[BC] Another iBiquity goof

[Rich Wood]

------ At 11:56 PM 10/1/2005, WFIFeng at aol.com wrote: -------

> > Over the air
> >  upgrades are dangerous. How many receivers will be in bad signal
> >  areas and switch to analog in the middle of the process?
>
>Not if the thing is properly designed with more than double the total amount
>of memory needed for the firmware.

You frightened me for a moment. I thought you were going to use 
"properly designed" and IBUZ in the same sentence.

>So, over-the-air updates to IBUZ are not impossible, technically. It seems,
>though, that the firmware was written into PROM chips, so now it can't be
>changed without changing the physical chip. That's a very unlikely scenario.

Unlikely not only for that reason. I believe it was Sid who suggested 
that consumers simply wont expend the effort to upgrade, especially 
if there's a charge. If the average home has 8 radios, will there be 
a license fee for all of them plus the upgrades? Will I need 8 CDs? 
Upgrading by CD reminds me of all the AOL floppies and CDs that 
overwhelm landfills. 1.5 billion upgrades every time a flaw is 
detected. How many countries will we have to invade to ensure that 
amount of petroleum? It'll put such a load on the (wink, wink) 
"limited inventories" we already have that gas prices will hit the $8 
mark well before the oil companies schedule it.

If they choose over the air upgrades how will iBorg distribute the 
upgrades to stations and be sure they broadcast them? Will they be 
able to correct existing flaws and still keep those flaws for 
backward compatibility for those with something else to do with their 
lives? Will all manufacturers adhere to a single upgrade standard? 
How will they tell owners of very expensive BMWs that they're saddled 
with Version 1.0? Will angry BMW owners be able to swap out their 
radios when they find they've been snookered and can't enjoy the 
Swedish Polkas on the secondary channel?

Will BMW salesmen tell buyers they're not getting the whole enchilada 
for all that money?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Rich