell phone usage, you can see that cell phone usage increased 6% in 2 years. This increase in cell phone usage correlates with an increase in online radio streaming.

There are several free radio apps available for download to iPhones, Blackberries, and other smartphones. This allows for internet radio streaming via cell phones.

IMDA -- Guidelines for Internet Broadcasters

The IMDA, Internet Media Device Alliance, has recently announced new guidelines for internet radio station metadata.

Ben Terrel, host of the IMDA Metadata Working Group meeting said, “This metadata defines for the first time streamed radio station information to identify the station as well as stream information. Device design companies and aggregators will use this metadata to discover broadcast streams and also to enable the broadcasters to define how they would like to be represented on devices.”

"We've been hard at work trying to specify how any broadcaster can expose the various formats, transports and metadata of their live Internet Radio services in a consistent way -- quite a challenge! But it's been great to see the views of broadcasters, device manufacturers and aggregators of internet radio streams working together to make the internet radio experience better for listeners. To achieve our aims, we invite everyone involved in the chain to share certain working practices, and standards."

IMDA Technical Committee Chairman Andy Giefer of Deutsche Welle said, "Bringing key players in the Internet Radio industry together and using their requirements to draft a proposal on how to discover IP-based services shows itself to be incredibly useful. I am also glad that we have leading metadata experts in our group who help us to make sure that our work is in line with existing standards, complementing the latter where necessary. I expect broadcasters with a keen interest in New Media technologies such as Deutsche Welle to benefit tremendously from a unified and extensible approach describing services like live audio streams, on-demand-content and programme schedules."

The initial Metadata Guidelines will be released at the IMDA’s General Assembly meeting on January 8, 2010 during the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. For more information, visit the IMDA.

Video Streaming for Radio

Video streaming for radio is becoming popular among radio stations and broadcasters. Having the ability to stream a live video right in your player can benefit greatly.

Your listeners will become more engaged in the station. They will get a chance to see the station, the staff, and most importantly, the faces of the hosts.

Many station owners are now streaming live video of their studios in full performance mode. This enhances the loyal listeners’ experience and allows them to see what really goes on behind the mic.

However, it’s important that the hosts do not get too wrapped up in the video aspect and forget they are producing a radio show. Thomas, from SBE Digest, states, “Newcomers to video streaming sometimes ham it up so much to the camera that the radio audience can become alienated.”

For more information on how video streaming can benefit your station, click here to read the full article.