The number of such radios pales when comparred to the number represented by
more typical devices.

Allowing IBOC to take advantage of the weaknesses of "typical" AM
receivers in order to cover up its faults is akin to contructing a
waterfront building according to the parameters of a "typical"
hurricane. Or, it's like manufacturing a car whose lifespan is only
80,000 miles because the "typical" driver only keeps it that long.

For years, the complaints about AM radio have been interference and
poor audio quality. Now, IBOC comes along and in order to "solve"
these problems, it _purposely_ transmits additional interference and
_purposely_ degrades the audio quality even further. Where is the
sense in that!?

The receivers will be below $100 within 12 months, if not sooner. the prices
will track CD players and DVD players in price declines.

But the prices for IBOC receivers -- if they ever arrive -- will not
be competitive with that of analog radios... just like digital TVs
still cost a lot more than comparable analog sets, half a decade after
their introduction.

The fact that most radio listening is to local stations answers that
question.

Another hypocritical answer. For years, engineers like yourself have
complained about the loss of coverage area that FM Stereo and AM
Stereo allegedly cause. Many stations on both bands have discontinued
stereo broadcasts, just to squeak a few more miles out of their fringe
coverage. But now, suddenly that doesn't matter anymore? Now, with
IBOC, listeners outside the primary coverage area are suddenly of no
importance?

But you just wait... once mutual IBOC interference from an adjacent
station comes back to bite these stations in the butt, suddenly _then_
they will start complaining about it. It's like a guy who lets his
dog **** all over his neighbor's property and doesn't care about it --
but once somebody else's dog comes and ****s on his _own_ front lawn,
then he suddenly is concerned about it.

And I have heard AM IBOC and it sounds better than many highly compressed
FMs I A/B'd with. The new algorithm is excellent.

Yeah, if you like digital aliasing artifacts screeching in your ears.
The "spectrally replicated" treble response of AM IBOC is akin to
fingernails scratching a chalkboard. A few weeks ago, I listened to
XM for about 2 hours in a coworker's car, and the screechy fake treble
actually gave me a headache -- and that's with a bitrate nearly twice
as high as AM IBOC. The only way I could live with either IBOC or XM
is if I turned the treble control all the way down.

On 99% of AM receivers, there is no analog degradation because the receivers
are not wide enough to detect the difference.

Not quite... the NRSC tested four receivers which are supposed to be
the most representative of "typical" AM radios. Only one of the
radios (a Delphi car radio) was narrowband enough to not exhibit any
degradation. But the three others did have degraded audio with IBOC
in use, the worst being a Sony boombox. iBiquity's excuse for this
was that according to their testing, the degradation wasn't bad enough
that it would cause most listeners to change the station. But the
point is, according to the NRSC tests, 3/4ths of today's most popular
radios _will_ have degraded audio when AM IBOC is in use.

You are letting the cart get ahead of the horse. The CES is going to be
filled with IBOC equipment, and I believe some at much more affordable
prices.

Yeah, like B.E.'s IBOC exciter, with a list price of over $22,000...
that's a steal!

1480 and even 930 are miserable signals. Both also roabably have high-Q
antennas. On a good system, IBOC sounds good, and the analgo audio is
indistinguishable from the "way it was before."

Many stations, especially those doing block, brokered programming, will not
gain initially from IBOC. those with decent signals can gain a lot.

Ah, equality at its best... the big 50 kW stations can enjoy "digital"
reception for their local listeners, no matter how much they hash all
over the band, while the smaller stations get the short shrift, and
may not even be able to use IBOC at all.

Case in point... 1530 WSAI. When they're transmitting IBOC at night
(as they have been constantly), the "hash" to adjacent channels is so
bad, it can even be heard on the _studio monitor_ of a neighboring
station, 1520 WKWH in Shelbyville, IN.