Here's an interesting take.

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/30/1458232

This is Slashdot, so do go and read the discussion thread attached to the story. Often you will find gems in there. On this story, there are some interesting comments, both pro and con for ordinary radio and Sat radio. I don't think HD radio sees a mention in the thread. You can set your signal to noise ratio to see more or less of the comments too. Just use the thingy on your left, or at the top of the thread.

Given this, doesn't some of the commentary here about content innovation and creative re-purposing across media forms make more sense for radio? Free isn't going away anytime soon, no matter what anybody says. And it can always be leveraged, unlike the poor expectations set by the Sat radio people.

Remember no commercials?

Thought so.

If ordinary radio were to improve content offerings and forms, combine that with more aggressive streaming audio deals and subscription podcast availability, the existing radio brands might lend themselves very well to the evolving marketplace.

As I went through some of the comments, I noticed a very interesting pattern: the supporters of satellite radio very frequently stated that they live in or spend a lot of time in sparsely populated areas where cellular-based Internet connections are not likely to be a reality anytime soon. The city people, on the other hand, seem to have a hard time grasping the fact there are still sparsely populated places where it does not make economic sense to deploy cell sites for mobile phone or Internet access.