September 6, 2007
iPod, iTunes, and an HD Radio Receiver with a Dock: Tag, You're Bought
Something new under the HD Radio sun: Interesting announcement today from Apple and iBiquity: iTunes Tagging. This will allow you when listening to a song on a properly equipped HD Radio receiver to press a hardware button--the Tag button, naturally--and have that choice recorded to a docked iPod or iPhone. Then, when you sync that iPod/iPhone to iTunes, the program will tell you which songs you were interested in. (Most, ostensibly, will be in the iTunes Store's huge catalog.)
To use the Tag button, you'll have to get an HD Radio receiver that has both an iPod dock and this special button. Part of today's announcement was that Polk Audio's second generation i-Sonic would forgo its DVD playback capability--via an external jack--and replace that with an iPod dock. iPod audio can be played through built-in speakers, and iPod video via S-Video and component outputs.
Radio stations also have to get in on the action to make iTunes Tagging work. They'll have to broadcast the tag information. The HD Digital Radio Alliance said that hundreds of their HD Radio broadcasting stations will participate in tagging initially, with more to follow.
What's neat about this is that it's the first step in tying together two different kinds of digital music listening. What's also cool is that it shouldn't leave college, independent, and alternative stations out in the cold as previous technologies that alleged to offer this service did. (Sony eMarker, I'm talking to you.) I don't know right now whether Apple or iBiquity will charge fees or share revenue with radio stations for broadcasting tags.
The price is $499, $100 less than the first i-Sonic, but this unit omits DVD playing and the slot for an optional $50 add-on XM satellite radio module.
(For some reason, Polk decided to mock up the iPod screen that's in their promo image: what, they think we've never seen an iPod before and wouldn't notice?)
October 28, 2006
Radio Shack Starts Shipping Sub-$200 Accurian Tabletop HD Radio
Radio Shack is shipping its $199.99 Accurian Tabletop HD Radio: The price drops by $25 via a mail-in rebate from iBiquity. This is only the third tabletop HD Radio, and the second (after the Boston Acoustics Receptor Radio HD) that's designed mostly as a radio. Polk's iSonic is a home-entertainment system that includes HD Radio. The system is all-in-one, as opposed to the Receptor's satellite speaker, which provides increased stereo separation. It's also upright (at a slight tilt) with no clock-radio feel to it. The Accurian isn't available in stores yet; I just checked at a nearby mall, where the Radio Shack store said they would have them next week.
Radio Shack has been a big seller of the Boston Acoustics unit as its only national non-specialized retail bricks-and-mortar channel. A Radio Shack spokesman told me that because stores have very little storage space for inventory, that stores were frequently selling out of the three to six units they kept in stock. This may have suppressed sales slightly.
The Boston Acoustics is currently $300 (okay, $299.99), with a $50 mail-in rebate from iBiquity.
September 19, 2006
Logjam Starts Breaking on HD Radio Receivers
Sangean announced to day that they'd ship two HD Radios by Christmas: The tabletop radio (HDR-1) will cost less than $250 and includes optical digital output, as well as alarm clock features, equalization, and tuning tools. The $200 component tuner (HDT-1) has just regular RCA-style stereo outputs and a rather stripped-down front panel.
September 13, 2006
Cambridge SoundWorks Offers Two Home HD Radio Options
The company showed off at a trade show two $300 HD Radio options aimed at home users: The SoundWorks Radio 820HD is a stereo tabletop receive for AM and FM in regular and HD Radio flavors, with specifically designed antennas for better HD Radio reception, along with an input plug to pass through sound from MP3 players and other devices. The SoundWorks Tuner 850HD is a component tuner with two digital and one analog outputs, designed for rack-mounting. Both units will ship in November.
August 22, 2006
Polk Audio Ships I-Sonic At Last!
The second tabletop radio featuring HD Radio reception ships: Polk Audio finally releases this unit after more than a year of delays, although they told me back in January that it had nothing to do with HD Radio, but rather the number of systems they were integrating. The I-Sonic is a stereo radio that retails for $599 and includes HD Radio tuning and a slot to insert a $49 XM Radio module for that subscription service.
But it also includes a CD/DVD reader that can handle audio CDs, MP3 CDs, and other formats, and play back DVDs, via a video output port. It can accept other audio inputs, too, through two sets of input jacks.
August 2, 2006
Radio Shack Will Offer Private-Label Receiver
Buried in a background story on HD Radio is a note about Radio Shack: The retailer currently sells the $300 Boston Acoustics Receptor Radio HD, but near the end of this Associated Press article, a spokesperson for the chain notes that they'll offer a $200 unit in the fall. Hey, the logjam may be about to break. I was predicting a break by now (because of new availability of next-generation chips and modules this last spring), but it's still taking longer.