Gigaware adapter brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80
By Darren Murph 
posted Nov 9th 2009 12:29PM
posted Nov 9th 2009 12:29PM
iBiquity has made its first foray into the mobile market and it's third in the portable market (Best Buy's Insignia NS-HD01 and Microsoft's Zune HD). Introducing the Gigaware Navigation Control HD Radio Receiver accessory and the HD Radio application. The accessory/app combination enables iPhone and iPod touch devices to tune into HD Radio broadcasts for the first time!
Adding HD Radio Technology to the iPhone and iPod touch (compatible with models updated with 3.0 software) is an easy two-step process:
▪ Step 1: Buy the Gigaware HD Radio accessory, designed for and sold exclusively at RadioShack for an MSRP of $79.99.
▪ Step 2: Download the FREE application by clicking on the Apple App Store icon on the actual device or though the iTunes' App Store link (under the Music category) in the top left column.
The application software, features an intuitive, user-friendly interface; a manual tune wheel or auto-seek option; and the ability to connect with friends through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. Users can also preview content currently airing and directly select a main station or multicast channel stream, in addition bookmarking their favorite stations and multicast channels. An iTunes Tagging button on the Gigaware navigation accessory also allows users to "tag" songs for future review and purchase via iTunes.
Now, iPhone and iPod touch users can now enjoy the CD-like digital quality, crystal-clear sound from more than 2,000 HD Radio stations on the air, and 1,000+ new FM multicast channels (HD2/HD3).
Adding HD Radio Technology to the iPhone and iPod touch (compatible with models updated with 3.0 software) is an easy two-step process:
▪ Step 1: Buy the Gigaware HD Radio accessory, designed for and sold exclusively at RadioShack for an MSRP of $79.99.
▪ Step 2: Download the FREE application by clicking on the Apple App Store icon on the actual device or though the iTunes' App Store link (under the Music category) in the top left column.
The application software, features an intuitive, user-friendly interface; a manual tune wheel or auto-seek option; and the ability to connect with friends through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. Users can also preview content currently airing and directly select a main station or multicast channel stream, in addition bookmarking their favorite stations and multicast channels. An iTunes Tagging button on the Gigaware navigation accessory also allows users to "tag" songs for future review and purchase via iTunes.
Now, iPhone and iPod touch users can now enjoy the CD-like digital quality, crystal-clear sound from more than 2,000 HD Radio stations on the air, and 1,000+ new FM multicast channels (HD2/HD3).
Really awesome Idea... just two things...
1: Bring it down to $50
2: Sell it everywhere (or at least Best Buy & Walmart)
An even better idea would be for Apple to just include a radio in the first place, HD or not.
Gigaware is a RadioShack brand. Most likely another brand will release a $50 version and RadioShack will get buried for being obsolete... again.
I agree, but I think the pricepoint should be half of what it is now. $39.99 would get people interested, and like another commenter said, not many people want to pay for radio, HD or not.
I mean, what's the margin on this kind of thing? At $80, they seem to be marking this thing up like 1000%. I know they have to recoup the cost of developing the software, but the hardware has to be cheap to produce. I say $39.99 MSRP, and cheaper on sale, and you can make money with this thing.
Most people are not interested in radio on their iPod, which is why Apple didn't include it. There have been regular radio tuners available for the iPod for a long time now, and now there's this, which is great for the people who want it, and great for the people who don't.
obviously people are interested in radio on their ipods. which is why companies are making fm tuners for ipod since the beginning of ipod. heck, even the OP wants an HD one if it was sold for $50!
apple will never ever include radio because it's a door out of their ipod music universe.
If this were ~$30 I would get it today. At $50 I would seriously consider getting it. At >$70 I will still want but definitely not be purchasing.
@Jack
Actually nobody is interested, until Apple releases a device with it and it is the greatest invention ever - just as they did with the Nano.
Darkstar - If people wanted radios on the iPod, don't you think that would have shown up in Apple's market studies? The fact is that most people don't want a radio on their iPod, which is exactly what I said in my last post. Note the use of the word "MOST". Apple made the decision not to include radio based on the results of their studies.
Third party radio attachments are not there because everybody wants a radio. They're there for the miniscule number of people that want a radio.
Potential for a discount if you buy your iPhone at RadioShack next year?
At the most $50. Gigaware normally has some pretty decent electronics for cheap. The MP3 players they sell have some decent features, for a lower price than competitors.
So, $80? That's crazy. $40 would be optimal, or $30. Personally, I have no want or need for this, so that may be skewing my opinion.
@Jake
RadioShack likes to over-mark everything in the store by at least 100%.
@ Jack
I disagree that most people don't want a radio in their PMP. First, there is a big difference between "don't want" and "don't need."
For example, I would like a PMP that has a built-in radio tuner, but I don't need it, so the lack of a radio tuner is not a deal breaker for me. I suspect it is similar for many people.
And this may be obvious, but there is also a big difference between not actively wanting and actively not wanting. For example, as I said above, I would like a radio tuner, but I don't *WANT* one. But, all other things being equal, I would buy a PMP with the tuner over the one without every time, even if it cost a little more.
Finally, I don't believe that Apple did any kind of market research when it decided to not include a radio tuner. More likely in my eyes is they figured it wasn't a deal breaker for most consumers, so leaving it out allowed them to charge a little less for the iPod and still make money off people who really want them through the licensing fees they collect for "Made for iPod" accessories.
Is HD radio on the iPhone incredibly slow?
/sarcasm
@Jack
I wonder how Apple does their market research because I think more than a few people were not happy to see the absence of a camera on the iTouch refresh. However Lord Jobs explained that its a 'gaming platform' and that's why they left out the camera. Evidently Nintendo should drop the camera from the DSi because it has no place on a game system, oh and Microsoft and Sony should stop selling camera add-ons too.
Having any kind of radio is not worth $80
cellular radio, what now?
Still no
Cue ad with Justin Long taping an HD radio to his forehead.
Your avatar is EFFING GENIUS.
The dongle looks cool but will probably just get in the way..
Is HD radio even that big of a deal? I've never even listened.
HD radio is nice if you can get it. It's better quality than plain FM radio and multiple channels per station are nice. The problem is, regulations limit the power of the digital signal to a fraction of the analog signal, so the range is terrible. I can get the HD signal at home, but when I go to work in a suburb that's not that far out, all I can get is the analog.
I won a really nice HD Radio about a year ago. It's still in the box. No HD Radio in my market, or the next one over even.
The "HD" monitor is obviously bogus for being applied to audio, but also because HD Radio is compressed to hell. Sound & Vision did an article about it a few years ago and found that it basically sucks.
MONIKER, that is.
HD radio is a joke. AM/FM is even worse.
so you hate radio in general? its friggin free. you can't really complain.
"It's a novel idea"
No, it's not.
nov⋅el
–adjective
of a new kind; different from anything seen or known before: a novel idea.
Going by that, I'd say you are correct sir. There is nothing novel about this idea.
Okay.
At first I thought the person posting the definition was right, but then I read his last sentence.
It's the first HD radio adaptor for portable devices that don't have HD radio built in. Going strictly by the definition, it most certainly IS a novel idea. No one has ever done it before.
It's not the first HD radio with tagging.
It's not the first HD radio for portable devices.
It's not the first digital radio dongle for an iPod. See: DAB dongles.
It is the first dongle specifically for the brand of digital radio approved by the FCC.
Seems to me the definition is getting a little narrow for the term "novel", but I suppose technically nobody ever has created this exact device before.
You might be right, I admit I did little to no research to back up my statement that it is not a novel idea. I just assumed that by now, some company would have made and sold HD radio receivers that can be jacked into a smartphone...
Neat. I gave up on radio like 6 years ago but neat anyway :)
Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling iPhone accessory overload?
Who listens to the radio anymore?
I do, it's the only way to actually hear new, original music.
whats with all the hate for radio? i love radio. why would anyone complain about free music?
Radio sucks! New, original music? You're correct if you think hearing Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" twice an hour is considered new and original.
Triple j in Australia is good
I still listen to radio sometimes, there's some good stations still left in Chicago. LOL!
@Lloyd "You're correct if you think hearing Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' twice an hour is considered new and original."
There are radio stations other than the crappy Top 40 stations. I'm talking about actual independent radio... the kind that Apple is killing with iTunes. My favorite local station (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/) plays absolutely awesome music that I would never discover if I didn't listen to their station.
I'm sorry that the radio you listen to sucks, but some of us are smart enough to actually twist the dial and look for other stations.
Aww snap, HD Radio in the hou--$80, what? WHAT?!
many people still listen to radio during their daily commute, including me, my local radio changed their HD2 channel from comdy to some dance music though, so ther'es nothing special on HD radio for me now.
I listen to TWiT podcasts on my way to work.
I'm just about to reply to your comment, but first....
.. a word from our good friends at Audible!
HD radio is nice to have (I use it on my Zune HD) but only if it's in the player itself. Definitely not worth dragging around another crappy accessory with cables, even if it was free.
Wow....commercials and lousy, repetitive programming on my iPod. And only $80!!
Don't AOL Radio and iHeartRadio have HD radio stations from across the country in 128k stream quality anyway, for free?
lol, 128kbps
woah, he gots to be trollin! xD
I wonder y they didn't make this for Zune HD. Wonder y ?????
am i the only one who thinks that HD radio is a scam?
what a waste of money
It's free...
On the Zune HD too.
If AT&T's 3G network wasn't so pathetic during my commute to/from work, I would delete all my music content and listen to everything via iheartradio, Pandora, AOL Radio, and Simply Media 2.
But, aren't we waiting for an OS upgrade from Apple that will supposedly enable the FM transceiver chip in the 3G/3GS and provide a native FM Radio application?
http://9to5mac.com/iPhone-fm-app
This article explains the Broadcom chips that have been in the iPhones. Initially, they were FM receivers, but the latest versions are FM transceivers, so we could even see the iPhone 3GS being able to transmit to a nearby radio, like my car that has no aux input.
Hurry it up, Apple. Don't spend another 9 months turning on a dormant piece of hardware.
Did that article also explain that having a chip with the ability to decode FM transmissions != the ability to take a radio signal and play it through the player? That other things like antennas are neccessary?
Because if that article didn't at least take into account that unless the wireless chip is connected to the headphone jack, it is unlikely the chip will even get a strong enough signal to decode it properly into music. Unless you live right next door to the radio station you want to listen to (which is how the existing Nike+ stuff works- only short-range signals)
No teardown of the iPhone/iPod has revealed either a large internal antenna nor a connection between the wireless chip and the headphone jack. That isn't to say it's definately not there...but it does mean getting your hopes might be premature.
audiophiles listening to the radio? on an iphone? are you kidding? go spam somewhere else.
Cool that the iPod Touch/iPhone are finally getting HD radio, but the dongle kills it. The radio addition is really only worthwhile if it's built in to the player.
What do you all use/want Radio for?
I personally want/use it for talk shows. Not music. Shows like Dr. Drew or NPR.
just NPR/ PRI / BBC
thats just another reason why i love the radio on the zune, my music and news on the radio.
You can tag songs from HD radio on the Zune HD for the Zune Marketplace as well.
Word, please smash your computer with a hammer so we don't have to read your asinine postings ever again. Thanks.
You know how all your comments end up white? Natural selection. Survival ofbtge fittest strongest.
Why on earth would you want to tag a song for, what I think you mean because Windows Media Player doesn't have a music store, the Zune Marketplace when you are on an iPhone/iPod Touch? I guess since they sync so magnificently with the software. Anyway, like was already said, Zune has had the ability to tag songs on the radio for over a year and WinMo devices had Shazam long before the iPhone/iPod Touch had it that tagged songs/ringtones for purchase on the device.
What the fuck kind of drugs are you on?
The French ones...
Why the he*# would anybody buy this?
.
Ever heard of internet radio?
.
DOH
Are you saying audiophiles wouldn't use iPhones? Haha, how wrong you are.
The rollout of HD Radio is one of the worst handled, worst promoted things I've ever seen in the history of commercial radio.
But it still puts the non-marketing of DVD-Audio to shame.
I'd be more excited about this if there were more than 2 stations that actually broadcast HD Radio in my area. One of them is an NPR station and the other is a classic rock station.. No subs on either channel, and the classic rock station doesn't even display the song information right most of the time. With the economy in the toilet, most of the local stations aren't even considering the new format, especially when they have to pay a $5,000 (somewhere in that range) royalty to iBiquity per year. With that said, who wants to pay $80 for an HD Radio attachment for a format that is having a hard time getting off the ground.. If you live in an area where only a couple of stations are broadcasting HD Radio, then it's really not worth it.
Shoutcast or bust!
Nice, it's the U2 edition shuffle.
Dr. Spaceman,
You're right; they use them begrudgingly.
$80 for something that is free with ZZZZ with OLED screen...
$80 bux my behind..
If you wanted HD radio you should've bought a Zune HD. I love how people were saying "there's no FM radio because nobody wants radio on their iPod" yet Apple and others were still making and selling FM radio add-ons and now Apple has included FM radio. Now it's "there's no HD radio because nobody wants radio on their iPod" , we'll see if this sells or not. Companies, even those as shitty as Radio Shack, rarely invest the time or money to bring products to market that nobody wants. In a few years every Touch (or whatever replaces it) will have FM HD radio and you knuckleheads will be praising it as another Apple innovation.
If this device was priced for half as much I might've considered it but $80 to listen to HD radio when there's plenty of radio stations you can stream these days is a bit much.
On EDGE? Are you kidding?
GJ, Engadget comment system. This was a REPLY to a post above.
The newer iPhones are rumored to have a dormant FM tuner. Anyone know of an app to utilize that for a jailbroken iPhone 3GS?
I hate the music they play on the radio (My local station appears to rotate 6 songs... 3 of them are lady gaga.) but I do enjoy morning talk radio. I ride a motorcycle and use an FM radio on the way to work and Pandora on the way home. I'd like to have 1 device that does everything. I've tried OOTunes which streams from each local stations online radio stream and has all my local stations but it hangs. Sometimes it works the whole way to work, sometimes I might get 10 seconds of radio every 10 minutes.
if apple really gave a crap about its customers it would have included this for free like other companies. I would not buy apple. Far to underhanded with its customers and poor quality devices.