For some years, downloading the Shazam app allowed your smartphone to identify any audio track, and then buy and download it from iTunes. It’s clever, useful technology that puts complementary content and hardware together conveniently and cheaply, so why hasn’t it been adopted for other devices?
The ‘a-ha’ moment missed by all the big names in audio has been taken up by digital radio maker Pure, which will offer the neat feature in eight DAB+/FM/internet radios.
Named FlowSongs, its system identifies tracks regardless of how they’re broadcast (analog FM, digital DAB+ and internet), lets you buy them on the spot using controls on the radio (and for fees similar to iTunes), then streams them at 128kbps over a home network from your online account in the cloud. You can access purchased tracks whenever you want, and even download a DRM-free version to a PC at 320kbps, according to Pure.
FlowSongs will be accessed via Pure’s online music store, The Lounge, from July. While music can be purchased from here, and playlists managed, The Lounge also serves as a portal for locating free internet radio content from around the globe – radio plays, podcasts, news services, jazz and comedy – that can then be streamed to Pure internet-capable radios.
Pure’s FlowSongs radios include the Sensia, Avanti Flow, Oasis Flow, Siesta Flow, Evoke Flow, One Flow and the forthcoming Sirocco 550 (pictured).
