Insignia NS-HD01: World’s First Portable HD Radio Player

GADGETS

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The world’s first portable HD radio is out and it’s a looker. Called the Insignia NS-HD01 HD Radio Portable Player, the innovative handheld device purports to transform radio listening on the road like never before.

While the HD radio format hasn’t exactly taken off, a subscription-free portable player sure makes as great a case for it as you can come up with. Allowing traditional FM stations to broadcast in a crystal-clear, static-free digital format, the Insignia NS-HD01 could be the device that lets the platform reach out to a wider audience.

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No bigger than your average PMP, the device sports a simple but attractive set of features that can make it a compelling alternative for your on-the-go music options. Specs include a 1.5-inch full-color LCD screen, a 3.5 millimeter audio jack (can work with car stereos as well) and a rechargeable Li-ion battery. Users get to enjoy basic track and station information on the panel, to go with ten programmable station presets.

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The HD radio player comes with an arguably stylish armband, ready to serve as your fitness music source right out of the box. No word on bundled earphones, so either this comes without one or ships with a nominal bad pair that you’ll best be served replacing. Currently available exclusively on Best Buy shelves, the Insignia NS-HD01 HD Radio Portable Player retails for only $49.99, which makes it a plain cheap way to get free music all the time.

[HD Radio via Engadget]

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2 Responses

  1. I don’t think there are many HD radio stations, I may be wrong though. But I don’t see this worth buying unless there are atleast a few sources of HD radio broadcast.

  2. The Insignia NS-HD 01 portable HD radio is definitely a wize purchase in my personal opinion. I have one of these, and the sound quality is truly phenominal! It is pure digital sound without hiss, pops, or any distortion whatsoever.

    The device doesn’t produce any of its own hiss, as do some other devices do. Therefore, when you turn the divice on and you have headphones attached, preferably a good pair; then you will be able to experience pure digital sound like it is supposed to be experienced.

    The tabletop model HD radios don’t really give the technology real justice because listening through speakers doesn’t give you the richness that you would expect through a good set of headphones.

    I honestly have to say taht the Insignia NS-HD portable radio will be the thing that will help to promote the HD technology. It may even spark a brand new interest in listening to radio once again as people did back when radio was in its hay day.

    Believe it or not, even listening to those commercials on the FM radio with the Insignia NS-HD is also a joy too because many of the commercials were recorded digitally.

    Think about this for a moment. Before HD radio, we were listening to CDs and MP3s being played over statiky FM reception that had a lot of hiss, noise and other sounds. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense to play digital technology over older technology that wasn’t meant for digital playback. It would be like trying to play an MP3 file over a victrola.

    No, digital recordings need digital capable playback, and that’s exactly what HD radio does. It provides digital quality sound to the airwaves so that we can enjoy the crisp, clear digital sound that we love so much from CDs and MP3s from our favorite radio stations.

    I hope that very soon, all radio stations will be broadcasting in HD digital sound. We need to get rid of Microwave transmission, or that older technology that we’re currently using for the FM dial. We need to be broadcasting in pure HD only.

    After all, why can’t the government make it manditory that the radio go digital like they did for television? All television stations are broadcasting digitally, and now it is time that radio catch up.

    After all, radio was the first form of electronic entertainment by which everyone could enjoy all at the same time. It was the first broadcast media that we had, so it makes sense that it also go all digital.

    I urge anyone to go out and purchase their own Insignia NS-HD 01 portable HD radio as soon as they can. This is truly a must have product for anyone who really loves high-quality digital sound on a budget.

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