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[feedrigley]

I don't have an ipod.  I don't want one.  And I have no use for the myriad appliances that attach to them.  Go ahead and curse me, I don't care.

What I DO want is a good, old-fashioned, moderately sized, portable boom-box, with AM/FM reception, CD player, and HD Radio built in.  If it HAS to have an ipod interface, then fine, but also include a mini-plug input for devices other than ipods.  And halfway decent speakers would be nice, but not if they make the device huge and/or ugly.  Plus, a simple power cord, instead of a wall-wart transformer.

Radio shack almost got there with their tabletop HD radio, but it apparently was a technical nightmare and sounded awful.

That's my great idea.  How about it? 

[Scott-INSG]

Feedrigley, we have been working on your idea for a boom-box with HD radio.  We are having a hard time designing a product that is affordable enough for the boom-box category and that sounds good enough at decent volumes for what you would expect with HD radio.

Do you have an idea of how much you would be willing to pay for your boombox?

[feedrigley]

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.  I'd be willing to pay $75 to $100 for this boom box.  Hope that's enough to make it worthwhile to produce.  By the way, digital radio is nice, but imperfect in the same way digital TV is, and we've come to accept that.  If the speakers are not audiophile quality, so be it. 

I just want the convenience of the reception of the sub-frequency, because our local NPR station (Northwest Public Radio) has both a classical music and a news service which they broadcast analog from different towers a great distance from each other.  While you can pick up both in some areas, most places you only can tune in one or the other.  However, they do simulcast the two programs digitally from each transmitter with one being the dominant and the other as a sub-band, so there is hope to be able to enjoy both in more places.

feedrigley