stephen hill : spatial relations: HD is DOA

Stephen Hill looks at the shortcomings of HD Radio as compared to other emerging technologies: “Of the major usage trends that are driving the growth of Internet radio — new ‘long tail’ niche and alternative content, on-demand delivery, user-created content, podcasting (subcriptions and portability), and time-shifting — only time-shifting is even doable with HD, and then only in a relatively crippled way due to memory and interface constraints. Even this undermines the one incontestable advantage of conventional radio: ease of use.” UPDATE: Dennis Haarsager chips in: “If ‘HD’ is going to work, we need patience, some advanced features beyond the ones we now have that are implied in the mark-up language, some smart business thinking about multicasting and PAD features — and some luck. Oh, and a better name.”