Among goodies iBiquity Digital plans to display in its booth at the Consumer Electronics Show this week is the first OEM implementation of an in-dash HD Radio that includes Artist Experience — visual images like album art, concert photos, station logos or ads — that can be displayed on equipped HD Radio receivers.
AE was first launched on the Insignia NS-HD02 portable HD Radio player; iBiquity told me it will show several new products featuring Artist Experience, including the HD Radio in a Volkswagen Jetta — the first OEM implementation for the AE data feature. That will be an over-the-air demo with the necessary visual data transmitted by Clear Channel KWNR(FM), Las Vegas, iBiquity’s Steve Baldacci told me.
“We’ll talk about commercialized advanced services at this show,” he said, noting that last year the tech developer was showing traffic. Now it can feature other advanced services in OEMs like live pause and bookmarking, which allows listeners to capture and store information about radio content in real time for later reference. The Bookmark service can also deliver QR Codes to HD Radio receivers, enabling consumers to link to a website or other resource using a smart phone app.
All these advanced services keep radio relevant in a connected world, Baldacci told me, adding they make the radio listening experience better — whether OEM or portable, manufacturers can now put these HD Radio features on any device, he said.
HD Radio and XM Radio also are part of Toyota’s new Entune multimedia system, which offers pre-integrated support for a number of mobile apps, including Bing, iheartradio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable and Pandora.
IBiquity has auto aftermarket devices to show as well. It expects that product category to expand with Alpine’s first built-in HD Radio head unit, as well as several HD models that expand the product lines of Kenwood, JVC, Pionee and Sony.
Also on tap for iBiquity, Insignia has announced the NS-IPHDR1, the first HD Radio-enabled “built for iPad” docking system. The product also features iTunes Tagging, the service developed with Apple and radio broadcasters that enables consumers to tag songs for later preview and purchase on iTunes.
The JVC KW-NT50HDT, the first auto aftermarket launch of Artist Experience, will be displayed. This model includes Clear Channel Radio’s Total Traffic and iTunes Tagging, marking the first time these three features are available on one consumer electronics device, according to iBiquity.
The exhibit floor opens Thursday and I’ll be there, looking for more radio-related devices.
