Has anybody heard of Mobaho

[canman]

There is a half page ad in the Yomiuri today for a company called Mobaho. They are offering portable viewing capabilities of English TV, and English radio. Does anybody know anything about this company.
For those of us in the sticks, I would die for some English radio. I know that you Tokyoites get interfm, but I feel its radio more than TV that I miss the most.

[IkemenTommy]

http://www.mobaho.com/english/index.html
You can always hit up the good ol AM dial to listen to English programs broadcasted for the military peeps.

[Taro Toporific]

... I would die for some English radio. I know that you Tokyoites get interfm, but I feel its radio more than TV that I miss the most.

"Mobaho"? Isn't that my old girlfriend?

There's an engrish website http://www.mobaho.com/english/index.html

My SkyPerfecTV has a dozen English radio stations, including Nova-engrishy interFM ----but I don't pay the additional 800yen a month to subscribe since I use Net streaming radio.

There's a zillion Net radio stations, BBC, CBC, NPR, and FM stations. I prefer Shoutcast staions that stream in MP3 format which I can save to my iPod.
Streaming radio stations are fewer because of copyright problems, I still I listen to two of the Denver AM stations as well as my old college radio station.

[Taro Toporific]

If you only want radio, MobaHO is cheap. Their TV selection is poor.

MobaHO
http://www.mobaho.com/english/index.html
Very limited video selection and music 2,080yen/m
Music only is just 1,380yen/m


SkyperfecTV
http://www.skyperfectv.co.jp/en/guide/pack/index.html
35 channels + radio
100 channels for 4,757yen/month
SuperDelux Package
110 channels and radio 7,000+yen

[IkemenTommy]

Along the same topic, has anyone ever used Usen and one of their more premo packages? I know they have some American radio stations playing live.

[Charles]

I can't believe they're promoting Teletext-style data services using their proprietary set-top boxes. Isn't that what the Internet is for?

[jim katta]

This is basically following the trend in the U.S. regarding the roll-out of satellite radio (XM and Sirius). The benefit over radio is that you can take the radio signal anywhere, you're aren't tied to an internet connection (WiFi is still spotty, so it's not the same solution). Also, I've been wanting to buy a Sirius receiver, but changed my mind when I found out it could only work in the U.S. This new MobaHO service may be what I was looking for in Japan (as long as they improve their radio station offerings).

I'm glad this thread was created, it answered another question for me. When the U.S. rolled out satellite radio, my first question was: why aren't they rolling out video? Now I know, looking at MobaHO, that this "is" possible.

Sirius and XM "have" hinted that they will roll out video as well, but I think there's some behind-the-scenes wrangling with the existing cable companies. It's interesting, here in the U.S. there are a lot of people clamoring to work for, or create new content for satellite radio. But I think the real opportunity is looking forward 24 months and seeing about being a part of the new satellite mobile video networks.

[Socratesabroad]

... I would die for some English radio. I know that you Tokyoites get interfm, but I feel its radio more than TV that I miss the most.

There's a zillion Net radio stations, BBC, CBC, NPR, and FM stations. I prefer Shoutcast staions that stream in MP3 format which I can save to my iPod.

Yep, I've even suggested the BBC - they have tons of channels - to a friend here in China (funny, the BBC's print news is blocked but the radio service isn't).

Streaming radio stations are fewer because of copyright problems, I still I listen to two of the Denver AM stations as well as my old college radio station.

Yep, here in China I listen to my hometown radio station (99X) on the net, but as Taro mentioned there are scads of commercial FM stations and college radio stations (usually AM) that stream over the net.

[jncash]

My lady friend in Osaka uses Itunes (if you have broadband) you can get all the music in just about any genre that you want. Of course you need broadband and Itunes is free --works with windows too

[Taro Toporific]

This is basically following the trend in the U.S. regarding the roll-out of satellite radio (XM and Sirius). ... Now I know, looking at MobaHO, that this "is" possible.

Wow! I assumed this was just another set-top box but this is actually a 350 gram (heavy ) standalone mobile device. Kool, if you spend a lot of time in the car way out in the bumfuck do-enaka. (it won't work on subways).
MobaHO certainly will be 1000 times cheaper than the assreaming keitai video and music download services at 300yen per song.
http://www.mobaho.com/terminal/mtvs10.html

[canman]

You nailed it on the head Taro. I do spend a lot of time in my car shuttling between schools. And I am out in the "bumfuck do-enaka". So something like this would be perfect. Ikemen Tommy I do live fairly close to a US base so I can listen to the radio when the signal is strong enough to reach us. But there is a lot of crap on these stations. I also listen on my computer to radio station from back home, its just that I'm not tied to my computer like a lot of you are, so something more portable would be useful. I wonder how much the radio receiver will set me back. I couldn't find any prices on the web site.

[Taro Toporific]

This is basically following the trend in the U.S. regarding the roll-out of satellite radio (XM and Sirius). ....

DAMN. I'm getting old. I blogged this last Jan. 28th from FG "Video-Link" story.
D'ho!:doh:

Satellite Broadcast to Mobile Ho's!

[Taro Toporific]

You nailed it on the head Taro. I do spend a lot of time in my car shuttling between schools. And I am out in the "bumfuck do-enaka". wonder how much the radio receiver will set me back. I couldn't find any prices on the web site.

If I was living on the rice ranch in Shikoku were I have bonded-pair ISDN only, I would have bought a MobaHO unit on pre-order already. The MobaHO's free text messaging is kool too because keitai are not functional for me (since on crutches I never have a free hands to can answer my keitai, ever).

Prices start at 35,000 yen and go to 55,000yen or more. See the prices in Japanese here: http://www.mbcoshop.com/

For more info, refer to the Japanese site:
http://www.mobaho.com/terminal/all_model.html
http://www.mobaho.com/terminal/index.html
http://www.mobaho.com/terminal/mtvs10.htm
http://www.mobaho.com/terminal/mbr0101b.html

[FG Lurker]

I generally record MP3 radio streams in 10 or 12 hour chunks, and then split them into ~100MB files and copy them to the iPod. It's not quite automatic but it works very well. It's also free and probably legal. Recording individual songs to build a library of non-paid-for music is definitely a no-no in the eyes of the RIAA et al, but time shifting like this has been around for eons and seems to be (probably grudgingly) accepted.