I’d like to consider this an open letter to the radio industry. So:
Dear Radio Industry,
It has come to my attention that you feel terrestrial radio needs to compete with satellite radio. Congratulations on this assumption. Satellite radio offers a tasty range of programing, but to someone who can’t justify spending money on it, I’m stuck without satellite radio. In addition, you’ve found you have to compete with iPods and other digital music players, and again, I congratulate you for figuring this out. So, you give us HD Radio, and I have to say, I’m intrigued. Don’t get excited yet, because I love technology like this, and, frankly, I’m quite willing to take the journey with you if you provide the means for me. Case and point, me and Minidisc (which I still love very much).
Look, I want to like HD Radio. I really do. In the Seattle Area, I can get two flavors of NPR and the BBC World Service on one station. That is plenty enough to get my attention. That being said, Radio Industry, I’m finding the journey hard to take. I’ve been trying to take the HD Radio journey, but I’m disappointed to find that it’s easier to buy a turntable than it is to buy an HD Radio. Why is this? I’ve been to two big box retailers and one specialty store, and could only find one functioning unit to play with between the three. One. I know you’ve spent $200 million marketing this thing. Where did all of it go? Even the Zune has a nice display. Radio Industry, YOU CAN DO BETTER.
What I got to play with, the Boston Acoustics model, was interesting, but it didn’t blow me away. I didn’t expect that. I want an HD radio so I can listen to NPR, portably if possible. The main signal was fine, and it sounded alright — again, not blown away — but the stations on HD2 and HD3 kept dropping out. There was an FM antenna included and attached, but it lay behind the unit, not at all well placed in a mall. I’m not extremely disappointed in what I saw, because my expectations weren’t at all high, but even then, I was surprised at how poorly the unit performed.
I’m holding out for a portable model, because that’s when I listen to the radio the most. That, and in the car. I’ve heard-tell that Apple is planning on putting HD Radio in future iPods, but that’s a rumor, and far-be-it from me to go about spreading rumors. Besides, the technology is a while away from being battery-friendly enough to not suck an iPod dry. And, isn’t that why we have iPods anyways, so we don’t have to listen to the radio?
Radio Industry, are you paying attention at all?
Grant
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Don’t get too excited – HD Radio appears to be DOA from lack of consumer interest:
http://hdradiofarce.blogspot.com/
BTW, Apple only has FM-tuners as add-on devices – analog tuners are $50 and generally get poor reviews. HD add-on tuners would be even more expensive:
“Will iPods feature FM tuners? Nope.”
“Second, Jobs knows full well that there’s demand for an FM tuner in the marketplace. And that’s why Apple makes such a tuner as an add-on for the iPod. Indeed, the iPod is deliberately manufactured to be the centerpiece of an ecosystem of products that “plus” the iPod, and an FM tuner is one such “plus.” So arguably, this problem is solved even before it’s posed as a problem.”
http://www.hear2.com/2007/04/will_ipods_feat.html
Most of the HD Radio support has come in the support of external modules for existing radios that just have “HD Ready” printed on them. Even then it’s grim at best.
I’ve had the same experience as you. My Panasonic DVD radio supports everything but HD. I just don’t think there’s consumer demand for it. Radio is dead.
Radio’s only remaining competitive advantage is the live or near live experience i.e. currency (as in current) and listener call-ins. The tech-savvy can supplant this through PodCasting but that’s less than 1% of the population.
Satellite has turned out to be shakey at best. A subscription fee, the addition of commercials, lag between station changes, unsightly external antennas, and the merger of the only two competitors into a single service provider have spelled doom for our orbital rockers. It’s over.
I think radio will eventually be primarily talk radio with sponsorships as opposed to commercials, and MP3 CD, DVD, and DAP will become the defacto way to listen to music in your car. Consumers ultimately want customization- My music, my way. The iPod + car interface has made that a reality attainable by anyone who can afford to own a car.
PS: Good post! I want more Cravens editorials about consumer electronics!
PocketRadio: Frankly, I’m not too excited. But I do enjoy me NPR, and the multicasting feature that HD Radio is supposed to have interests me somewhat. But, yeah, mostly, I use the crappy FM radio on my cellphone when I’m out of fresh podcasts, and that’s it.
Kurt: I agree that radio is dying a slow death, but I think it can be saved. I noticed on the HD Radio website that a lot of the mutlicast stations are for unsigned bands, or local music, or content that isn’t normally broadcast in the area. I think this can help radio’s cause a lot. But, yeah, I keep my iPod around for a reason, being that radio more than generally sucks. I do tune in to NPR for news, but most of the shows they produce are podcasted (which is amazing and I love them for it).
As for satellite radio, I’ve heard that the great merged entity that we’ll be dealing with soon is going to offer radio a la carte, 50 hand-picked stations for $7 a month. Granted. the restrictions on the stations are silly (5o from one service and not the other), but it’s a start. Make it 20 for $4 or 5 and they’ve got a deal going.
I think you’re right, though. Things have changed in the last 40 years. Radio can’t keep up. But I’d like to see it try.