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The Gathering Storm is my look at the future of internet audio and the opportunity and threat it presents to broadcast radio. It started off by splitting the comparison between the two media into three parts – output, delivery method, and content. In the first column, I covered how internet audio, while not quite there yet, is approaching the quality of broadcast radio. In last week’s column, I explained that the delivery method of internet radio is improving every day – to the point where it may be equal or superior to broadcast radio in a few years.

So that leaves us with content, or the input part of delivering audio. As I explained last week, even with internet audio gaining, radio still has quite the ingrained advantage. It will take years for internet audio to approach the ease of use of radio – and even with the development of 4G and WiMax, wireless internet in cars is still going to take many years before it even approaches the penetration of radio. Even then, wireless internet will not replace radio in cars. I doubt car manufacturers will be pulling out radios to make room for wireless internet when radio is so common and free.

All of this does not mean that radio should not be concerned, however. This storm will be bigger than the iPod or the CD player or the cassette deck. Those forms of entertainment require planning, and they aren’t updated unless the listener thinks about it. Unless you remember to rip more music to your iPod or bring out a new CD, those options will remain the same. Internet audio is like radio in that the listener is presented with a multitude of changing options without even lifting a finger.

The Gathering Storm is my look at the future of internet audio and the opportunity and threat it presents to broadcast radio. It started off by splitting the comparison between the two media into three parts – output, delivery method, and content. In the first column, I covered how internet audio, while not quite there yet, is approaching the quality of broadcast radio. In last week’s column, I explained that the delivery method of internet radio is improving every day – to the point where it may be equal or superior to broadcast radio in a few years.

So that leaves us with content, or the input part of delivering audio. As I explained last week, even with internet audio gaining, radio still has quite the ingrained advantage. It will take years for internet audio to approach the ease of use of radio – and even with the development of 4G and WiMax, wireless internet in cars is still going to take many years before it even approaches the penetration of radio. Even then, wireless internet will not replace radio in cars. I doubt car manufacturers will be pulling out radios to make room for wireless internet when radio is so common and free.

All of this does not mean that radio should not be concerned, however. This storm will be bigger than the iPod or the CD player or the cassette deck. Those forms of entertainment require planning, and they aren’t updated unless the listener thinks about it. Unless you remember to rip more music to your iPod or bring out a new CD, those options will remain the same. Internet audio is like radio in that the listener is presented with a multitude of changing options without even lifting a finger.