A Santa Fe software developer who specializes in “interactive audio” has teamed up with a Phoenix company to unveil a software program they say allows users of wireless, handheld-devices to access hundreds of terrestrial radio stations and a satellite-radio broadcast.
The technology allows users to literally scan through simultaneous broadcasts, selecting out favorite programs, even avoiding music they hate, the pair says. The software, called SelectRadio, was unveiled at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev.

Jim Kearns, who works with Cardonware in Phoenix, says he and Dave Dannenberg, the principal of Santa Fe-based Audible Logic, combined their skills to produce the software. It’s now available only in “beta,” or test form, but is scheduled to be available for commercial release for $35 next month.

“It’s like a passenger-seat radio agent,” says Kearns, likening the software to passengers in a vehicle searching for tunes on the radio while twisting the dial or punching radio buttons. It allows listeners even more access, since the software sifts through multiple stations and posts on the hand-held devices what’s being played.

Users who have relatively powerful hand-held PDAs like Axims or iPAQS are likely customers, since the software application has considerable memory and operating requirements. But Dannenberg says if the product is successful, scaled-down versions might be offered, “as we see growth in the Internet radio market.”

The software includes two features developed by the pair. One is called “HyperScan,” which automatically seeks favorite artists, and the other is termed “TrackSnap,” which “can capture a song from the beginning, even if the listener didn’t select the song until midway through the initial play,” according to a release.

It also allows access to the Internet-based transmissions of XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News). XM users can access the Internet component as part of their subscription, but Internet users will be required to pay a fee.

Kearns says the collaboration efforts between the two men stemmed from an earlier time when they both worked for Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC - News) at the company’s Chandler, Ariz. operations.

Published January 10, 2006 by New Mexico Business Weekly