On 1/13/2012 7:16 AM, hwh wrote:
On 1/13/12 3:25 PM, SMS wrote:
It's absolutely vital to the future of terrestrial radio to move to
digital broadcasting. It's the only way to remain a relevant choice.
We're not talking about radio enthusiasts, we're talking about the mass
market which matters to broadcasters.

Listeners are perfectly happy with the technical side of things. When FM
radio started, stations knew... it is content that the people are going for.

Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.
It's a mistake to not look at the big picture though. Audio quality
matters, and _every_ study has shown that digital radio's audio quality
is perceived as much higher than analog radio. Cost matters too.

If content were all that mattered then everyone would be on satellite
radio, which has relatively poor audio quality but an enormous selection
of content at a relatively high price. Yet satellite radio can barely
add enough new subscribers to make up for churn.

If cost didn't matter then everyone would have an unlimited data plan on
a smart phone and would buy all all the music they wanted.

Coverage also matters. Streaming is fine if you have an unlimited data
plan, but not on long trips outside wireless coverage areas.

On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:47:24 -0800, SMS
wrote:

Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.
It's a mistake to not look at the big picture though. Audio quality
matters, and _every_ study has shown that digital radio's audio quality
is perceived as much higher than analog radio. Cost matters too.

If content were all that mattered then everyone would be on satellite
radio, which has relatively poor audio quality but an enormous selection
of content at a relatively high price. Yet satellite radio can barely
add enough new subscribers to make up for churn.

If cost didn't matter then everyone would have an unlimited data plan on
a smart phone and would buy all all the music they wanted.

Coverage also matters. Streaming is fine if you have an unlimited data
plan, but not on long trips outside wireless coverage areas.

Methinks content is everything with one big catch. Polluted content
is a big problem. Having the correct content will attract listeners.
Interleaving the content with advertising, irritating announcers, and
worthless PSA's, will drive them away. I've noticed that I tend to
always change stations in the middle of commercials and announcements
and rarely in the middle of a song or tune. I'm sure there's a study
somewhere on WHEN listeners change stations, but I can't find it.

Another problem is convenience. I've only played with HD Radio in the
stores and in a friends vehicle. I forgot the exact ordeal process
required but one thing stood out. It was not possible to tune or scan
across the band, catching all the regular FM and HD stations in
sequence. You had to tune to the regular FM channel, and then switch
to HD1 or HD2. As long as HD1 and HD2 are the poor step child of the
regular FM station on the dial, people are not going to listen.

Incidentally, it was really irritating to listen to HD1 while moving.
Every time the error rate climbed to an unacceptable level, it would
switch to the regular FM audio. No provisions for locking it on HD1
or switching to dead air. I forgot the maker and model, but I can ask
the owner if necessary. I will admit that when the signal was strong
enough, HD1 sounded quite good.

Convenience is also a problem with the lack of genre selection. On
many computerized (PC based) radios, you don't just have a few
presets. You have the stations programmed into memory by the type of
music or talk they offer. I vaguely recall it can be rather fine
grain to include genre changes by the hour. For example, I've been
listening to KUFX lately. Repetitive "Classic rock" during the day,
with sports in the evenings. Ideally, you should be able to punch a
"60's rock" button and limit the selections to only those stations
doing classical. The radio and the station support RBDS, the PTY
(program type) data that allegedly accompanies the music or talk
should contain the necessary genre info.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

As for streaming, that's what I'm doing after my Subaru stock CD
player died (low output in the laser head) and my favorite classical
FM station changed format. I preload about 8 hours of music, audio
books, and TED talks onto a cheap MP3 player, which is hot-wired into
the car radio. The only reason I bother to listen to FM is when I
forget to preload the MP3 player or charge the player battery. I
could also rip streaming content from the internet, but haven't
bothered as it ties up my computers for too long a time.

HD Radio has been around long enough to make a determination if it's
going to live or die. I suspect it will die because there's no
compelling reason for Joe Sixpack to buy or install one. That's
because the content of HD1 and HD2 often is quite similar to the
regular FM channel. To the buyer, it's more of the same thing. Were
HD1 and HD2 to offer commercial free or subscription based commercial
free service, there might be an incentive, but those have been
proscribed by economic necessity and FCC rules.

Installing an HD Radio is also not a trivial exercise. There are few
plug in converters and those tend to be tied to specific high end
radios. At this time, installing and HD Radio consists of ripping out
the existing radio, and installing an upgraded radio. That's neither
cheap nor easy. Lacking a compelling reason to do this, Joe Sixpack
will probably install whatever the dealer has in stock. I checked
Best Buy in Capitola. One radio on the shelf has HD and nobody in the
store seemed to know anything about it. I asked a few questions and
got some bad guesses. As long as that situation persists, the
retrofit market is a lost cause.


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 1/13/2012 8:58 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

Methinks content is everything with one big catch. Polluted content
is a big problem. Having the correct content will attract listeners.
Interleaving the content with advertising, irritating announcers, and
worthless PSA's, will drive them away. I've noticed that I tend to
always change stations in the middle of commercials and announcements
and rarely in the middle of a song or tune. I'm sure there's a study
somewhere on WHEN listeners change stations, but I can't find it.

You're right, and ironically, at least for now, the HD sub-channels do a
wonderful job of solving that problem. There are sufficiently few HD
receivers that the stations can't or don't sell advertising on the
sub-channels.

Another problem is convenience. I've only played with HD Radio in the
stores and in a friends vehicle. I forgot the exact ordeal process
required but one thing stood out. It was not possible to tune or scan
across the band, catching all the regular FM and HD stations in
sequence. You had to tune to the regular FM channel, and then switch
to HD1 or HD2. As long as HD1 and HD2 are the poor step child of the
regular FM station on the dial, people are not going to listen.

I can't speak for all receivers, but the ones I have don't work that
way. When you scan, it scans in sequence by frequency and then by
sub-channel. And of course you can preset and HD2 channel which is what
I do, and what I suspect most people do on car radios, whether it's an
analog or a digital channel.

Incidentally, it was really irritating to listen to HD1 while moving.
Every time the error rate climbed to an unacceptable level, it would
switch to the regular FM audio. No provisions for locking it on HD1
or switching to dead air. I forgot the maker and model, but I can ask
the owner if necessary. I will admit that when the signal was strong
enough, HD1 sounded quite good.

You're also right about reception. At 1% power, reception is poor
outside urban areas. That will be solved with power increases. Many head
units do allow you to go to analog only mode.

Installing an HD Radio is also not a trivial exercise.

On older vehicles, which have a standard single DIN or double DIN
opening, it's quite easy to change the head unit. You buy the harness
that matches your vehicle and attach it to the wires from the head unit,
and it all plugs right in. In most vehicles it's very straightforward.
On newer vehicles where the audio system is non-standard, you're right,
adding HD is more of a pain. You can usually find an adapter that plugs
in to a port on the back of the unit intended for a satellite tuner.

But the bottom line is that most people are not going to change their
vehicle's head unit unless it fails. The big increase in digital
receivers is coming from new cars where they are standard or optional
equipment from the factory.

On 1/13/12 4:47 PM, SMS wrote:
Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.

Most markets are already fully loaded with stations. It's not more
content, it is content people want that matters.

Non-stop music in any flavor might as well be played from a personal
audio system, so I'm not surprised people won't pay a substantial
monthly fee to get them.

gr, hwh

"hwh" wrote in message
...
On 1/13/12 4:47 PM, SMS wrote:
Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.

Most markets are already fully loaded with stations.

The dial is fully loaded. That's doesn't mean the "menu" of choices is
fully loaded.

On 1/13/12 7:50 PM, FarsWatch4 wrote:
"hwh" wrote in message
...
On 1/13/12 4:47 PM, SMS wrote:
Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.

Most markets are already fully loaded with stations.

The dial is fully loaded. That's doesn't mean the "menu" of choices is
fully loaded.

How about the economic viability to get more stations in? Or does more
stations mean less money per station and therefore less interesting content?

gr, hwh

On 1/13/2012 10:55 AM, hwh wrote:

How about the economic viability to get more stations in? Or does more
stations mean less money per station and therefore less interesting content?

Historically, trying to constrain the supply to increase revenue has
failed when there are alternative products available. We're not talking
about crude oil here, we're talking about methods to deliver content.

If listeners don't find the content they want on terrestrial radio then
they switch to other sources, which of course is what has been
happening, with internet streaming, satellite radio (to a lesser
extent), or simply playing locally stored content).

Remember that for vehicles, until the 1980's tape decks and CD players
were not standard equipment, people listened to the radio in their car,
or they installed an after-market head unit, or if they had a lot of
money they got the dealer-installed or factory installed optional tape
deck.

The solution for terrestrial radio stations is to compete on content,
both quality and quantity, and many are doing exactly that. The FM
stations that threaten to hold their breath until they turn blue because
they believe that there are better digital radio alternatives to IBOC
will fail.

On 1/13/12 09:47 , SMS wrote:
On 1/13/2012 7:16 AM, hwh wrote:
On 1/13/12 3:25 PM, SMS wrote:
It's absolutely vital to the future of terrestrial radio to move to
digital broadcasting. It's the only way to remain a relevant choice.
We're not talking about radio enthusiasts, we're talking about the mass
market which matters to broadcasters.

Listeners are perfectly happy with the technical side of things. When FM
radio started, stations knew... it is content that the people are
going for.

Content is one component. With HD Radio you can deliver more content.
It's a mistake to not look at the big picture though. Audio quality
matters, and _every_ study has shown that digital radio's audio quality
is perceived as much higher than analog radio. Cost matters too.

If content were all that mattered then everyone would be on satellite
radio, which has relatively poor audio quality but an enormous selection
of content at a relatively high price. Yet satellite radio can barely
add enough new subscribers to make up for churn.

If cost didn't matter then everyone would have an unlimited data plan on
a smart phone and would buy all all the music they wanted.

Coverage also matters. Streaming is fine if you have an unlimited data
plan, but not on long trips outside wireless coverage areas.

If what you say were true, HD radios would be flying off the shelves.

They're not.

If what you say were true, HD stations would not be turning off the
digital transmitters.

They are.

Technology does NOT drive listening. Content and convenience of
availability do.

IBOC is a technological travesty. It does not live up to its claims.

HD radio programming suffers from the same ills as the baseband.
Because it's being developed by the same people through the same
research. Look at Chicago. The so called alternative offerings in HD are
in fact, repackaged playlists of what's elsewhere on the dial. Check the
actual songs. Same songs, different order.

HD radio programming has not lived up to its claims either.

If HD radio is to gain the traction it needs to drive listening, it
has to 1) Be vastly better in audio quality. Perceptuals show marginal
perceived improvements. And the numbers are not dramatic.

2) offer content that excites the listeners. So far, it doesn't.

3) offer that content in quickly, easily and reliably accessible
form. It's not doing that, either.

HD radio is not living up to its hype. The claims made for it are not
true.

IBOC is a technological travesty. It does not live up to its claims.

IBOC, HD...it will eventually end up with some form of digital broadcasting.

Analog is not long for this world.

HD radio is not living up to its hype. The claims made for it are not
true.

I don't know what "hype" you are referring to.

It's just some extra functionality added to the radio.

It's there....want to use it...go ahead.

No...just ignore it.

On 1/13/12 13:48 , FarsWatch4 wrote:
IBOC is a technological travesty. It does not live up to its claims.

IBOC, HD...it will eventually end up with some form of digital broadcasting.

Analog is not long for this world.


That may be true. But what we have, today, isn't the working
solution. It's the equivalent of hanging chrome on an AVEO and
calling it a Cadillac.

Conditional access, which is currently under test, won't be an
improvement, either. And when pay radio hits the marketplace, the
value of Sirius/XM will skyrocket with the public.


If you're going to have to pay for radio, why pay for just one
market contour? For similar money, you can have radio in the whole
country.

But this whole matter of broadcasting OTA may becoming moot,
anyway. Digital alternatives, condition access or not, are becoming
commonplace. More and more people are no longer using radios to
access the content of their choice. iPods are becoming as
upbiquitous in cars as vanity mirrors. PC listening is has replaced
OTA radio in many of the homes in my neighborhood, and I've met a
great number of teenagers (church group) who've never owned a radio.
Most of them have never used one.

In my brother-in-law's household, there are no radios. None. They
get they're music from Pandora, they listen to XM, or the iPod in
the car, and couldn't tell you the last time they've listened to
terrestrial radio.

One of my side businesses is building sound systems. Theatre
systems. Public address. And lots of variations on music
distribution in businesses and homes. In the last 5 years, I've not
installed one broadcast tuner. Satellite radio receivers, yes.
AM/FM, no. And when I ask my customers about HD, most have no idea
what it is, the rest have no interest. Why? Because they get all the
content they want off the net, off Satellite, or off...yes, it's
true...they're cell phones. A number of years ago, I built a sound
system for an airport. Distributed over a campus of a half dozen
buildings at the ramp, and though all the hangars. I installed AM,
FM and XM, with an airband radio in the administration building, and
two of the FBO's. Unicom for ordering fuel, and the like. One one of
my semi-annual routine maintenance calls, I noticed the AM/FM tuner
was not only turned off, but disconnected, and sitting off in a
corner. The administrator told me I could take it with me. They've
never used it. All content piped throughout the campus was either
XM, or it was a PC, plugged into the ports previously occupied by
the tuner.

Of the home systems I've installed over the years, only 5 still
use an FM Tuner. A fanfare, to be precise. The rest...entirely
internet connected. They listen to their favorite stations over the
internet. No radio reception involved. Or they listen to XM. Or
Pandora. Only 5 still listen OTA. And they're beginning to complain
about the increased noise floors and interferences from the
sidebands of "IBOC" digital transmissions.

HD radio, may be a technological solution in search of a problem.
It doesn't offer the improvement in audio promised. And programming
alternatives are merely repackages of the same content on other
stations. WLS-FM, for instance, broadcast it's baseband on HD-1, and
its AM on HD-2. With wildly apathetic results.

In the meantime, HD radio, IBOC is not the solution.

And the public has shown its disinterest in creating a market for
a product that does not live up to the claims made for it.















HD radio is not living up to its hype. The claims made for it are not
true.

I don't know what "hype" you are referring to.

I explained that in the previous post. It's a shame you ignored it.



It's just some extra functionality added to the radio.

Which, again, hasn't lived up to the claims made for it.