My point is I really can't tell the difference between now and ten years ago. The result is the same. If this is what their support is like, who needs it?
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Ibiquity Selling Private Label HD Radios
- Thread starter Carmine5
- Start date
My point is I really can't tell the difference between now and ten years ago. The result is the same. If this is what their support is like, who needs it?
If they could get a few of the models into some of the big box stores (Walmart, Fry's, etc.), perhaps they could garner some sales. I know that standalone radios still sell. I had to wait to get my Sony ICF-38 (it was sold out), and the PR-D5's needed re-ordering at the same time. That was at a Fry's. So there still is a market for standalone radios.
But I think that aside from the odd shower radio, shop radio, kitchen morning-news radio -- they're more or less a niche product compared to how things were even 15 years ago. And if HD manages to stay part of the landscape it will be automobile based, just as satellite radio is. Just my guess.
Are you sure they were "sold out" and not just special order items?
Problem is, satellite radio has only about 1.3% of the total radio listening pie.
Did they not bother to do a trademark search first? http://sparc.org/alphabetical-listing/
For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARC
- Jonathan
They are regularly stocked items.
HD is probably lower. Although an HD-2 did make it to the bottom of the 6+ ratings in Portland...
Where is an AM-FM-HD tabletop or boombox radio with Tivoli Audio http://tivoliaudio.com quality sound and the features Artist Experience, weather, geographic, etc.?... Note the substandard audio quality of the radios at the Sparc links!
Assuming that you're referring to Portland OR, that rating is for the translator. Ibiquity is not a company, in the sense that people seem to think it is. It's made up of several large companies that developed and then marketed the system.
"iBiquity Digital Corporation is a privately held company with operations in Columbia, Maryland, Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Piscataway, New Jersey."
...from http://www.ibiquity.com/about_us/investor_information
K
kenglish
Guest
Sure would be nice if somebody made a radio that tunes AM/MW, AM/LW, FM, WeatherRadio, IBOC/"HD", DRM......and, could be upgraded to other formats via an internet download.
Yeah, I know that you can get that stuff on the web, but I'm thinking about people that don't have full-time internet access, or don't like spending all their money on it. Let "gramps" take his radio to the library, or Best Buy, and have them upgrade it for a couple of bucks.
Yeah, I know that you can get that stuff on the web, but I'm thinking about people that don't have full-time internet access, or don't like spending all their money on it. Let "gramps" take his radio to the library, or Best Buy, and have them upgrade it for a couple of bucks.
There was an Eton / Soulra radio that was supposed to come out late last year that had AM-FM-DAB-LW-SW and Airband (No HD, though), that's close. But the radio must have developed some problems because they yanked the advertisement from the Nevada Radio website.
Obviously, it would have used one of the new digital chips, either SiLabs or the other makers.
A radio that is strictly a radio will fail. People expect radio to be included with what they buy. So HD has to be standard in cars and in all other places for it to succeed. The reason it isn't is because it's still under patent, and manufactures have to pay a royalty. Once the patent runs out, you'll see HD in more places.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
Too many dropouts on AM and FM. People who know about HD already associate it with being unreliable. It is tough to overcome a consensus like that. Just ask Ford about the Edsel, or Apple about Newton, or IBM about the PC Junior, or coke about new coke. HD - had its shot in the marketplace. Consumers passed it by for alternate music delivery services. At this point, trying to revive it would take something dramatic.
Consumer ideas that flop can come back to life. Quadraphonic - for example. It is back - modified - and is now called "surround sound". It is still pretty specialized for home theater, but is still massively more accepted than quadraphonic was. If HD is to come back to life, it needs to be accompanied by RELIABLE RECEPTION, and station commitment to the "stations between the stations", with compelling formats people are demanding. Even if that is Kardashian radio or something equally gross. The way things are, I think a consumer revival of interest in HD is about as likely as a consumer revival of interest in C-Quam. Not going to happen.
There was nothing wrong with the Edsel except:
1. It was essentially a Mercury in modified sheet metal and the front grill was ridiculed by auto purists.
2. It was introduced almost exactly as the nation was getting its first post-war taste of gas price escalation (and a minor recession) and the market was turning towards economy cars.
3. It did not bring to market any unique or improved systems with perhaps the exception of the steering wheel pushbutton transmission gear selector - a novelty.
I was actually thinking the same thing as I read the news item in RW. But since SPARC in this case is an acronym maybe iBiquity felt it was OK to use. After all, the word "Sparc" means the same thing iBiquity means…0.
Trust me, a company like Ibiquity would have checked out the trademark issue before marketing the name on their radios' nameplates and website.
You can have two separate companies with the same name. Apple Inc. makes computers. Apple Records, which still exists in some form, is a record label. Different products or services. My guess is there was some agreement when Apple decided to get into the music sales business.
In this case, you have a not for profit corporation that promotes a type of computing, and the other Sparc is a brand of radio. Completely different products or services.
You can have two separate companies with the same name. Apple Inc. makes computers. Apple Records, which still exists in some form, is a record label. Different products or services. My guess is there was some agreement when Apple decided to get into the music sales business.
In this case, you have a not for profit corporation that promotes a type of computing, and the other Sparc is a brand of radio. Completely different products or services.
You can count them all on one hand. When the patent runs out, companies will be able to make improvements without asking iBiquity. So the generic version will be different.
According to this article, iBiquity's patents may never expire:
http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2010/11/wait-until-the-patent-expires/
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