HD Radio's failure so complete, Radio Shack introduces new HD Radio

[Mike Walker]

I know...HD Radio is a complete failure. Nobody's interested. Blah, blah, blah. And yet, new products emerge all the time. How often have we heard people here say that Radio Shack is dropping support for HD Radio. I pointed out a new Polk HD Radio at my local Radio Shack a few months ago. Now Radio Shack introduces ANOTHER new HD Radio, this one under their house "Gigaware" brand. Not my cup-of-tea, as it's an Ipod dock-type device, and my favorite mp3 players are from Archos and Sandisk. Still, it IS now, and does receive HD Radio http://www.radioshack.com/search/in...gaware hd radio&origkw=Gigaware hd radio&sr=1

Love it or hate it, this technology has the wind at it's back. It's growing. True it's growth is s l o w. But it is moving forward, and is in an increasing number of products.

Frankly I listen to digital radio over the internet a lot more than HD, as the variety is greater (using my computer, and my Revo Blik internet radio, patched through my stereo system). But I WILL buy other HD Radio products as well!

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Did you look at the price? $130 for an iPod dock - most people are going to buy one at Walmart for $50, and it will probably sound better. HD radio through 3 inch speakers would be indiscernable from analog radio. 3 inch speakers are not, and never have been, hi fidelity. 3 inch tweeters are believable, but mid and low frequencies demand REAL speakers, not 3 inch.

 

[BRNout]

I know...HD Radio is a complete failure. Nobody's interested. Blah, blah, blah. And yet, new products emerge all the time. How often have we heard people here say that Radio Shack is dropping support for HD Radio. I pointed out a new Polk HD Radio at my local Radio Shack a few months ago. Now Radio Shack introduces ANOTHER new HD Radio, this one under their house "Gigaware" brand. Not my cup-of-tea, as it's an Ipod dock-type device, and my favorite mp3 players are from Archos and Sandisk. Still, it IS now, and does receive HD Radio http://www.radioshack.com/search/in...gaware hd radio&origkw=Gigaware hd radio&sr=1

Love it or hate it, this technology has the wind at it's back. It's growing. True it's growth is s l o w. But it is moving forward, and is in an increasing number of products.

Frankly I listen to digital radio over the internet a lot more than HD, as the variety is greater (using my computer, and my Revo Blik internet radio, patched through my stereo system). But I WILL buy other HD Radio products as well!

Hey Mike, the real future is with internet radio. That's the technology that has the wind at its back. Not HD. HD is the answer to a question that no one outside of the clowns in a radio corporation boardroom ever asked.

Not another ugly tabletop cube that's supposed to masquerade as a radio. If anything, the iPod dock is an admission that the HD alone isn't enough to sell anything. What's more, it's been my experience that when radios are engineered to do multiple things, they generally don't do any of them well.

So, save the sales talk for the more gullible. When these things are small, portable, inexpensive and have the performance of a good analog - then we'll talk. For now, trying to put one of these ugly pieces of crap in your pocket will result in a torn pocket, a sore back and burns to the skin.

 

[stacker]

Love it or hate it, this technology has the wind at it's back.

What a setup....I can't resist.

The only wind that this technology has behind it originates a few inches below the belt.

bada-boom.

 

[JimmyJames]

Sony has a $150 unit and it sounds pretty good, plus is an Ipod/Iphone dock.

 

[Savage]

Mike: isn't that thing essentially a rebadged Jensen 525i? It sure looks like it.

 

[ddsparxx]

t least it's not as ugly and strange-looking as the Accurian radio.

 

[BRNout]

But it's still neither groundbreaking nor is it portable. It's just another ugly HD cube with limited appeal. I'd have nowhere to put the thing.

Give me a walkman-sized HD radio with decent performance and a reasonable battery life and I'd buy it. Well, where is it? I'm still waiting.... [cue the crickets]

 

[Mike Walker]

The idea that nobody would spend that much for an Ipod dock is pretty silly. That's actually a pretty inexpensive one. Have you seen the mega-buck ones from Klipsch, Bose, and others?

And the fact that it has an Ipod dock is no more, or less relevant if the included radio is analog or digital. It simply proves what I (and others) have said many times. People usually don't specifically buy radios. Instead they buy things with radios in them. So if HD is in more things, then by default it will become more widespread.

As for whether it's a rebranded Jensen, it may well be. I hadn't thought about it because again, I prefer Archos and Sandisk players to Ipods, so this isn't an area I pay much attention too. But now that you mention it, it does look familiar. I saw the Jensen unit at Radio Shack in Boone a few months ago. Perhaps Radio Shack carried the Jensen as an experiment to see if it would sell before putting their own name on it. Just a guess!

As for internet radio being "the future", I'm surprised at how many internet affiliates I ended up with for my oldies show (Saving the 70s http://www.savingthe70s.com ) But there are still bandwidth issues with internet radio. The bandwidth at present just doesn't exist to replace analog radio with internet. And then there's the pretty huge issue of 'net radio in the place where most listening is done...IN CARS! I believe in time these problems will solve themselves, but they sure haven't yet! If tomorrow everyone who listens to analog radio chose internet instead, for the hours a day that most listeners spend "tuned in", the 'net would crash, and crash HARD!

 

[JimmyJames]

And there are many areas where cell coverage and speeds simply aren't enough to support any, or at least many people, listening to continuous streams. Sure AAC is more efficient but you still have to have coverage to get it.

 

[BRNout]

3G network coverage right now is more comprehensive than HD radio, which is full of signal holes. You're right about some of the bandwidth issues, but those are being dealt with on a continuing basis.

 

[pocket-radio]

"Frankly I listen to digital radio over the internet a lot more than HD"

Mike, surely 42 million agree with you, Internet radio is the way to go. And don't call me Shirley

I prefer Pandora, Lastfm and groveshark.. picking the playlist sure rocks..

HD who?

 

[KB1OKL]

Live 365 also has a lot of good stuff. HD radio, yawn....

 

[stormy01]

"Frankly I listen to digital radio over the internet a lot more than HD"

Mike, surely 42 million agree with you, Internet radio is the way to go. And don't call me Shirley

I prefer Pandora, Lastfm and groveshark.. picking the playlist sure rocks..

HD who?

42 million internet listeners and 20 million Satellite Radio listeners vs. <1 million HD listeners... how many of those HD paperweights are turned off and on the shelf?
Hmmm.... Iniquity-Ibiquity, "Major" broadcasters, HD proponents....get a clue!

 

[BRNout]

42 million internet listeners and 20 million Satellite Radio listeners vs. <1 million HD listeners... how many of those HD paperweights are turned off and on the shelf?

Well, the one at my house definitely meets that definition. Lousy reception and horrendous ergonomics. Very clunky to use - even when you can actually pull in some HD signals.

It's now used only as a CD player and has to be unplugged at night because it has a nasty habit of turning itself on and freaking out my wife!!! Biggest POS I've ever bought.

I seriously doubt that I'm the only one to find this. So yes, I'd imagine that a certain percentage of those 1 million units involves equipment that's no longer in use - or that's being used for something else.

 

[KB1OKL]

42 million internet listeners and 20 million Satellite Radio listeners vs. <1 million HD listeners... how many of those HD paperweights are turned off and on the shelf?

Well, the one at my house definitely meets that definition. Lousy reception and horrendous ergonomics. Very clunky to use - even when you can actually pull in some HD signals.

It's now used only as a CD player and has to be unplugged at night because it has a nasty habit of turning itself on and freaking out my wife!!! Biggest POS I've ever bought.

I seriously doubt that I'm the only one to find this. So yes, I'd imagine that a certain percentage of those 1 million units involves equipment that's no longer in use - or that's being used for something else.

I dust off my Sony once in a while to watch it spin around the dial. It even stops on a station once in a while (FM). The leaves are out so now it's ability to pick up IBOC is much worse. Mine is a door stop also, good thing I only paid 84 bucks for it.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The idea that nobody would spend that much for an Ipod dock is pretty silly. That's actually a pretty inexpensive one. Have you seen the mega-buck ones from Klipsch, Bose, and others?

I just laugh when I hear somebody talking about Bose and some of the others. I finally got my hands on a Bose Wave radio and did a shoot out between it and a GE SR-3. No comparison. Not only did the GE log stations clearly the Bose couldn't even detect, it sounded better, too. For the price of one Bose, I can put a GE Superadio in every room of the house. Which is exactly what I did ---- and my wife thanks me for the oldies on KONO 860 San Antonio, now that Houston lost its oldies station. Try THAT on a Bose Wave radio in Houston!

 

[nd2023]

More people will be listening to HD2s on the Internet than on an HD radio. In a few years when 3G coverage becomes more widespread and affordable, stations will continue to program and advertise "HD2" subchannels but drop the IBUZ.
For at least 5 years, Radio Shack employees are still untrained on how to sell HD radios.
The HD industry expects people to be as educated as we are about what's available on HD radio. The commercials don't help.
It would be great to advertise what's available on HD2 instead of stupid commercials the average listener doesn't understand. If there's a dance station available on HD2, someone who really likes that format will rush out to buy an HD radio instead of subscribing to Sirius XM.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Nick said:

If there's a dance station available on HD2, someone who really likes that format will rush out to buy an HD radio instead of subscribing to Sirius XM.

But Nick did not supply any rationale for the statement.

Listeners are accustomed to decades of frequent "format flipping" and fiddling by broadcast stations. Why would a dance station enthusiast assume this single fictional HD2 dance station would:
1- Be what exactly what they want most.
2- Be all that they want, all the time.
3- Be as good as or better then the extremely popular (and often better fidelity) dance stations, podcasts, and custom tailored music sources available free on the internet such as "Last FM", or several similar "on demand" services.
4- Be received reliably wherever and where ever they want to listen.
5- Be much better and more portable then music and coverage they could get on sat. radio, download to their computer, CD's, MP3 player, cell phone or from 100,000 other internet sources.
6- Not be subject in future to program changes, ads, clutter, format fiddling, and other annoying content.
7- Continue to be reliably available for free and not subscription driven such as the HD Radio "conditional access" proposal.
8- Spend over $100 for a power hungry, hard to tune radio with small speakers, poor HD reception, low bitrate artifacts and fiddle with antennas, just for the one HD2 station.
9- Not have the HD2 station available when and where they want it in an easily useable or portable non-battery hungry device that they probably already own.

I could go on, but the few remaining HD Radio diehards are convinced that digital HD radio is the only future for media.

 

[KB1OKL]

More people will be listening to HD2s on the Internet than on an HD radio. In a few years when 3G coverage becomes more widespread and affordable, stations will continue to program and advertise "HD2" subchannels but drop the IBUZ.
For at least 5 years, Radio Shack employees are still untrained on how to sell HD radios.
The HD industry expects people to be as educated as we are about what's available on HD radio. The commercials don't help.
It would be great to advertise what's available on HD2 instead of stupid commercials the average listener doesn't understand. If there's a dance station available on HD2, someone who really likes that format will rush out to buy an HD radio instead of subscribing to Sirius XM.

I laugh when posters say that ONE extra channel is going to entice listeners to spend 100.00 and up on a technology that barely works. You can spend 12.99 a month and get 200 extra channels which have every kind of dance music imaginable with drops out far and few between. I do agree that the commercials are stupid, moronic and drive away intelligent listeners, I thought the iBlock Alliance or whomever is responsible for these audio monstrosities who have learned after the derision the "HD is like radio with a boob job" caused.