New Insignia review

[Savage]

Thanks for making my Saturday, Nick!!!

"Hey, couldn't help but notice - that's an HD Radio in your dash!! Congratulations on being part of the 'digital-radio revolution!'"

"Oh, the HD Radio? It's a piece of #@$$*&. I actually had to pay somebody to turn off that dumb HD feature so I could listen to the radio."

"Have you checked out all the HD-2 formats around here? There's all-Nazi Music on 101.1 HD-2. 93.7 HD-2 has all African-American Weather. The there's the Friends Of Bill Channel...."

"Wow. Look at the time: it's almost 7:30. You know, I just remembered - I have to get up REALLY EARLY in the morning. OK if I just drop you off at the corner up here?"

(Theme music. Roll credits......)

 

[tomservo]

Sounds like a really stupid woman if she couldn't figure out how to operate her own *%$# stereo.

 

[Savage]

Well, she was apparently smart enough to figure out that her reception problems were due to the HD feature in her radio..... :

 

[mmnassour]

Sounds like a really stupid woman if she couldn't figure out how to operate her own *%$# stereo.

If the consumer can't figure out how to operate the product in five minutes....it's a failure. At that point it comes right back to the stealership where there's a one hour charge, to their the consumer or the manufacturer, to disable the HD....if possible.

 

[tomservo]

If the consumer can't figure out how to operate the product in five minutes....it's a failure. At that point it comes right back to the stealership where there's a one hour charge, to their the consumer or the manufacturer, to disable the HD....if possible.

By that logic, every piece of consumer electronics my parents own is a failure because my mother can't figure out how to operate ANY of it even now.

She's been using PCs since the early 90's and I just taught her how to copy and paste in 2009.

Not everyone has the aptitude towards figuring out how to work electronics that you or I presumably have. It's far from an old person's disease, either. I know lots of young people who don't know all the features their cell phones do, or how to work certain (common to me) functions of a computer.

Five minutes might work for you if you're a smart egg, but for others they need a little, ahem, help. Those people are "dumb" by my standards.

 

[mmnassour]

As far as your mother is concerned (with absolutely no disrespect to you or her ;D) then they are failures. Maybe five minutes was a bit much, granted. But when people encounter a new radio, they want it to work...right then....with no futzing around.

After all, it's a radio, right? You turn it on, turn the knob or push a button and you get music.

Elsewhere here we here stories of people who have strung dipoles across ceilings, hooked up outside antennas, and otherwise stood on their heads with tinfoil on their feet to get a HD carrier. Granted, I might do that for a lark, just to see what happens.

But the rest of the universe isn't about to fool with any of that. It doesn't listen to HD radio, doesn't need it and furthermore, simply doesn't care that it exists, this after more than a decade. And that's why I consider it...a failure.

 

[Chuck]

Most people explore the operational aspects of a new piece of electronics just far enough to get it to do whatever it is they wanted it to do when they purchased it. That's why most VCR's could be found flashing "12:00" for years on end.
Working up to today, many of us enjoy smart phones, but in reality not everyone has discovered all the features of their device. There are simply too many options to consider. Most of us find a half dozen to a dozen applications which we think are handy, and more or less leave it at that. That may not be true for all the folks who frequent this board, but for the rest of the world, I think you will find it is true. Not everyone is a radio geek.

 

[tomservo]

Speaking of applications, I took an online survey from my carrier the other day about apps and phone use. It wouldn't let me get past the question, "How many apps do you have installed on your phone?"

Turns out, it would only accept up to 99. At the time I had 150 apps. I've finally whittled them down to just 113 now. ;D

If the phone has 500 mb of on board storage and 500 mb of RAM and 16 GB on a SD card, why shouldn't I be able to max that out? That's the kind of electronics user I am. I read about every feature and learn how to use them (eventually) even if I don't need them.

I reckon the people whose VCRs perpetually flash 12:00, whose phones have never been off the default (terrible) ringtone, whose radios presets are left untouched are the same ones on the road with bad breaks, under inflated tires and oil that hasn't been changed in 75,000 miles. In other words, stupid.

 

[mmnassour]

I reckon the people whose VCRs perpetually flash 12:00, whose phones have never been off the default (terrible) ringtone, whose radios presets are left untouched are the same ones on the road with bad breaks, under inflated tires and oil that hasn't been changed in 75,000 miles. In other words, stupid.

I think the issue here is with the word "stupid". Einstein would often forget his keys and be oblivious to his surroundings, but I don't think those characteristics qualify him as "stupid". Maybe we can agree that the benefits of HD radio are simply not important to enough people to make it viable? Indeed, checking the tires and oil are not important to many people as well....at least, until they destroy their only means of transportation. ;D

 

[KB1OKL]

I reckon the people whose VCRs perpetually flash 12:00, whose phones have never been off the default (terrible) ringtone, whose radios presets are left untouched are the same ones on the road with bad breaks, under inflated tires and oil that hasn't been changed in 75,000 miles. In other words, stupid.

I think the issue here is with the word "stupid". Einstein would often forget his keys and be oblivious to his surroundings, but I don't think those characteristics qualify him as "stupid". Maybe we can agree that the benefits of HD radio are simply not important to enough people to make it viable? Indeed, checking the tires and oil are not important to many people as well....at least, until they destroy their only means of transportation. ;D

I know that one of the most annoying aspects of HD radio for me besides the obvious drop outs and lousy reception was the fact that I had to wait to see if and when a station would lock on. I was and still can be a knob twiddler, I'd go up and down the dial looking for something I like, who has the patience to wait for seconds until a station (doubtfully) locks on? It's obvious to me why only people (a small minority) who are really interested in radio are the only people who actually like HD radio. HD radio is an annoyance to most people.

 

[Darth_vader]

"'How many apps do you have installed on your phone?'"

Zero, unless you count a nonfunctioning party-line "pull-to-talk" plunger as an "APP".....

 

[Tom Wells]

"'How many apps do you have installed on your phone?'"

Zero, unless you count a nonfunctioning party-line "pull-to-talk" plunger as an "APP".....

I'd like to have one called Apnea, where-within a phone call, it sounds like I can barely breathe, like i"m so huge,
I'm about to explode from hypertension and upper chest constriction. Is that available?

 

[tomservo]

I'd like to have one called Apnea, where-within a phone call, it sounds like I can barely breathe, like i"m so huge,
I'm about to explode from hypertension and upper chest constriction. Is that available?

As a gentleman of larger carriage, I have no need for that app. ;D

 

[Darth_vader]

"I'd like to have one called Apnea, where-within a phone call, it sounds like I can barely breathe, like i"m so huge,
I'm about to explode from hypertension and upper chest constriction. Is that available?"

Yup, it's called "shove a straightened-out paper clip into the mouthpiece". ;o)