Just bought yet ANOTHER Insignia portable HD radio

[nd2023]

Before you think I abused my HD radio while it was alive, I only "abused" it after it froze up. I think the software might have gotten corrupted, and there's no way to fix that. I made sure to not leave it in my hot car in the summer. I used it outside in the cold recently. It still does not work even after almost a week. My iPod touch is years old, and still works great and it's taken a lot more abuse than my HD radio. I would not mind paying $100 if it's built to last for years. But instead I spent over $200 in the past 2 years and have 3 HD radios with 3 different problems and 1 working (for now) HD radio.

Besides the Insignia portable, I also have the iPod HD radio adapter that I don't use anymore because the reception sucks, and a Sony XDRF1HD that I use primarily for DXing. So I'm responsible for six HD radio sales. Those "million" HD radio sales probably don't mean much. Every station in a PPM market that has HD has to have a separate HD radio for each subchannel to monitor the PPM encoder. Every broken Insignia portable counts as a sale, even if 4 were bought and used by the same person. Even a returned HD radio can count as a sale since it was technically sold once. The number of HD radios in active daily use is low.

Seems like HD transmitters are similarly fragile. They tend to break much more often than the analog transmitters, and when they break, it's often days or weeks before the station fixes it. I think I have been more proactive in fixing or replacing my HD radio than stations have been in maintaining their HD transmitters.

 

[RadeoEngineer]

[quote ]
... how do you replace a battery in an iPod?

You take it to Apple and pay too much for a new one!

This is why I avoid Ipods.
[/quote]

That's why I have a Toshiba Thrive, among many other reasons.

 

[tomservo]

I've got an iRiver H320 with Rockbox running on it and a newer high capacity battery. Although it does have a fragile hard drive, it's pretty robust and weights in like a brick. Best of all, it's at least 7 years old and still runs well. Even plays videos, m4a/aac and FLAC files now, something it didn't do with stock iRiver firmware.

Dunno if I'll be able to source another Toshiba micro drive for it if it dies, but if I can it'll be easy to replace. It just plugs right in easy peasy.

And best of all? No iTunes. ;D

 

[Darth_vader]

Oh yeah, I usually stick with MPEG-compatible CD players myself. Currently I'm trying to wear out a Sony D-NE050, but my personal favourite is my I-River IMP-150. Multi-codec (plays MP2/3 and the few WMA files I've generated; although I'm told there's an unofficial "alternate" [read: hacked] firmware for it that adds Vorbis support) and it generally plays like a dream. Well worth the CDN$350.00 I paid for it in 2002. (And yes, I have another used, but functioning, one I grabbed off Amazon for really cheap, as a "spare".)

And best of all? No I-Tunes. Just had to say it...

@Zach--
If it's micro-drive based you can replace it with a Compact Flash cartridge. CF and MD are logically and electrically identical, except one uses Flash ROM and the other's a conventional hard drive. Oh yeah, and CF carts are shock-resistant, having no moving parts in them, and they pull far less electrical power...)

 

[nd2023]

I have a portable CD player that's over a decade old, and it still works. It's definitely been dropped, heated, and frozen. It has moving parts unlike the HD radio.

 

[smashedcd]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Hey, you said it, not me! ;D

Friend of Bill w's also

 

[smashedcd]

[/It's not really a radio, it's just a tuner. :

Not only does it not have AM, it has no speaker!
quote]

I have one of these i have it hooked up to the aux input of my truck and my house..and the tuner is better than the fm tuner in my house or truck. works great..plus the 6 foot aux cable works as a great antenna..I love this radio..

 

[Darth_vader]

"I have a portable CD player that's over a decade old, and it still works. It's definitely been dropped, heated, and frozen. It has moving parts unlike the HD radio."

Does it have MP2/3 capability?

Personally, I'd recommend the IMP-150. It's built like a tank (bulky like one, too!) and one of mine has been involved in several skateboard/mountain bike wipeouts over the years, yet it keeps right on playing. They're becoming very hard to find these days--IR discontinued the product some years back and I can't even find one listed on Amazon Network or E-Bay at the moment--but if you do come across one someplace, even used, grab it.

[size=8pt]I would also recommend the very similar Rio Volt, but unfortunately the fact that it strangely doesn't support MP2 (only Layer 3 and WMA) prevents me from doing so. Oh well.