Hardly a mention of HD radio --

[rbrucecarter5]

and only in passing. People want Internet enabled car entertainment - and this is from the publication that is usually a shill for HD radio:

http://www.rwonline.com/article/cd-less-in-car-entertainment-systems-gain-ground/211422

What do HD radio and zombies have in common? Both are walking dead.

 

[tomservo]

Yeah, internet listening will be big in cars… until you run out of your 3G/4G coverage. Or your carrier slaps you with metered billing. Unlimited internet is not really unlimited, no matter how often Sprint claims otherwise. All carriers can and occasionally do throttle bandwidth to sub-dialup speeds when the crunch is on. And then how will you listen to internet radio?

If people see that they can pay $15 a month for 500 MB of data (which is doable on a smartphone if you're careful and always use wifi when possible) or $30 a month just to be able to listen to the same stations they get for free with a radio, which will they choose?

The (near) future of the internet is choking off data, not giving away more of it. Internet radio and TV on the go will suffer as a result.

 

[mmnassour]

But still, the most damning part of the article is that last line....

And if radio doesn’t step it up, though it may still be included in the dash for several more years, eventually traditional AM/FM won’t be if younger people don’t actually use it.

 

[spunker88]

terrestrial radio needs to look better in the dash to compete with the updated look of personalized services. That means transmitting data for images to be synched with the audio, or the so-called “Artist Experience” for HD Radio stations.

I don't know about you, but my eyes are usually on the road when I'm driving my car. About the only thing I'll stream from my smartphone in the car is live talk programs that aren't carried on a local signal. Streaming music stations sound terrible on a car radio since the low bitrate artifacts can really be heard. Most stations seem to be using 32kbps streams for mobile devices. But why use up data on music stations when I can just load up a memory card with high bitrate MP3s and get an FM transmitter that plays MP3s from it.

CDs are being phased out so it should come as no surprise the CD players will be as well. Unfortunately the replacement seems to be over compressed digital music. With the falling price of flash memory it would be nice if when the CD does in fact become discontinued that we could still get high quality digital audio.

 

[tomservo]

Internet radio is quickly becoming a luxury for the few who can afford data prices, or who are grandfathered in to unlimited plans.

And to prove my longstanding point that data is NOT getting easier/cheaper/more ubiquitous: AT&T has announced data price hikes of up to 30% for new customers.

They're now asking $20/month just for 300 MB. I go through that in a week or less, and I use wifi 90% of the time.

 

[scanman1]

No way I'm volunteerily giving up the convenience and great sound quality of terrestrial stations for low bitrate internet counterparts which can't even be received for free. At home, I enjoy web streams, but mobile, forget it, it doesn't work so well (I have Sprint 3G). And, it just gets too expensive.

 

[kenglish]

Remember the first rule of drug dealing:
Go down to the local high school and give it away free to the kids.
Once they are hooked, THEN start charging them for it, and keep increasing the price.

Same for phones.

 

[badjef]

Cars were NEVER about "bending metal", anyway. It was always about FREEDOM. So is radio. My radio - or car - is nothing without the freedom to experience the pleasure. It is why those taking mass transit in NYC can't understand it. Busses and commuter trains do not allow people freedom. You can't listen to radio in a subway, anyway. There is no door to door service with those alternatives.

You raise the gas prices and you take away freedoms for everybody. Radio gives you freedom to be entertained with just a transmitter and an antenna. There is no third party and millions of variables, as with internet listening, any one of which can disrupt that experience.

Radio is more personal, so is a car.

I have WiFi in my cab. It will not replace the radio, it adds to the experience. The same with the HD radio.

I know I am preaching to the choir, here, but if I can help clarify the importance of the medium of radio, it becomes clear it is not about choice, not if the choice is in somebody else's hands who can limit it.

"kenglish" is using the simple analogy, here. The results are the same.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!

 

[KTN Corp]

Remember the first rule of drug dealing:
Go down to the local high school and give it away free to the kids.
Once they are hooked, THEN start charging them for it, and keep increasing the price.

Same for phones.

The exact reason I'm swearing off mobile phones from now on. With the constant high prices, forget about the iPhone or other smartphones. Greed may spell the end of the cell phone!

 

[badjef]

Remember the first rule of drug dealing:
Go down to the local high school and give it away free to the kids.
Once they are hooked, THEN start charging them for it, and keep increasing the price.

Same for phones.

The exact reason I'm swearing off mobile phones from now on. With the constant high prices, forget about the iPhone or other smartphones. Greed may spell the end of the cell phone!

You keep missing it! It isn't about greed. It is about being able to control the population.
You can use the device. But be aware that you might want to have your own alternative.
I have a generator at home. It is a small 5kw. If the power goes out, I still have enough power to have lights, etc.
Try to become less dependent on a government that is haphazzardly elected by an unsuspecting people as what happened in '08.

It should have taught us all a lesson.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!