[BC] A bit disappointed.

[Rich Wood]

------ At 11:48 AM 1/14/2006, Jim Wood, C.P.E.W. wrote: -------

>Yesterday's mail brought Crutchfield's Winter 2006 catalog. The 
>brand/model/features matrix for in-dash stereos listed 44 
>models.  Eight of these had a check mark in the HD column, but in 
>the individual product listings there was no HD logo and, in fact, 
>HD was even mentioned only in a single Alpine description with the 
>tag: "just add Alpine's HD Radio tuner; call for details."  In 
>short, there was not one radio in the catalog that would play HD 
>right out of the box.  Of course nearly all were tagged: "SAT Radio 
>Ready," and most could play MP3, WMA and AAC files.  These seasonal 
>Crutchfield flyers are probably a good indication of what consumers 
>are asking for.  Bummer, dudes.

Earlier Crutchfield catalogs had a few pages on IBUZ. The last one I 
got didn't even show the required HD tuner and there was only a 
single page with one headend shown. While the table listed several 
headends that would accept the separate tuner, there was virtually no 
puffery about the wonders of IBUZ. My local Best Buy now has one 
headend in stock but no tuners. The only mention of HD is a cardboard 
spec sheet that says "HD Radio Ready" The logos were "Sat Ready" and 
the usual audio formats. No one in the automotive audio department 
could tell me what HD Radio is. Each "sales associate" told me the 
tuners had been sent back for lack of sales. They weren't sure what 
the tuners were supposed to do for $400. I guess the $200 million 
promo money from the HD Dominion hadn't reached them, yet. Jabba the 
HD hadn't visited.

I've seen no one who stocks the Alpine $700 unit with IBUZ built in.

There were a couple in past catalogs that had IBUZ built in but they 
were the high end DVD video versions starting at about $1400.

I make an almost monthly tour of Big Box and custom installer stores. 
So far, I've been told I'm the only person to ever ask about HD 
Radio. A Tweeter manager had heard of HD Radio but wasn't going to 
stock it. The Boston Acoustics HD Radio is a special order item that 
no one has ordered, according to him.

Rich