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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment.


Before MP3 players, CD burning and even the Mini-Disc, there was the analog mix tape. Patient proto-playlist creators would wait as a needle hovered over vinyl, descending into a groove that would cue the synchronized pressing of 'Record" and "Play" buttons. The truly determined would stage vigils by a cassette-recording boombox, hoping to catch a telltale chord or DJ introduction to songs now offered on "FM gold" compilations.

Terrestrial radio recording has faded in the post-CD era. The original Napster established the PC as the epicenter of digital music acquisition. Portable players -- from last year's Sansa Connect to Archos Generation 5 players to the just-released Slacker Portable -- have only begun to break free from the PC's tether. Even these rely on broadband and WiFi for Internet service-based music discovery, making them pricey and relatively complex "poor man's" alternatives.

But new hope for the thrifty and technophobic is on its way from a Swedish company called PopCatcher. The PopCatcher Ripper records songs from FM radio and transfers them to an MP3 player. The product is no homage to the notorious Jack the Ripper, a depraved murderer who disemboweled destitute victims peddling sex, although that description approximates how the content industry characterizes entertainment pirates.

Continue reading Switched On: PopCatcher teaches a new 'Pod old tricks (Part 1)

 

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