The Future of AM and FM

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iBiquity, HD Alliance Split Roles, Sites

iBiquity has converted its Web site into an industry-facing one; the alliance now serves consumers: iBiquity is retreating a bit from the consumer eye on the Web, with the HD Digital Radio Alliance--a consortium of broadcasters--pushing the high fidelity message out to those buying receivers. This will provide a one-stop shop for information about products and stations.

The station listings are a bit problematic. Click HD Digital Radio and then the HD2 City Search, and select a market. You stay on the HDRadio.com Web site and see only stations that are part of the format-coordinating alliance's network. Click HD2 State Search and you see a list not just of HD2 stations, but all HD stations broadcasting or multicasting in that state, and you're over at iBiquity's site.

Clearly, this needs to be resolved.

Click the Available Products link, and you'll see the next problem. Three national retailers listed, a very sparse regional retailers list, and then links to five companies "making" HD Radio receivers for the Home/Office category. (Kenwood is not on this list for some reason, which I find bizarre, given that they had the first receiver of any kind with HD Radio built in.)

Of the firms here, they're all well known. Boston Acoustics remains the only shipping tabletop manufacturer. Radiosophy is saying "any day now," which they've been saying for a year, but they continue to document how the product is developing. Polk Audio, despite having said recently it would ship recently, now just says "Buy It Soon," and offers a mailing list sign-up so that they can "tell you when it's done!" Rotel has zero information on its site about HD Radio, which is consistent for them after a long-ago public announcement.

And Audio Deisgn Associates are listed under Home/Office even though their only HD option is for rack-mounted equipment designed specifically for broadasters.

This is getting a little depressing, but I still expect the logjam to break soon.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman on July 5, 2006 3:57 PM | Permalink