How about an iMac with HD Radio features?
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Sep 5, 2008 at 7:43am
If Apple were ever to release a Mac with built-in support for Blu-ray (and Blu-ray movies)—perhaps a high-end multimedia Mac—it might also consider building in an HD Digital Radio tuner. I’m not sure that Apple will ever release such a critter despite being part of the Blu-ray Alliance since the company wants you to buy movies from the iTunes Store and not buy Blu-ray discs.
But that could change as Blu-ray slowly gains ground. And HD Radio is also gradually increasing in popularity. According to the HD Digital Radio Alliance, acceptance of the format is growing.
“When we began putting the pieces in place for the Alliance in the fall of 2005, there was little attention being paid to HD Radio and the industry lacked a plan to make it a reality,” says said Peter Ferrara, president/CEO of the HD Digital Radio Alliance. There were only a few HD stations on the air, no automakers offered an HD Radio and no national retailers carried receivers. Today the picture is quite improved.”
At the Alliance’s official launch in early December 2005, about 300 HD Radio stations were on the air, with 40 of those offering HD2 multicasts. Only one HD Radio receiver was commercially available, and it cost US$500. There are now more than 1,750 HD Radio stations on the air, with more than 800 offering HD2 and/or HD3 multicasts.
There are more than 60 HD Radio receiver makers and they’re available at more than 12,000 retail outlets—including Apple retail stores. Automakers offering HD Radio features as factory or dealer options span 14 brands across 82 models, including Ford/Lincoln/Mercury, Volvo, BMW, MINI USA, Mercedes, Toyota Scion, Hyundai Genesis, and Jaguar. And prices have dropped, with multiple receivers now available for less than $100, and one receiver even available at $49 with rebate.
Plus, there’s already an Apple/HD Radio connection. Many HD2 stations are now iTunes Tagging compatible, which allowing songs playing on them to be added to an iPod when tagged by a tagging-capable receiver. For example, with the push of the “tag” button on Polk Audio and Alpine HD Radio receivers, songs can be previewed, purchased, and downloaded.
Imagine an iMac with built-in HD Radio features that would let you “tag” a song on an HD Radio station, buy it and import it directly into your iTunes library.
It may never happen, but, hey, if I’m dreaming of a high-end multimedia Mac, might as well dream big.
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LonePalm Says:
Good point. HD radio cannot go mainstream soon enough for me. Perhaps a HD dongle that could be applied to any Mac?
I feel this is an opportunity for Yamaha, for instance, to add HD radio to its RP-U200.
An HD radio remote for iPods/iPhones would be great as well but I’m not sure that will happen anytime soon.
Posted on September 05, 2008
Scared Poet Says:
Macs are already pretty high-priced. While I’m not complaining so much about that, why should I pay for for an HD radio tuner being built into my computer?
If I want HD radio, I’ll go out and buy a separate tuner, Or better yet, I’ll just fire up my browser and find the internet stream of the radio station i want to listen to. Most stations are streaming their audio already, making a radio strapped to my computer, HD or otherwise, kinda redundant.
Posted on September 05, 2008
addicted Says:
HD Radio makes sense only in a moving vehicle. Very few listen to radio at home since they have their own music to listen to.
Posted on September 05, 2008
Amazing Iceman Says:
Apparently no one here is aware that as of February 17, 2009 (In the U.S. only), all analog over-the-air radio broadcasting ( AM & FM ), and also all analog over-the air ( VHF & UHF ) are going to stop, and be replaced by their digital counterparts ( HD Radio and DTV ) as ordered by the FCC.
This means that HD Radio is the only alternative for free Over-the-Air Radio reception. I just don’t see enough receivers out there within an affordable price tag.
Posted on September 05, 2008
Iceman is wrong Says:
Iceman, stop scaring people and spreading misinformation. The only thing changing will be VHF & UHF TV broadcasts. Those broadcasts will switch off the analog signal February next year and go all digital, AM & FM will NOT be affected by the switchover.
Posted on September 05, 2008
Satellite For Me Says:
Nothing on terrestrial radio interests me for the most part as Clear Channel and the other conglomerates killed off most good radio long ago.
Now with the XM-Sirius merger a built in satellite radio or plug-in card would be nice.
Posted on September 06, 2008
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
bigevilalien Says:
Why would anybody want an HD radio built into their mac? Apple has never included regular am/fm in a pc (nor any other major manufacturer, to the best of my knowledge). Fewer and fewer people even listen to radio anymore. HD is a fancy stopgap measure to stem the tide of people flocking to their ipods in their cars. I would not pay for obsolete technology in a computer when I never wanted it when it was relevant. A poor suggestion I must tell you.
Posted on September 05, 2008