12-27-2011
We leased a new car at our house and a Toyota Scion left the garage to be replaced by a ?cute? (my wife?s description) BMW Mini. It?s small in statue, but a really fun car to drive. I was looking forward to checking out the first car I have owned with an HD radio. The Mini?s standard radio is a six speaker number with AM, FM, HD and Sirius satellite radio. That?s a lot of choice and a crazy number of presets.
I started to write about the content offerings of HD Radio and the deeper I was in, I reached the conclusion that while the new ?band? shows some promise, the whole thing is just too damn complicated. There is a significant price that Radio is paying for this complexity. The most successful electronics brand today is known for its simplicity. Apple makes products that perform a complex set of tasks and they make it simple and elegant. I have often told friends about my Mac products, ?they, just work?
I should share at this point that I have always been an HD radio supporter. Who wouldn?t want extra bandwidth and the ability to add graphics and data to our transmissions? The heart of the HD radio opportunity and problem are those hidden stations. Each radio manufacturer has to wrestle with the complex problem of helping the user find and use the ?hidden stations?. BMW has their approach. Ford, Chevy, Toyota and the others each take a unique approach and the consumer has no standard. I am sure the fellas at Ibiquity do their best to help but the result is keeping users from the HD opportunity.
It didn?t have to be this way. I was involved with this issue at Susquehanna Radio when the industry was first considering its roll out of HD Radio. Cox Radio made a strong and compelling argument that a new HD radio band be created that would have extended the FM dial starting at 108.1. This would have allowed a clear and marketable new band. It would have allowed all radio manufacturers to use a standard approach. The arguments fell on deaf ears and today we are stuck with a complicated challenge that?s not going away.
The BMW Mini user tunes an FM analog frequency. If the station is HD it will spool the data and blend to the HD digital signal. If there is a HD2 the dial will show a setting called ?list?. Then push that button, the display shows HD 2 availability Scroll down to HD2, Hit enter, wait for the radio to acquire HD2 and finally you have audio. If you are lost here, imagine the average user. It?s too damn complicated. Should we blame BMW? There is lots of blame to go around but we are lacking a simple and elegant interface and it robs radio of the HD radio opportunity.
I'll have more on radio's missed digital opportunity next time.
Dan Halyburton is EVP McVay Cook and Associates and can be reached at 214-707-7237. Follow Dan @danhalyburton. E-mal Dan at dan@halyburton.com
(12/31/2011 12:36:29 PM)
"HD Radio: Doomed from the Start"
"HD Radio was not only doomed from the start, it was such a serious blunder that it may well lead to the death of thousands of radio stations and the permanent stunting of the industry itself. Why did this happen? They didn’t want the 10-Watt student station to suddenly have an equal signal to theirs. And the money-men didn’t want dozens of new independent channels to be available to listeners. But IBOC gave the money-men the one thing they wanted most of all: It preserves the inferiority of the smaller broadcasters. In fact, amid a sea of IBOC hash from the big boys, it accentuates their inferiority. The end result of this shortsightedness will be bankruptcy for many stations, fewer and poorer choices for the listeners as conglomerates gobble up the remains."
http://3950.net/2009/12/hd-radio-doomed-from-the-start/
With virtually zero consumer interest, Struble will never get over the "hybrid-hump". IBOC will eventualy destroy OUR airwaves, long before that point. Conversions have stalled, and many AM-HD and FM-HD stations have turned off their signals.
It was the large broadcasters that demanded the IBOC approach, knowing that it was a transition to all-digital that had significant drawbacks (during the transition) but had the overwhelming advantage of not requiring them to purchase any new bandwidth on a new band, limiting the supply of stations to preserve the value of existing stations.
It's still early. HD is growing in acceptance. The advantages over analog are overwhelming.
(12/30/2011 8:05:10 AM)"The ongoing tragedy of HD radio"
"It’s true that the RadioShack Accurian is the most affordable way into the appealing new club that is HD Radio, but it’s costly for all the wrong reasons. One look underneath the base of an Accurian explains its $200 [now $150 on sale] price tag. There, a sticker reads: “HD Radio Technology Under License From iBiquity Digital Corporation.” Instead of developing a radio capable of superior sound quality, I’m guessing that RadioShack paid iBiquity a fortune for the license, cheaply put together a subpar product, and passed the licensing cost on to consumers."
http://www.markramseymedia.com/2007/10/the-ongoing-tragedy-of-hd-radio/
"Radiosophy HD100 — HD Sounds, But At What Cost?"
"Remember those crappy $15 AM/FM/cassette radios from the 80s? The HD100 looks just like one and has the sound to match. Basically a glorified clock radio, it has a chintzy, careless interface with speakers that spew a tinny unrefined sound. And while carefully tuning the HD stations results in an audible improvement over analog alternatives, the overall quality is still poor — even for a $100 device. Frankly we’d be happier keeping our money and sitting in silence."
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/08/review-radi-oso/
Don't drop your Insignia portable! LOL!
The word is "stature" not "statue."
Sheesh.
HDRadio does a good job of shooting itself in the foot. AM sounds great but drive under a bridge or near a city bus or tram, and the signal is gone. On FM it is a total joke. Reception in San Diego is not great. Listen to a HD2 station and the radio will fall back to the analog signal. The FCC did a poor job just like AM stereo. I own three HDRadio receivers and they are well made but being near-digital doesn't makel them viable. What is the return on investment? Mobile phones may kill HDRadio.
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