It's not "a current lineup of presets" that I have access to, I have access to THOUSANDS of stations in Shoutcast alone. I have not added any of my own stations in the other places because I personally don't have a specific one I want; but between the thousands in Shoutcast and my channels Pandora, I think many think it is pretty awesome and have enough to listen to.

No compromising here, thank you very much and I've learned you don't get very far in life by demanding. I just really don't get why you bought something not knowing what it was and are doing nothing but complain about what it is not. I received my Chumby over a year ago and it was something I had never even heard of and I ENJOY an hour and a half a day and have access to a lot of really great stuff. Newspapers, weather, MUSIC of more kinds than I can imagine and more than I could possibly listen to, including all my favorite artists and music types on Pandora and Shoutcast, games, cute and fuzzy things, and I get to watch movies on AVOT widget and any video I can think of that I want to see. It is just fun. I'm sorry it is not to you.

They have these other services and subscriptions elsewhere that you might be interested in that have monthly fees, some sort of satellite radio stuff that I am not too familiar with. Why do you get yourself one of those, because this is not that, nor does it really need to be. It is a growing and changing company. They take our suggestions and have added so much in the year I've been here, it is amazing. Not to say something like you are talking about isn't coming; I don't know what is coming, but as I already said, I am fine, fine, fine with what Chumby, Industries has accomplished and is doing.

I think nofix is right that we shouldn't be complacent.  Just because the chumby is a great product, doesn't mean we shouldn't seek improvements.   If we don't seek such improvements, other emerging technology will become superior to the chumby and the chumby will become outdated.  If that happens, people will stop buying chumbies, which based on its current financing model would likely mean development and support from the company would stop. 

Now the fact that nofix (and I) wish we could access more radio stations, doesn't mean that we don't like chumby.  We just look forward to more innovation and improvement.  If people had been complacent with what Chumby was a year ago, we wouldn't have Pandora, which was the primary reason I bought the Chumby.  Add additional features, like more radio options, and Chumby will attract additional customers looking for those features.

I admit, I'm a newbie and may be missing something, but my understanding is that there is no easy way to access all of my local radio stations (talk and music).  My wife likes to listen to the local dj in the morning and I like to listen to the local news (and sporting events), but the chumby doesn't have over the air access.  We can access the local stations on their websites, but I guess I just don't know what easy way there is out there to access those through the chumby through presets or alarms.  Those are the functions I would like to have at hand regarding radio.  Others may have other services that they subscribe to or prefer, such as Slacker.   That's not my service of choice, but I'm sure its users would be more attracted to the chumby if there were a way to access it as Pandora is accessed.  That may be more of a licensing issue, but there is no reason for people not to ask for those services.

Nofix.. im curious have you got anything *constructive* to add to a thread?
I have a major hangup with people who keep opening theads on discussions that have already been explained to death... The issue is chumby does *NOT* want to close source AND rewrite the streaming audio subsystem AND pay for licensing on top of it due to microsofts restrictions.. Take it or leave it... Its been discussed to death.. Also what is it with a *sense of entitilement* about people.. Its Open Source, not *If i nag Ill get what I want* code... Its been repeated that they try to add features without compromising their integrety or putting them in a possible patent or copyright bind... There are now competitors but 1. They charge a fee for their service, 2. Widgets are propriatary and cannot be written by end users.... Be happy when things are added, dont just EXPECT everything you demand.

This Intrigues me, please email me, I have some questions on this as well and don't want to hi-jack this thread either. I repair several brands of consumer electronics as a hobby.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you, Matt

That lawsuit was filed over a year ago, and it doesn't appear to be going anywhere.

The general industry consensus is that the lawsuit is completely absurd - you can't force a company to license IP from a third-party company, *especially* from Microsoft.  I suspect Apple hasn't been too aggressive about ending it quickly because they'd like to find out who's bankrolling it.

Maybe I'll drop him a line, too. Couldn't hurt.

Maybe I missed something here, but I (for instance) took about 5 minutes on the 2nd day of using my Chumby with a buddy. We figured out how to connect to streams from KUT-FM in Austin and KERA-FM in Dallas. If your desired station has a Web page with streaming information, it ain't hard.

On the Chumby end, go to Audio; My Streams; New; enter a name for your radio station (Call sign is great) and the URL for the stream. Tap on the appropriate stream type. Then go listen.

Is that hard? Impossible? or did I just miss the whole thing?

MY solutions to this:
1. I think that chumby seems to work hard to make the chumby better
2. you can always use "my streams" to listen to your radio stations
3. you can use zamzar.com to make WMA files MP3s.

heyartlady.. For the most part you *can* speak for me anytime.... Dermotn The comment i made was directed at nofix not yourself.. but the point of having all radio stations online is absurd, though pandora and iheartradio are both attempts to help deal with the issue.. Most companies use DRM protected WMA files to stream their audio... and you really should be looking to them.. Truth be told most dont want to change because they want control over the content stream and the ability to push ads to you while streaming (which WMA allows for.. ever see a web player app?)

Recieva based units have some of the same issues...

If you would like the current streaming software to be unavalible and the control panel locked from further addons.... you can have your WMA..
but chumby would have to basically reinvent the wheel.. Bok's solution would be ideal since thered be some licensing loopholes...