The basic problem with HD Radio is that, no matter how crystal clear you make radio sound, it’s still radio. Commercial radio, on the whole, is absolute garbage. Maybe iBiquity needs to come to terms with that before it starts accusing XM and Sirius of unfair business tactics.
IBiquity, the main force behind HD Radio, says sales increased some 700 percent last year compared to 2006. That’s what it told the National Association of Broadcasters at any rate, which is no friend of the satellite radio companies. Compare that with what it told the FCC, claiming that that both XM and Sirius have coerced their partners—car companies and the like—to “discourage proliferation” of HD Radio.
IBuiquity is telling one party last year was great, and telling another party they’re being screwed by the satrad companies. Well-paid analysts call that “having your cake and eating it too.”
Again, I have no interest in listening to wild shock jock antics like dropping bra bombs on top of TV stations while trying to coin funny catchphrases like “mother hucker” and “brotherman” no matter how high-quality the signal is.
HD Radio: Which hype should you believe? [Orbitcast]
“DEAD AIR: Radio’s great leap forward stalling in the Valley”
“Retailers say no one is buying HD radios in South Texas despite scattered attempts by broadcasters to promote the digital signal technology…”
http://www.themonitor.com/news/radio_7098___article.html/digital_new.html
“HD Radio Has Yet To Take Off”
“But the technology hasn’t taken off as expected. NBC 5 could not find one person who owns a hi-def radio and neither could KISS FM’s program director. I don’t know anybody that has one yet, Davis said.”
http://www.nbc5i.com/technology/14878368/detail.html
“High-def radio is here, but is anyone listening?”
“But 19 Utah stations are broadcasting 31 high-definition radio channels with six more coming soon… It seems the stations are investing in technology the public isn’t quite ready to embrace…. Some have heard it referred to but never had cause to get one. Unless you are a gadget person, few of these radios have sold.”
http://www.sltrib.com/technology/ci_7852904
“HD’s here. Who’s listening?”
“But consumers haven’t exactly been stampeding to electronics stores for the new HD Radio sets that are required to tune in the digital signals.”
http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_7991990?nclick_check=1#recent_comm
Proof is in the pudding! HD Radio is a farce:
http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/
Maybe the reason HD radio isn’t taking off is because most people don’t care if their radio doesn’t sound better than standard FM
Who cares if it arguably sounds a little better (which is very debatable) than analog FM when the receive range is severely cut to the tune of needing an outside rooftop antenna to receive one quarter the distance an ordinary analog radio can receive? Also who cares when adjacent channels are covered with noise on both AM and FM especially if the adjacent channel is the one you’re trying to receive?
Who cares WHAT it sounds like when HD Radio’s are between $100 and $200!!!!!
And punt.
No one I know is interested in HD Radio. The one person I know who bought an HD radio is still trying to unload it. Those of us who’ve sampled the so-called ‘CD audio’ remain unimpressed. The audio sounds not merely ‘real’ but too real. After a short while, it’s fatiguing.
Twenty dollars buys you a Sony SRF-59 or Sony SRF-39FP ‘ultralight’ AM/FM set which pulls in distant stations with ease. Given the dull programs aired by BigRadio, distant listening is becoming more important, for those of us who enjoy variety and compelling programs.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
03 February, 2008
iNiquity is full of krap as usual: This is what iNiquity said last October:
“HD Radio technology company iBiquity Digital estimates about 200,000 HD radios were sold last year [2006], and predicts between 1 million and 1.5 million will be sold this year [2007].”
This from Mark Ramsey’s Hear 2.0 blog entitled: HD Radio sales reports are moving targets
Now they are saying only 40,000 units were sold in 2006.
Now which is true? 200,000 units sold in 2006 as they said last October, or 40,000 units sold in 2006 as they are saying now?I guess this just shows you can’t believe any of the hooey that the carny shills at iNiquity sling. They lie to suit the moment, their latest purpose. When you have a failed product that you’re trying to promote in vain you’ll say anything I guess. I’m just wondering how much more money are they going to throw down the hole?
I am holding out for blu-ray radio
I gave in a bought a Radio Shack Accurian, and even if
the digital on AM sounded OK, it would be a travesty
due to the sidebands interfering with the adjacent 4 stations and
even the host signal itself.
The ibiquity design makes analog AM sound the worst of
any radio I have ever used in my life, and it is clearly
a malicious presentation of AM analog just to make their
technology sound better.
This one aspect alone is enough to make my blood boil,
and in my opinion it is proof of CRIMINAL intent to
sabotage analog AM by any means possible.
Never mind the FCC anymore, we can tell they swept out
RF engineers to make room for “legal people”.
It’s time for the Department of Justice to look into this
quagmire.
Yeah, it’s waving: Bye bye!