Radio distributes content to a broad spectrum of people and shares news and music. Many frequent commuters have relied on radio for their early morning and post-work entertainment. Follow sports on ESPN, world news on NPR, and listen to the latest musical hits. There's still an aesthetic appeal to all of this.

While radio continues to broadcast out to the greater world, the deconstruction and decentralization of all things radio is swiftly occurring. The younger generations have their iPods for starters, and when they grow to have today's smartphones (Droid, iPhone, etc.), they'll probably be getting their news from it too. "There's an app for that" means more than the 100,000 some-odd apps, many a waste, but tens of thousands that can replace our previous needs with a car radio. The NPR app and DoggCatcher are perfect examples of this new web technology that's replacing old audio media.

Many of today's technology is ad-free or has very minimal advertisements. Pandora on both the iPhone and Android devices has nothing more than a little banner image. Unlike even the desktop version of Pandora, the mobile version doesn't have intrusive audio ads. Why would I go back to dialing into a radio station and suffering signal strength woes? Pandora is just an example of what I'm filling my ears with every day.

Part of the reason I love my Droid is because I can't download through the iTunes Music Store; the convenience would entice, and I'd be spending left and right on my iPhone. By turning on Pandora I save money and it's personalized, which I don't get by listening to my own music all the time.

Not to mention that podcasts are quickly replacing my TV watching and are perfect for casual walking. Download them over the air and have them in a couple of minutes. It's the future, and I have it in my hands. I haven't listened to the radio in years, and I'm predicting that they'll quickly lose funding in the next 10 years and wash away. Hello smartphone, you're my always connected computer!

Tell us if you're using your smartphone to replace your radio and music player! Let us know in the comments below.

I've been trying to hone in on the most important and vital apps for my new Android 2.0 phone. With the help of Twitter followers and Luke, I've come up with a great list of top 5 Android apps for my wonderfully powerful Droid. If you enjoy this, check out our Top 3 News and Weather Apps for Motorola Droid too!

• Google Voice -- [Link to Site]
  • I've been addicted to Google Voice, it saves me something like $15 to $20 every month on texting and I can call ANY number with a secure, controllable line from Google. Google Voice may actually be more important, relevant, and usable than Google Wave. There's so much potential with this technology. On an Android phone, unlike the closed off iPhone, you can have the Google Voice App take over all calls -- even international ones! By taking over the device, any call that I make through the phone emulates my Google Voice number. No inconvenient Google Voice mobile website for me [on an iPhone], now I just make a phone call. The application transcribes my voicemails and allows for a visual form too. This visual system saves me yet another $2.99 -- Verizon charges that for visual mail access.
  • Downsides: No messaging app support, SMS messages are not pushed (fetched at every 5 mins -- fastest rate), must have a data connection to make phone call through GV number.
    
• Pandora -- [Link to Site]
  • This is nothing new, and it's still the ultimate personalized radio. Pandora delivers a fantastic application and service to Android and iPhone. The experience is hindered by a basic ad on the bottom of the application, but it's nothing compared to the ads and messages that Pandora places on its website. Pandora let's you create personalized stations with a thumbs up/down voting system. It allows you to bookmark songs and artists for later viewing. The application also supports the adding and removal of new "stations" that can be based off of artist, song, album, etc.
  • Downsides: Advertisements on the bottom of application, improper Bluetooth support (doesn't stop playing if Bluetooth headphones are disconnected), and still slow, despite the Droid's processor power.
• DoggCatcher -- [Link to Site]
  • There is no native application to download, subscribe, and listen to your latest podcasts. DoggCatcher is the perfect accoutrement to your powerful device. It comes at a price though, $6.99, which makes it one of the most expensive apps in the Market. In fact, it's the only app that requires a purchase on this list. But it's still well worth it and powerful. DoggCatcher lets you select and subscribe to your favorite podcasts, and unlike the iPhone (AT&T), you can download as large a file as you'd like. While burning through battery, it can download that 131 MB episode of Diggnation for immediate viewing. And if you don't feel like burning through battery life, you can choose to have the device only download new episodes on Wi-Fi and/or while being plugged into power. Unlike Pandora, DoggCatcher responds to disconnects from headphones and Bluetooth, pausing where you are.
  • Downsides: Price tag ($6.99), no automatic downloads despite a subscription (still need to queue downloads), and small selection of suggested podcasts.

• i Music -- [Link to Site]
  • The internet has a number of ways to illegally download music. LimeWire and Kazaa are things of the past. So many people put music straight onto their websites, and it's just a matter of finding the songs. i Music is a powerful music search app that finds exactly what you're looking for. Looking for a Beatles song or something by Bob Dylan? Search on i Music and you'll find the song. After finding the song you want, you can legally listen to the song or you can illegally download it to your Droid. This is a gray area of copyright laws, but there's no doubt that downloading songs for free is still illegal. Whether you just NEED to hear a song once, or want to grab it for free, i Music a prime example of the power of open-source and spits in the face of Apple's closed system.
  • Downsides: The user interface (UI) is hideous, ads are on the top of searches (making queries unintuitive), and the apps widget is appallingly simple.
• FxCamera -- [Link to Site]
  • The Droid camera is finally fixed! But the basic camera application doesn't leave a lot of options for users. That's where FxCamera comes in. Offering basic image additions like the Toy Camera effect makes images look aged and artistically designed. Just look at my Twitter pic. FxCamera doesn't have some of the editing features of PicSay Pro, but it does spruce up the the basic camera. The application simple, and is relatively quick at launching the camera and processing the picture with its effect. What's missing is the ability to truly take over the camera and by default, launch the app after a picture has been taken.
  • Downsides: Doesn't connect with the Droid camera by default, needs more effects, and could use a quicker user interface.

Runner up:

• Twidroid -- [Link to Site]
  • A powerful Twitter client for the Droid, but still with a variety of faults. Twidriod is quick and actively processes new tweets in the background -- seemingly using very little battery from what I've seen. And you always know when you have a Twidroid notification; the program has its own notification light, it's a cool blue. But it doesn't give users trending Twitter topics, and the app doesn't have a proper widget for the Droid quite yet (free or paid).

What we still want to see:

• NPR -- [Link to Site]
  
  • The public radio company has yet to produce an app for the Android platform. The iPhone has a beautiful application that is insanely powerful and convenient for users. Android users are seriously missing out from any solid NPR player and program. It's the single app that I miss most from the iPhone.

Please comment below or Twitter us if you have any other apps that we should take a look at or we left out!