I'm always impressed when anyone can form a sentence using the words "TV" and "important" in the same breath, with a straight face.

Ulrika - Glad to be of service. I'm sure that I've got more where that came from. ;-)

I think you probably hit the nail on the head with "buy a new stereo"...

Although in the UK they've had DAB (digital audio) for a number of years and apparently it sounds pretty good... HD Radio also allows stations to "multicast", that is to broadcast two or more programs on the same frequency.

Contrary to analogue TV (which will eventually be turned off), analogue radio will continue to be broadcast in the future alongside the digital signal.

your iPod is most likely significantly lower quality than CD quality. and if you're using an FM transmitter to get it to your car stereo, or routing it through a tape deck or something, you're creating even more signal degrade.

if i could get digital, HD radio, which was CD quality, with no commercials, i'd pay for that without a second thought.

one of the main reasons i rail about the RIAA and mp3's and P2P and all that is because mp3's aren't even close to CD quality and the RIAA has convinced a huge market segment to go from buying CD's and stealing mp3's to paying for mp3's, and i think it's our loss. maybe most people can't hear the difference between a 128kbps mp3 and a CD, but i sure as heck can and FM radio's even worse.

analog tv is getting turned off so that those broadcast frequencies can be re-licensed for cell phones.

whether we like it or not, television -is- important. it's an astoundingly powerful force in our culture. for better or for worse, tv impacts and drives our day to day lives, even if we don't watch it.

jhimm - I can appreciate where someone who can notice quality sound wants this. I'm not against it. My main point was that I've _never_ been able (with or without the advent of mp3's) to tell good sound quality unless it's obvious (e.g. static) so I am having a hard time figuring out why I'd want HD radio. I've been in movie theatres and have people say, "The sound is lousy" and I can't tell. I don't think I've ever learned to notice sound quality and subtlety. I do notice the nice sound on our surround sound system at home, but again, it's blatant to me when a noise is coming from behind me in my living room.

generally when i hear/see/read people use the phrase "figure out why i would want to buy one", they mean it in a much broader sense of "why would i, as a representative of the general consuming public, want to buy one".

i doubt HD radio will become a mainstream technology, similar to direct drive turn tables, DAT recorders and some other high end audio technologies that are out there.

i think the only reason CD's replaced cassettes was entirely due to convenience, size, shape, durability, and not at all due to better audio quality.

I'm with you. I loves my ipod.

Oh, and podcasts kept me entertained most of the flight here.