With terrestrial radio suffering a big loss with the move of Howard Stern to satellite radio
next week, it looks like many companies are looking for ways to attract folks who have not yet made the commitment to
satellite but are searching for alternatives. To that end, Motorola will be introducing its iRadio subscription service at this week's CES event. The
service will allow users to listen to music anywhere from their cellphones at a cost of about $7 to $10 a month.
The service is launching 435 commercial-free radio channels, including a wide variety of music genres. (There's even one channel called "Sex, Drugs, & Rock 'N' Roll.) In addition, subscribers can purchase optional Bluetooth accessories to extend iRadio to their virtually any car stereo system.
Again, it's debatable as to whether or not music-enabled cellphones will succeed in the marketplace over the long haul, but give the wireless providers props for trying, if anything else.
