PC World Magazine Has HD Radio on List of 12 Technology Flops

[Barry]

The popular computer magazine has an article called, "12 Tech Revolutions That Fizzled."
The page for HD radio states that in 2006, the HD Radio Alliance asserted that it would lead to a, "Music revolution."
It goes on to say, "Unfortunately, high-quality radio tuners never got the support they needed from auto makers, and with people tuning in to their iPods and their smartphones instead of to traditional radio, the need for an even larger spectrum of stations is hard to justify."

Article: http://www.pcworld.com/article/234763/12_tech_revolutions_that_fizzled.html

 

[spunker88]

While HD radio has its flaws, its hard for conventional radio to compete with the ipod, etc these days. Everyone has their own tastes in music, and unfortunately many radio stations have adopted cookie cutter formats, playing the same overplayed songs. You can blame the big media conglomerates for this. Its not the medium of delivery, its the content. Putting the same stuff in digital isn't going to sell it to the ipod crowd if they weren't listening in analog.

 

[tomservo]

Strange, but HD radio was one of only a few things in that list that failed because the technology wasn't well thought out. Some of the other entries (like netbooks and the RFID chips) were robust but either overblown hype or usurped by something better in short order. And like RFID chips and the Segway, they're not really flops. Both have found extensive niche uses outside everyday life.

 

[spunker88]

I don't think netbooks are total failures. For people who want a low cost portable computer than can still run a familiar OS with all the same programs, then a netbook is the way to go.