@Eddy Ito: Woo hoo...
...Apple actually got round to putting a $0.40 FM radio chip (*) inside their new Nano? About **** time too!
The omission of a radio is a major shortcoming in my 3G Nano, and the reason I would have bought another brand of MP3 player if I hadn't been given it as a present. (Don't get me wrong- it's a good MP3 player, but it's not *that* good.)
I've heard stories that Apple didn't include a radio in earlier iPods because (for example) Americans don't like the radio much- probably true, given the state of their radio and TV- or (more interestingly) that people would think they were being charged much more for a radio they might not ever use, even if in reality it only cost pennies to include.
More cynically, this would then explain why they (a) sell the radio separately and (b) charge around £35 for it combined a separate remote-control lead, even though I've heard its performance is mediocre at best.
I wouldn't know, because I'm not even considering it at that price. Still, the fact that some people will spend £20 for some useless "socks" for their iPod proves there's a market for almost any overpriced Apple cack.
(*) Yeah, fair guess. I can buy a *complete* auto-scan FM radio at retail for a quid, and apparently Wal-Mart in the US sells them for a dollar each. While I had problems with mine, the reception when it did work was actually good, suggesting that the core chip is okay.