Why should I buy into this HD radio idea?

[desertskies]

I hear a latest radio ad that simulates "official" reasoning to switching to HD radio and for the most part, IT TURNS ME OFF to HD radio.
HD radio, IMO, will see the fate of AM stereo and four-channel stereo.

Apologies if the subject has been covered prior (no doubt), but the agency that produces the radio spots are not making me run out and buying into this HD radio idea, they're repelling me instead.

I still see the AM stereo and four-channel demise.

 

[Savage]

If the insultingly stupid marketing doesn't get you, the semi-functional benefit-deficient transmission system will. HD's geniuses have covered all the bases:

Forehead-smackingly inept and offensive marketing (as you have noted.) Actually degrades the status-quo listening experience with interference and noise. The digital product (as noted on another thread here) sounds - AT BEST - like a middling internet stream, hardly living up to the absurd "audiophile" claims for the HD system. But don't worry too much about the digital listening experience, because the digital coverage is lousy anyway, in many if not most cases much less than the analog signal. And the hybrid receivers can't be forced into analog-only mode, so you'll have to put up with very annoying mode-hopping from digital to analog, and stereo to mono. Poor time-alignment at many stations assures the most jarring digital-to-analog transitions imaginable. And the much-hyped HD-2 and HD-3 subs? Because of overextended engineering staffs at corporate group clusters, a universal format you're likely to hear on the side channels is the one called "dead air." HD transmitting equipment is notoriously unreliable and cranky.

Even if the foregoing isn't enough to discourage you: better organize a search party if you want to buy an HD Radio at the typical retailer. They all bailed long ago because of poor sales and high returns due to customer dissatisfaction.

 

[KB1OKL]

I hear a latest radio ad that simulates "official" reasoning to switching to HD radio and for the most part, IT TURNS ME OFF to HD radio.
HD radio, IMO, will see the fate of AM stereo and four-channel stereo.

Apologies if the subject has been covered prior (no doubt), but the agency that produces the radio spots are not making me run out and buying into this HD radio idea, they're repelling me instead.

I still see the AM stereo and four-channel demise.

Well there Desert, I think you instincts and perceptions are right on the money, except for one thing, AM stereo did work and it worked a hell of a lot better than IBOC does, quad could have worked also but it was quite expensive you a lot of money to get it working, 4 sets of speakers, quad amps, preamps , quad LP's etc, get it to work right. HD's a scam just about everyone here knows that, don't WASTE YOUR MONEY, I've done it for you. Mine is sitting here blinking at me gathering dust.

 

[scanman1]

I'll have to concur, don't waste your money. I had hd radio for a couple of years and finally dumped it (just very recently pawned my SONY table radio, my last hd radio, off on some sap) after I did an A/B comparison with one of my fine analog tuners and realized the analog audio blew away the digital simulcast! Even with AM, a high quality analog transmission will waste so-called hd AM to the max!

 

[DuckBlue]

I still see the AM stereo and four-channel demise.

You left off Dolby FM, or whatever they called it. The Atlanta NPR station was broadcasting with it back in the early '70s.