HD Radio App Offers a New Sound Experience to Your Drive
If you’ve got room on your cell phone for another app, we’ve got a suggestion for you – download the HD Radio app. This handy app is for drivers who appreciate great sound in their car.
For those of you who don’t want to shell out the extra cash for an HD entertainment system in your car, HD Radio is a great alternative. HD Radio offers better sound quality, extra programming options and new features like iTunes Tagging. But even though the app is free, to use it, you’ll need to pick yourself up a receiver, sold exclusively at RadioShack.
When you combine this app with the Gigaware Navigation Controller, you have the ability to listen to HD Radio FM broadcasting on your iPhone and iPod Touch. The app lets you listen to your favorite radio stations, and offers PSD that lets your know the name of the artist, the song title and other relevant information.
Another great feature is its HD2 and HD3 channels, which are extra FM channels you can only tune into with an HD Radio receiver and well as iTunes Tagging that enables you to tag a song for purchase and download from the iTunes Store.
Initial reviews for thearen’t that glowing. They say that the combination isn’t well designed for behind the wheel, on the fly operation. Some reports says that the controls on both the app and receiver are small and can be dangerous to operate while driving. But if you’ve got a passenger in the car who can operate it why you’re driving, it promises to give you a richer sound experience for your commute.
If you’re interested, you can download it for free here.
[Source: Edmunds Inside Line]
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Too much of a kludge, and you really need the car's antenna to be able to pick up the HD stations which broadcast at relatively low power (not the same power as their analog station). There are HD Radio add-ons for most factory sound systems that connect to the satellite radio port on the back, though installation is not for the faint of heart. Replacement single DIN head units for vehicles that use the DIN standard head unit size are available from under $100 to over $1000. The programming choices on HD are outstanding in urban areas, and the sound quality is much better than standard FM, but you really don't want to be messing around with the Gigaware device and your iPhone or iPod Touch while driving.
I have to laugh that my initial comment was never posted. This publication seems to be in the tank for that fraudulent company, iBiquity Digital. Two law firms, Keefe Bartels and Galax Wolf are investigating iBiquity and the auutomakers for forcing HD Radio onto consumers, as a technology that doees not work as claimed. Good-luck! LOL!