Frontier Silicon announced plans for the upcoming CES convention, saying it will showcase technology to enable on-demand music services on stand-alone consumer audio systems.
“Such services have until now only been accessible through PCs, but will now be available through mass-market home audio products such as tabletop radios, microsystems and clock radios,” the company stated. “These products will have unlimited access to a vast array of audio content covering all genres of music, concerts, comedies, news, and all other program formats that will become available over time.”
The firm makes digital and RF integrated circuits and modules for digital audio products and mobile digital TV; it sells its products to companies like Samsung, Sharp, Sony, JVC and Yamaha.
It noted that on-demand music services from companies such as Rhapsody, Napster, Music Load, Classical.com and others are gaining popularity. It said it has developed the technology to deliver such services through its Venice 6 module, letting audio manufacturers develop home systems that can tap into this supply of audio content.
“The Internet is rapidly becoming the world’s jukebox, with an unlimited quantity of content available to consumers, who are increasingly demanding the ability to access this content without having to resort to their computer,” a company official said.
Venice 6 is a digital radio module capable of receiving Internet radio via Wi-Fi, DAB/DAB+, FM, music streamed from a network server and music on demand. It streams radio stations and music files in a variety of formats and protocols.