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August 11, 2005

Car Wars: HD Radio vs. Satellite Radio

At FMQB, a radio news site, Car Wars: HD Radio vs. Satellite Radio begins,

A study by Strategy Analytics, In-vehicle Entertainment Systems Market 2004-2011, states that "automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) should be cautious about introducing satellite digital radio options, despite the increasing adoption of satellite radio among U.S. consumers." The reason? Terrestrial radio's dedication to the growth and implementation of HD Radio.

"XM and Sirius face competition from iBiquity's HD Radio...."

BMW recently became the first car company to offer HD radio as a factory install, with the others expected to follow soon. And terrestrial radio companies are starting to launch HD side channels, with more announcements expected such as the one made by Greater Media Detroit.

No kidding. HD Radio is free (both Sirius and XM are $12.95 a month, $142.45 a year) although the radios that can receive any of these are not, of course. (XM, Sirius, iBiquity HD)

Both XM and Sirius broadcast their signals from satellites. HD broadcasts digital radio signals over the same airwaves as AM and FM radio. (For more on HD, Revolution on the radio is blogger Glenn Fleishman's July 28 New York Times story on the technology.)

iBiquity offers a map of stations that are HD-licensed and on the air. (In R.I., WHJJ-AM and WWBB-FM are licensed and on-air; WRNI-AM and WXNI-AM are licensed but not on-air with it yet.)

All the options offer CD-quality music. Both satellite radio stations are commercial-free (no lifetime guarantee of that, of course) and a subscription includes their Web streams. If you're a fan of Howard Stern, you may follow him to Sirius, which already has contracts with the NFL, NBA and NHL; for MLB and NASCAR, XM's your choice.

For comparisons, check radiosatellite.org's one-page Side by Side Comparison of Satellite Radio Deals Currently on the Market (March 15 2005) and A Step by Step Comparison of XM and SIRIUS Satellite Radio Features -- undated, but compiled by the very active radio guru Corey Dietz at about.com.

(Pet peeve with about.com: Tiny stories are broken up over too many cluttered pages, wasting my time. One page in this story contains nothing but two links and a lot of repeated clutter; another, under the headline The Amount of Satellites in Space is followed only by

SIRIUS: 3
XM: 3

Are the page views really worth inconveniencing readers this much?)

I'm not that impressed with anybody's music channels. I used Music Choice way back when it required a separate receiver from the cable company; now I get music channels on cable TV, and I sometimes listen to the free Winamp-based Shoutcast streams. They're all somebody else's idea not only of good songs but also of what belongs in the genre. I want the jukebox in the sky, just as you do.

When commercials start to irritate on the car radio, well, that's what the buttons are for.

I expect sometime I'll buy a car that comes with a HD radio, or a family member will give me a HD portable for Christmas some year, and I'll be on board that way.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 1:37 PM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Joe Alba on August 11, 2005 10:32 PM

Posted by: Sheila Lennon on August 12, 2005 4:11 PM