From a Save Net Radio press release: "In a statement released as Congress returned to Washington, D.C. after the August recess, SNR spokesperson Jake Ward said that while some progress was made in August it was not enough, and should not satisfy Congress.

"'The recent 'minimum royalty' agreement between DiMA and SoundExchange [RAIN coverage here] was a good start, but there has been no success reported on basic royalty rates that are agreeable and sustainable for any class of webcasters -- large, small, public radio, traditional broadcasters or college radio. During the August recess SoundExchange unilaterally issued revised small webcaster licenses [RAIN coverage here] that it characterized as helpful but were soundly rejected by many, and the Internet radio industry is still teetering on a precipice.'

"In late July, amid growing public support and an increasing number of cosponsors for the Internet Radio Equality Act, Members of both the House and Senate called on SoundExchange to engage webcasters in good faith discussions during the August recess [see RAIN here].

"'Though several Members have called for negotiated resolutions, SoundExchange seems to be playing out the clock in order to avoid Congressional action. Now that Congress has returned to Washington we hope they will hold SoundExchange to its word and the modest progress will develop into a full-scale resolution before the end of September.'"

RAIN is brought to you today by:
	There's huge, and growing, demand among consumers for Internet radio (at least during the 9AM-5PM workday), as shown by the rapid growth of our AccuRadio project. AccuRadio features a variety of popular music formats that you simply can't find on the broadcast dial: Swingin' Pop Standards, Brit Rock, Piano Jazz, Broadway and more at www.AccuRadio.com.

From Radio Online: "Apple is enabling HD Radio's 'push to buy' technology via its iTunes service. The new 'iTunes tagging' feature, found in select new HD Radio devices with a special iPod dock, enables consumers to 'tag' a song by pushing a button. The next time the iPod is synced on iTunes, tagged songs are displayed and available for purchase...

"Following today's announcement, Clear Channel Radio said it will offer HD Radio broadcasts for devices supporting Apple's implementation of the radio tagging feature. The company also urged all radio broadcasters to fully support the new capability.

"'Apple has been a strong supporter of radio, previously making an FM tuner available for the iPod, and we view their support of HD digital radio as an enormous opportunity,' said President/CEO John Hogan. 'All of our FM stations broadcasting in HD Radio will be available on these important and unprecedented devices.'"

Read Radio Online's coverage here.

...

... Well, it's not exactly a "push-to-buy" function... it's more of a "push to 'bookmark,' so later, when you hook your iPod up to your computer, you're reminded of the songs you tagged, and then you can buy them through iTunes" service. In fact, the iPod itself is really only used to carry these "bookmarks" from the radio to the PC. But judging by the amount of "ink" this story has received in the radio trades, you might think this was something truly revolutionary. We're not disparaging the technology here -- simply pointing out that it's not "click-to-buy." And there's even the chance that integrating HD Radio with a technology that lots of potential listeners already use (iTunes) could help HD Radio adoption. But we think Bob Harper at Paragon (here) makes a good point that this might be a case of "cart-before-the-horse." He writes, "When are we going to get around to the Horses -- the unique, unforgettable, and demanding Programming?.. those $599 'Carts' aren’t going anywhere until we hook up the big fellas to do the pulling." -- PM ...

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"Most phones with multimedia capability can tune to Internet radio..."

I don't get it. iTunes (and yourself) talk like you can't get Internet radio on cell phones yet? I listen to MY streaming station all the time on my Motorola Q... as do a few others with MultiaMedia Capable Cells.

In fact, from what I can see, most phones with multimedia capability (and of course a good data plan) can tune to Internet radio whenever they like... I do it all the time.