A Prediction Beginning to Come True

One of my old predictions seems to be coming true, although a lot later than I thought. Check this article out. Looks like satellite iPod may be coming. Of course, it looks as if we're only talking satellite radio reception right now, but as I pointed out in my 2005 predictions column, a lot of really cool shit can happen once iPods start talking to satellites.

Yeah, you could listen to Howard Stern. Big whoop. How about your podcasts updating and downloading as you walked to the office? Ideally, we start to revisit the notion of IP content and interactivity through satellite bandwidth. It would be great to listen to an Internet radio station through one's iPod. It would be even better to be able to send feedback to that independent Internet radio station through the same channel.

Imagine you're sitting in your basement monitoring how your IP radio broadcast is doing. You note that a few hundred people are listening on their computers while a few thousand are listening to you on their satellite iPods. As a bootleg Counting Crows track switches over from a live recording of The Clash, the feedback starts coming in. 326 satellite iPods give the track a thumbs up, while 26 give it a thumbs down.

That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. Satellite bandwidth to enable the type of communication and applications we're used to on the Internet, but all over the place. I believe satellite companies have the bandwidth to do it. If not, perhaps they will one day.