"Doug Smith W9WI" wrote in message
...

[snip]


That said, I think IBOC is going to fail of its own volition. On AM,
it'll never sell to the vast majority of stations unless it can be left
on all night. But if it *is* left on all night, the massive
interference will kill the AM service altogether.

Nighttime IBOC might not kill AM radio, but it sure will make most fringe
reception impossible. I've recently spent some time in California and the
nighttime jumble of ground wave, skywave and adjacents is even worse than
what I'm used to here in the Midwest. I can imagine the damage IBOC will
cause.


On FM, I think it'll simply never sell. IBOC-FM will fade away, as the
digital transmitters suffer inevitable breakdowns & budget-conscious
managers decide not to spend money repairing transmitters nobody is
listening to.

Let's not forget the digital transmission fees Ibiquity intends to impose.


On the receiver end, set prices will have to pretty much equal those of
existing analog sets if they're to compete with satellite. They have a
VERY long way to go to reach that point!

The electronic "journalists" correctly tell us analog sets are cheap and
often sound crummy, but they don't tell us analog receivers could be much
better for little extra cost. But cheap has been good enough for the people
who buy radios. So, it's questionable whether alot of people would pay
Ibiquity's digital receiver license fee mark-up, at least on the merits of
"CD quality" sound.

However, people might pay extra for multicasting's extra program channels.
Hell, if Ibiquity has a subscription radio scheme up their sleeve, they
might get people to pay and pay and pay.

Frank Dresser





..