Most people are aware of the NAB and the RIAA asking congress to mandate FM receiver chips in cell phones. This idea hatched over a dispute as to whether musicians and record companies should receive royalties from radio stations playing their music. The idea is to use their cell phones in the event of an emergency. Whatever your opinion may be, let’s look at the pros and cons.
We’re going to go with the cons list first. An FM chip in a cell phone would drain the batteries quickly. Though there are a few cell phones who sell phones that can receive FM signal through ear buds. Manufacturers like LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia carry these phones with the FM chip. An AM chip is impossible to place inside a phone. It needs not only internal but external antennas. These antennas would need to be pretty large. It would add to the cost of the phone and take up space that could be used for new technologies. Some are suggesting that this proposal is nothing more than a way to save a floundering business that consumers are abandoning.
Now let’s look at the pros. It would not be hard to add the FM chip to cell phones. The antenna would be either wired ear buds or a point of contact on the phone itself. The technology does not harm the cell phones or their functions. And we have already seen this in the cell phones carrying the FM chip. In a couple of years you could see HD radio chips. Although right now it’s a little expensive. The NAB believes that these chips could save people’s lives, enabling them to monitor local weather and emergency alerts. The NAB is encouraged over recent surveys that suggest if a chip was installed on cell phone consumers would use the feature.
