Several of you emailed me a WSJ article (subscription required) about new car features consumers are willing to pay for. The article focuses on safety features, until you read into it further and find that the #3 feature (behind stability control and high-end audio) is…
HD RADIO! Here’s a snippet from the article:
"The No. 3 feature, after price information is revealed, was also an advanced audio item: high-definition radio. High-definition radio — a technology that boosts the clarity and quality of over-the-air radio signals and allows for more channels of programming — outranked satellite radio after consumers weighed a one-time cost for HD radio of $150 against satellite radio’s $12.95-a-month subscription fee. HD Radio is truly an emerging technology, but Mr. Wu says his research suggests it could take off in part because consumers don’t like monthly bills."
According to the J.D. Power study, once the basic price information is revealed to consumers, they actually rank HD Radio higher than satellite radio, based largely on the former’s one-time cost.
It’s tough for terrestrial radio to find those media nuggets, but here’s one that the new HD Digital Radio Alliance can trot out right now.
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Does it matter that even iBiquity doesn’t call HD “High Definition”?
Will the HD Radio Alliance correct people who naturally assume HD means HIGH DEFINITION? Or is it an Intended misperception? I hope not – it’s not a very nice way to build a new brand.
Is it possible “High Definition Radio” as a term is destined to be another in a long line of the over-used, hyped up, and unsubstantiated claims that radio has been shouting for years? (“more music” “more variety” “the best rock” “the best mix” ” everything that rocks” now in “HIGH DEFINITION”!)
People don’t believe this stuff anymore because so often it’s not true.
And when they first tune into “HIGH DEFINITION” radio to hear what all the hype is about – will their experience live up to the expectations of the name -HIGH DEFINTION?
We need to be careful about this. At a time when true “High Defintion” Video and Audio is coming into more and more peoples home theater systems – calling digitially compressed audio on par with mp3 files “high definition” has the potential to make the industry look like a bunch of jack-assess.
We screw the listener at our peril.
But, then again, I could be wrong. ,-)
–jeff