Looks like it’s back to AM radio for me

I’ve gone on record professing my love for the MLB AtBAt app for the iPhone. I’ve listened to countless games that I would have otherwise missed and caught up on highlights I didn’t get to experience live using their incredible condensed game videos. Imagine my dismay when I attempted to download the 2011 version of the app this afternoon and was met with a message saying MLB AtBat 2011 requires iPhone OS 4. I’ve been hanging on to an original iPhone since launch and I have no real reason to upgrade. In fact, upgrading would represent a significant loss.

The original iPhone cannot run iOS4 and uses the old EDGE network for data transfer. So running AtBat this season requires at least an iPhone 3Gs. An iPhone 3Gs is currently $49, literally hundreds of dollars less than I paid for my original. Despite the relative “savings’ I’d see on the device itself, it would be more than made up for by the increased cost of the 3G data plan and whatever overage charges I’d incur seeing as my current plan is unlimited. Listening to a game takes up a lot of bandwidth and I’d probably end up paying a premium per game at that point.

I understand that technology is always changing and I’ve gotten a lot of life out of this device, but when it comes down to it this app isn’t doing anything this season that couldn’t work with the previous phone software. So I’ll forgo all the digital bells and whistles this year and find myself a portable AM radio somewhere, because that’s really all I need.

Tags: AM radio, anachronism, AtBat 2010, AtBat 2011, iPhone, MLB

NickD said,

Honestly, unless you’re an out-of-market fan, the MLB AtBat and MLB.tv services don’t do you much good.

Until the concept of blackouts are eliminated and we can pay ala carte for baseball, we’re stuck with local broadcasts.
ptb said,

Great to hear from you, Nick. I completely agree about MLB.tv. That service was even made available though Apple TV this season, which on the surface seems great, but I know I’ll never use it to watch out of market games.

AtBat was totally worth it to me for the audio alone. I’m perfectly content to listen to a game and it was great for day games and evenings while I was on my way home. I’d be willing to pay ala carte, but even if that becomes an option I’ll probably still need to upgrade my phone and plan to do so.
DaveM said,

I was with you on not wanting to upgrade… I had an original iPhone, jailbroken and doing everything I wanted it to up until last summer. However, I ran into an issue where the battery of the phone wouldn’t make it through the day. It would also completely shut off the phone with a dead battery even though the indicator still showed 60% or so remaining. Basically made the phone unusable, so I bit the bullet and bought the 4.

That said, despite the slightly higher phone bill, I have been pretty satisfied with the new one. It is a solid device and is actually far better than the old one… so should you decide to upgrade, it would be worth it in ways that are not currently perceivable to you.
MikeE said,

I’m a happy iPhone 4 user, but yeah, it always seems like Apple looks too push you to upgrade anyway they can.

It is $7, which is a bit pricey for an iPhone app, but WunderRadio is a great internet radio app if your local AM station broadcast on the net. AND it runs on iOS 3. 8)