Ever get the feeling technology manufacturers won't be satisfied until every device you own has two simple letters in its name?
High definition, or HD Radio, has been around for about two years, though now it's really starting to gain some recognition, some believe thanks to a marketing push aimed at competing with satellite radio.
Right now, 700 stations nationwide broadcast in HD. So what makes radio high definition?
"You're going to get crystal clear, absolutely hiss-free, multi-path free digital sound," Jim Kerr, the morning host at New York's 104.3 said. "The signal will be strong until the point where the signal ends after you get to the end of the metropolitan area you're in, and then stations from other cities come in, but there isn't going to be any interference between stations."
You will need a new radio for around $200 that picks up the HD signals. It still picks up your regular analog station, just that many of those stations now have a separate HD2 channel with different content.
"With the a flick of switch on the FM portion of the band you can turn to the HD2 channel on that station," Kerr said. "So, for example if you wanted to listen to country in the New York metropolitan area you turn to WKTU, which is at 103.5, which is on its main channel a dance station."
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High definition radio
HD Radio has the potential to broadcast six distinct channels of content on one frequency.
 
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And aside from the better sound quality and the fact that it won't cut out on you as often, because it's a digital signal, HD Radio has potential to offer a lot more down the line that actually has very little to do with the music you're listening to.
"You will start seeing things like weather and maybe traffic information coming out and shown on the existing screens on digital radios," Glenn Derene of Popular Mechanics Magazine said. "I think as you get more data services you'll actually get more specialized radios. In cars, for instance, they already have a lot of screen-based systems, so I can expect they'll take better advance of that type of space."
Of course, it's all about future use too.
"Looking to the future, maybe three to five years down the road, there's an opportunity for up to six different distinct channels of content on each radio's frequency," Kerr said.
And since there's no subscription fee, many analysts believe HD Radio will have a relative easy time catching on once they're factory installed in your car. Right now though, BMW is the only manufacturer to offer that option.
