The latest RAIN Poll asked about preferences for in-car listening. Only one choices was permitted, and many respondents fleshed out their answers in comments.
The main bullet point is this: AM/FM wins. By a small margin, a plurality of votes selected terrestrial radio over music apps streamed in the car via a smartphone. (37% for radio; 32% for music apps.) Not a single vote was cast for “Dashboard apps,” perhaps an indicator that new-model cars with built-in apps have not (yet?) gained much traction.
That disparity (between phone apps and dashboard apps) is good news for Apple’s CarPlay strategy, as recently announced. CarPlay exports the iPhone’s controls to the dashboard.
Satellite radio was the third aggregate choice, with 15% of votes. HD Radio, MP3 players, and CDs each registered single-digit percentages of total votes.
Selected comments:
Not just any FM: “NPR.”
Not just any app: “Pandora plugged in.”
Being there: “I like to listen to talk stations in other cities.”
All-terrain driving: “Podcasts, Spotify, bandcamp, soundcloud.”
Allergic reaction: “I’m so disenfranchised with the way terrestrial radio operates these days, it makes me sick to hear it.”
FM to the edge: “If I’m driving beyond my local FM station range, I go with the tunes on my phone played through the BT connnection. Otherwise, local FM in HD.
Must be a long commute: “Bluetooth iPhone apps is 2nd [after satellite radio], then local spoken word terrestrial, followed by FM music.
Good point, noted: “I voted iPod but it’s actually a different brand mp3 player. I would advise against the practice of referring to any mp3 player as an iPod if you’re not actually referring to an Apple brand iPod to the exclusion of other brands of mp3 player (mine happens to be a Sansa Fuze).
Podcar: “Podcasts, though I’ll sometimes switch over to AM radio when it’s time for weather & traffic.”
iPod because…: “dont have net in car yet, phone apps are a hassle in cars.”
Almost fully migrated: “I still listen to the AM/FM radio occasionally, but 95% of my car listening is Slacker/Pandora/Spotify.”