t penetration of IBOC receivers is at least 85 percent. Thus, a transition plan will be needed. iBiquity expects that every such receiver, starting from the first ones built, will be able to receive both hybrid and all-digital IBOC signals, so that consumers who upgrade during the hybrid service will not be left with obsolete equipment once all-digital service begins. http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/satellite-radio/rw-xm-retail2.shtml Future radio services may also offer audio on demand. Digital radio receivers with memory allow for the downloading and storing of audio files that can be selected on demand, or for capturing specific news, traffic, and other programs that can be retrieved later, providing the audio equivalent of a VCR (or the newly popular hard-disk personal video recorders) for radio listeners. Command Audio, Redwood City, Calif., is pursuing this on-demand approach to digital radio, focusing on DAB systems, in particular Eureka-147 services in the UK. Serious competition from wireless services, both terrestrial and satellite, also looms. As digital cellular phone systems expand their capabilities, and wireless Internet networks are deployed, listeners will have ever greater options in both audio entertainment and data-based services while on the go. Internet radio, however, is off to a rocky start with the recent pullback by broadcasters of their streaming signals owing to royalty disputes. We all have our favorite radio stations that we preset into our car radios, flipping between them as we drive to and from work, on errands and around town. But when you travel too far away from the source station, the signal breaks up and fades into static. Most radio signals can only travel about 30 or 40 miles away from their source. On long trips that find you passing through different cities, you might have to change radio stations every hour or so as the signals fade in and out. And it's not much fun scan...
