13,000 Internet Radio Stations Inside a USB Thumb Drive

Another software company develops an app to compete with the good ole radio. Now comes word that Aluratek’s USB Internet Radio Jukebox will deliver music on more than 13,000 Web radio stations worldwide.

Instead of forcing listeners to hunt down Internet radio stations site by site, Aluratek’s device stores station information and listening software on a USB thumb drive. Insert the Jukebox into your computer’s USB port and you’re set: an iTunes-like user interface allows you to search through thousands of stations.

The thumb drive, which requires Windows 2000, XP or Vista and Internet Explorer 6 or higher, lets you search for music in 150 countries, by genre or geography (Kazakh rock, anyone?). You can also store selected stations to a favorites folder and search for the top 10 radio stations in each country.

The Jukebox also finds and removes low-bandwidth broadcasts to ensure high audio quality and, at $40, it doesn’t require any subscription fees. The New York Times article states "Sounds like some Sirius competition..."

Look for this technology to really take off, when automobile internet access becomes the norm rather than the exception.