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IBOC receivers already becoming obsolete

W

westlife

Guest
The article Kenwood's HD Radio Upgrade Ends Soon on RadioWorld explains that owners of Kenwood's KTC-HR100 IBOC tuner have until July 14th to qualify for a free upgrade to the current KTC-HR100MC model, which can receive FM IBOC signals with multiple audio streams ("multicasting", as they call it).

Am I the only one alarmed by this? First of all, I never even heard about the new KTC-HR100MC model until now; perhaps it was mentioned in some press release somewhere, but I've never seen it discussed on any of the radio news sites and radio message boards I frequent, including this one. Secondly, I'm also only new hearing about the free upgrade program for KTC-HR100 owners now that's it about to end in two weeks!

It just puzzles me that Kenwood is cancelling this free upgrade program so soon. This basically means that two weeks from now, anyone who still owns the original KTC-HR100 will now have an obsolete, unsupported piece of "abandonware" on their hands -- even despite the fact that FM IBOC "multicasting", or whatever you want to call it, is still in its extreme infancy, with only a handful of stations known to be doing it!

The RadioWorld article concludes with the comment that "a Kenwood spokesman told RW Online that hundreds of receivers have been upgraded so far." Only hundreds, out of all the Kenwood IBOC tuner boxes sold since January 2003? Normally, this kind of free firmware upgrade program would only be cancelled when virtually all existing owners of the product have received the upgrade. So this makes you wonder if Kenwood hasn't even sold a thousand IBOC tuners so far; spread that out nationally, and it might work out to only a few dozen owners of Kenwood IBOC tuners in each market. It is sheer lunacy that so many stations, especially on FM, are wasting their money broadcasting a digital signal which only a few dozen of their listeners can receive. Even Blaupunkt car radios with ARI, which has been obsolete for over a decade, have better marketplace proliferation than that!

<P ID="signature">______________
noiboc.jpg
</P>
 
> The article Kenwood's HD Radio Upgrade Ends Soon on
> RadioWorld explains that owners of Kenwood's KTC-HR100 IBOC
> tuner have until July 14th to qualify for a free upgrade to
> the current KTC-HR100MC model, which can receive FM IBOC
> signals with multiple audio streams ("multicasting", as they
> call it).
>
> Am I the only one alarmed by this? First of all, I never
> even heard about the new KTC-HR100MC model until now;
> perhaps it was mentioned in some press release somewhere,
> but I've never seen it discussed on any of the radio news
> sites and radio message boards I frequent, including this
> one. Secondly, I'm also only new hearing about the free
> upgrade program for KTC-HR100 owners now that's it about to
> end in two weeks!
>
> It just puzzles me that Kenwood is cancelling this free
> upgrade program so soon. This basically means that two
> weeks from now, anyone who still owns the original KTC-HR100
> will now have an obsolete, unsupported piece of
> "abandonware" on their hands -- even despite the fact that
> FM IBOC "multicasting", or whatever you want to call it, is
> still in its extreme infancy, with only a handful of
> stations known to be doing it!
>
> The RadioWorld article concludes with the comment that "a
> Kenwood spokesman told RW Online that hundreds of receivers
> have been upgraded so far." Only hundreds, out of all the
> Kenwood IBOC tuner boxes sold since January 2003? Normally,
> this kind of free firmware upgrade program would only be
> cancelled when virtually all existing owners of the product
> have received the upgrade. So this makes you wonder if
> Kenwood hasn't even sold a thousand IBOC tuners so far;
> spread that out nationally, and it might work out to only a
> few dozen owners of Kenwood IBOC tuners in each market. It
> is sheer lunacy that so many stations, especially on FM, are
> wasting their money broadcasting a digital signal which only
> a few dozen of their listeners can receive. Even Blaupunkt
> car radios with ARI, which has been obsolete for over a
> decade, have better marketplace proliferation than that!
>

It took at least 10 years for RDS to become popular, I think IBOC will become popular in 5. BTW the Kenwood upgrade has been around for several months as seen in Radio World a while ago. (I wish I could remember the date)

Oddly enough I called the 800# and they knew refered me to another number where the person on the other end knew all about it and informed me that there was an upgrade form on their site. So I hung up thinking I'd find my form later and now I can't find it at all.
 
> Oddly enough I called the 800# and they knew refered me to
> another number where the person on the other end knew all
> about it and informed me that there was an upgrade form on
> their site. So I hung up thinking I'd find my form later and
> now I can't find it at all.

Go Here:

http://www.euonline.org/

There is a link to the form on this page. The offer for the upgrade has been available since April 29th. I got my Kenwood HR100 last fall. The upgrade costs $55 (this includes shipping) and the turn-around at Kenwood is 3 days.
After July 14th, the upgrade will cost significantly more. All new HD receivers will come equipped for the SAC. This offer is just for the existing stock out in the field.
So the receivers are not becoming obsolete. Just get yours updated soon, or it will cost a bunch more to do it later.
The long-term viability is another issue entirely, as is the problem with RDS aftermarket radios suddenly becoming rare if not impossible to find. Don't get me started....
 
> > Oddly enough I called the 800# and they knew refered me to
>
> > another number where the person on the other end knew all
> > about it and informed me that there was an upgrade form on
>
> > their site. So I hung up thinking I'd find my form later
> and
> > now I can't find it at all.
>
> Go Here:
>
> http://www.euonline.org/
>
> There is a link to the form on this page. The offer for the
> upgrade has been available since April 29th. I got my
> Kenwood HR100 last fall. The upgrade costs $55 (this
> includes shipping) and the turn-around at Kenwood is 3 days.
>
> After July 14th, the upgrade will cost significantly
> more. All new HD receivers will come equipped for the SAC.
> This offer is just for the existing stock out in the field.
> So the receivers are not becoming obsolete. Just get
> yours updated soon, or it will cost a bunch more to do it
> later.
> The long-term viability is another issue entirely, as is
> the problem with RDS aftermarket radios suddenly becoming
> rare if not impossible to find. Don't get me started....
>
Thanks...good work!

As for RDS, I lost mine when I added the HTC100, thats just not right!

thanks again
 
> The article Kenwood's HD Radio Upgrade Ends Soon on
> RadioWorld explains that owners of Kenwood's KTC-HR100 IBOC
> tuner have until July 14th to qualify for a free upgrade to
> the current KTC-HR100MC model, which can receive FM IBOC
> signals with multiple audio streams ("multicasting", as they
> call it).
>
> Am I the only one alarmed by this? First of all, I never
> even heard about the new KTC-HR100MC model until now;
> perhaps it was mentioned in some press release somewhere,
> but I've never seen it discussed on any of the radio news
> sites and radio message boards I frequent, including this
> one. Secondly, I'm also only new hearing about the free
> upgrade program for KTC-HR100 owners now that's it about to
> end in two weeks!
>
> It just puzzles me that Kenwood is cancelling this free
> upgrade program so soon. This basically means that two
> weeks from now, anyone who still owns the original KTC-HR100
> will now have an obsolete, unsupported piece of
> "abandonware" on their hands -- even despite the fact that
> FM IBOC "multicasting", or whatever you want to call it, is
> still in its extreme infancy, with only a handful of
> stations known to be doing it!
>
> The RadioWorld article concludes with the comment that "a
> Kenwood spokesman told RW Online that hundreds of receivers
> have been upgraded so far." Only hundreds, out of all the
> Kenwood IBOC tuner boxes sold since January 2003? Normally,
> this kind of free firmware upgrade program would only be
> cancelled when virtually all existing owners of the product
> have received the upgrade. So this makes you wonder if
> Kenwood hasn't even sold a thousand IBOC tuners so far;
> spread that out nationally, and it might work out to only a
> few dozen owners of Kenwood IBOC tuners in each market. It
> is sheer lunacy that so many stations, especially on FM, are
> wasting their money broadcasting a digital signal which only
> a few dozen of their listeners can receive. Even Blaupunkt
> car radios with ARI, which has been obsolete for over a
> decade, have better marketplace proliferation than that!
>


I wouldn't call this radio obsolete any more than I'd call a radio without RDS obsolete. Does it still do HD? Yes. Does it still do FM? Yes.

Nothing obsolete about it.

As for sheer lunacy, someone has to make the move. If stations don't roll out IBOC, receiver manufacturers won't come out with IBOC receivers. It's lunacy to think that the receiver manufacturers won't come out with IBOC when by this time next year, almost all the FM's in the major markets will be running HD.

Whether you like it our not, HD (at least on FM) is here. There are too many big companies spending too much money for it to fail.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> Whether you like it our not, HD (at least on FM) is here.
> There are too many big companies spending too much money for
> it to fail.

They said the same thing about LaserDisc and DCC.

<P ID="signature">______________
noiboc.jpg
</P>
 
> > Whether you like it our not, HD (at least on FM) is here.
>
> > There are too many big companies spending too much money
> for
> > it to fail.
>
> They said the same thing about LaserDisc and DCC.
>
And FM stereo, and VHS, and HDTV. Also remember - computers will never need more than 640K of RAM.

See, the argument can go both ways.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> > > Oddly enough I called the 800# and they knew refered me
> to
> >

> > > another number where the person on the other end knew
> all
> > > about it and informed me that there was an upgrade form
> on
> >
> > > their site. So I hung up thinking I'd find my form later
>
> > and
> > > now I can't find it at all.
> >
> > Go Here:
> >
> > http://www.euonline.org/
> >
> > There is a link to the form on this page. The offer for
> the
> > upgrade has been available since April 29th. I got my
> > Kenwood HR100 last fall. The upgrade costs $55 (this
> > includes shipping) and the turn-around at Kenwood is 3
> days.
> >
> > After July 14th, the upgrade will cost significantly
> > more. All new HD receivers will come equipped for the SAC.
>
> > This offer is just for the existing stock out in the
> field.
> > So the receivers are not becoming obsolete. Just get
> > yours updated soon, or it will cost a bunch more to do it
> > later.
> > The long-term viability is another issue entirely, as
> is
> > the problem with RDS aftermarket radios suddenly becoming
> > rare if not impossible to find. Don't get me started....
> >
> Thanks...good work!
>
> As for RDS, I lost mine when I added the HTC100, thats just
> not right!
>
> thanks again
>

the only RDS radios i have ever seen are in cars, my moms 2004 monte carlo has one
<P ID="signature">______________
<div align="center"><a href="http://937thewolf.tk">
wolf_logo2a.png
</P>
 
Denon has a home stereo RDS tuner.

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?icatid=6618&stk_code=dentu1500rd&svbname=403>http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?icatid=6618&stk_code=dentu1500rd&svbname=403</a>

R

> the only RDS radios i have ever seen are in cars, my moms
> 2004 monte carlo has one.
 
> And FM stereo, and VHS, and HDTV. Also remember - computers
> will never need more than 640K of RAM.

"Did I say that? I meant 640 Megabytes. Definately not more than 640 Megabytes."
- Bill Gates
 
> > > There are too many big companies spending too much money
>
> > for
> > > it to fail.
> >
> > They said the same thing about LaserDisc and DCC.
> >
> And FM stereo, and VHS, and HDTV. Also remember - computers
> will never need more than 640K of RAM.

The wildcard here is the consumer. Who knows?

I really think the receivers are going to have to come down quite a bit before HD is going to go anywhere. For the same money, I can get:

- A HD receiver that, at best with every FM in the market carrying a second program, might deliver 62 stations. [0] All of which will go away if I drive more than 75 miles (probably less) from town. And half of which are already available on my analog radios without paying a cent.

= OR =

- A Sirius receiver and 30 months of service. With said Sirius receiver delivering hundreds of stations, all of which work pretty much anywhere I go in North America. And most of which I can't get on existing analog radios.

(I'm sure XM pricing is similar)

Sorry, but HD doesn't look very good under that comparison. AM stereo receivers were far more price-competitive at this point in the development of that technology. (and see where it got them<grin>...)


[0] in this market. (Nashville) YMMV.
 
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