A Brown wrote:
They don't care about the technology that brings them the content they
want.

Only radio geeks care about the technology.
Which is precisely the point. So far, only the technology has been
promoted. And the diverse 'out of the box' programming offerings have not
materialized as promised.

Sure they have, there's Jazz, 70's Folk, Chorale, Ethnic, Dance...There are
lots of formats available that are not available on the regular broadcast
band.


And not widely available on HD. Most HD channels I've heard, are
dupes of the baseband audio, with HD2 being a simulcast of an AM sister.
The off beat programming options simply haven't materialized as promised.


There's no interest in the product.

Just like the public wasn't interested in 'stereo' for a long time.

"What good was stereo when I have a mono radio..."?

Now, you wouldn't build an FM receiver without it!

it's not like HD will simply go away.

You're right...it's not going away....even if it's a slow growth technology.

After all, AM stereo had a more publicly interested pre launch. But, as
discussed here, delays due to legal wrangling and FCC's mishandling of the
technology and implementation allowed public interest to wane before a
practical launch.

Not just that, the public had no interest in AM stereo...period. There was
very little on AM that could benefit from stereo.

At the time AM stereo was proposed, that's not true. Most listening
was still AM, at that time. Most music listening. And there were a
couple of systems that were actually quite good. With a wideband signal
AM Stereo could be very pleasing to the ear. The revised Kahn standard,
for instance, removed a good number of excessive filtration, and made
for a clean, listenable stereo. With a wideband receiver, it could
compete with contemporary FM's.

By the time FCC had decided to go with the multi-standard approach
and let the market battle it out, it was already too late for stereo to
benefit AM. The shift had slid to FM dominance.




Slong with the
"marketplace approach" of allowing competing standards on the air. The HD
experience is much better in that the sstandard is established.

Even so, it took more than 20 years for AM Stereo to die.

It didn't die....newer technology replaced it.


No, actually it died. New AM Stereo receivers were no longer
available in the US before HD was in practical tests.



But, right now, as it stands, HD is a solution in search of a problem.

No, it's not....

The "question" is...."Are there alternatives to traditional radio....cuz I
don't like the commercials or the format offerrings? Is the only
alternative that I pay satelite fees for the rest of my life..."




Answer: yes are alternatives and HD is one of them.

A minor one. The real alternatives, today are on cell phones,
podcasts and live streaming. HD is in the same position DAT was in when
it was introduced...not a lot of home users understood what it was. And
the endless music industry meddling with absurd copyguard schemes
delayed DAT until it had been leapfrogged by newer technology: PC based
recording and CD-R. By the time HD takes off with the public, it will be
irrelevant. Web based radios, live streaming on cellphones, podcasts and
mass customizable music downloads, all on handheld devices with better
audio, and fewer real world limitations to performance will have
eclipsed any potential HD may have had.

Short of a digital only mandate, there is nothing to keep HD relevant
as newer technologies make listening options easier, and more practical,
and more portable than ever.


And, if you think HD channels will remain commercial free, you need
to rethink that. Cable was commercial free. Look at it now. Satellite TV
was commercial free. Hmmmm...yes, well...And Sat Radio was promised to
be ALL commercial free.

Um...not so much.

And right now one of the hottest ad buys is a podcast. Highly
targeted advertising on programs that are selected by active listener
activity. I've seen spots go on a podcast for 10 times what the same
program would bring on radio.

HD will be commercial free as long as there is no interest in it. If
public interest develops, and stores put the radios back on teh shelves
for consumption, you may rest assured that there will be commercials on
HD.



It gives more functionality to radio...so it's not going away.


Not anytime soon. But its future is far from assured.