Sony Gets Behind HD Radio

Great news for the radio industry and its efforts to make HD Radio the new standard in audio broadcasting. Sony has announced that it will be shipping a bunch of HD Radios this year. The first model out the chute, in July, is this table top radio, which will retail for $200. You can pre-order one here.

To quote Mick Jagger:

My Favorite Flavor, Cherry Red

Gizmodo has the whole story.

I've said before on this blog that this is the year HD technology starts to show up in many of the new radios and this news from Sony certainly points in that direction.

Full Disclosure for those that don't already know - I've been an investor in and director of iBiquity since 1999. iBiquity is the developer and licensor of HD Radio.

Comments (6) | Posted May 30, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology

Comments

Yeah, because with Sony behind the format, it will surely never die. :)

Posted by: Dave! | May 30, 2007 3:38:40 PM

I know that you have interests in iBiquity, but this announcement will make no difference - outside of radio-geeks, consumers have almost zero interest, after two years:

"Can Sony Make HD Radio A Winner?"

"Question: when was the last time you spent $200 for a table-top clock radio? What locale will have to freeze over before you pay it now? Can you think of 20 AM and 20 FM stations you'd like to store in its memory? Or any memory? Your memory? Are there 20 AM and FM stations in the entire nation worth storing in memory. Hey, the input jack is neat... Sony is crazy and the radio industry is crazier to think this is going to help their HD problem. Hello! There's no good programming on HD. Hell, there's no programming -- forget good."

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2007/05/can-sony-make-hd-radio-winner.html

Posted by: PocketRadio | May 30, 2007 7:25:06 PM

I invite you, and your iBiquity buddies, over to radio-info's HD board, if you are interested in watching your wonderful technology, that causes massive interference on the AM band, go down the toilet:

http://tinyurl.com/create.php

Posted by: 700WLW | May 30, 2007 7:58:02 PM

Sorry, wrong link:

http://tinyurl.com/2d6fwu

Posted by: 700WLW | May 30, 2007 8:04:12 PM

If you take reader votes on future blog topics, I vote for an explanation of your view of the future/current state of HD radio. After reading your post and the Gizmodo article I don't get it. It's not like XM or the Inno, right? And obviously it's not like Rhapsody, right? So I don't get it. Does it allow you to listen to radio stations all over the country? Is it like an Inno for nonsatellite, nonsubscription, local radio transmissions?

Posted by: jim | May 31, 2007 12:01:40 AM

Hi Fred,
Toss in a way that I can hook this into my pc or tivo and rip songs/shows that I want to hear and you have me 1/2 way. Toss in a great UI I can access online, schedule on the road via crackberry and you'll have me somewhat hooked. I've got 10K songs on my Ipod so you're going to have to surpise me to get me to fully commit.

Posted by: kip | May 31, 2007 1:45:05 AM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC