Motorola iRadio Release Delayed

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Motorola scored a deal with Universal Music for its forthcoming iRadio service. The will make Universal Music Group's extensive music catalog available to iRadio subscribers. The news comes as Motorola pushed back the release date for its iRadio service. Earlier this year iRadio was scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter, but Motorola has pushed back the launch date to the first quarter of next year.

Motorola's iRadio service essentially uses cell phones to link consumers' home PCs with their car stereos. With the new offering, users will be able to download streamed music, talk and "podcasts" from home computers to phones via USB cables, then play the audio through their car stereo systems with Bluetooth connections. The service will support a variety of music files including MP3, AAC and WMA.

Consumers will be able to pause and resume music broadcasts and fast-forward and rewind other content through their in-dash decks, which will need Bluetooth adapters. And the playback automatically will pause when a call comes into the phone.

While only Motorola phones will support the service at launch, other manufacturers' handsets could be equipped to work with iRadio. The service is expected to cost $5 to $7 a month-about half the cost of a satellite radio subscription-and iRadio phones will cost about $200. The in-dash Bluetooth adapter adds another $65 or so to the bill.

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