Gigaware dongle brings HD Radio to iPod touch and iPhone for $80

Up until now, there have been just two ways to get HD Radio in a portable, handheld solution: buy a Zune HD, or opt for Insignia's NS-HD01. As of today, Gigaware is changing all that, and it's hoping to give HD Radio a kick in the pants by opening it up to every single iPod touch and iPhone user in the US. iBiquity's own HD Radio module has been tucked neatly inside the clickwheel dongle you see above, giving any iPhone / iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0 (or greater) the ability to listen to HD Radio and FM stations in their area. The (now available) adapter itself sells for $79.99 exclusively at RadioShack, while the accompanying app -- which sports a manual tune wheel or auto-seek option, social network integration, bookmarks and iTunes Tagging -- is available to download free of charge. It's a novel idea, sure, but something tells us the limited availability and lofty price tag will keep it from selling like gangbusters.

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iBiquity has made its first foray into the mobile market and it's third in the portable market (Best Buy's Insignia NS-HD01 and Microsoft's Zune HD). Introducing the Gigaware Navigation Control HD Radio Receiver accessory and the HD Radio application. The accessory/app combination enables iPhone and iPod touch devices to tune into HD Radio broadcasts for the first time!

Adding HD Radio Technology to the iPhone and iPod touch (compatible with models updated with 3.0 software) is an easy two-step process:

▪ Step 1: Buy the Gigaware HD Radio accessory, designed for and sold exclusively at RadioShack for an MSRP of $79.99.

▪ Step 2: Download the FREE application by clicking on the Apple App Store icon on the actual device or though the iTunes' App Store link (under the Music category) in the top left column.

The application software, features an intuitive, user-friendly interface; a manual tune wheel or auto-seek option; and the ability to connect with friends through e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. Users can also preview content currently airing and directly select a main station or multicast channel stream, in addition bookmarking their favorite stations and multicast channels. An iTunes Tagging button on the Gigaware navigation accessory also allows users to "tag" songs for future review and purchase via iTunes.

Now, iPhone and iPod touch users can now enjoy the CD-like digital quality, crystal-clear sound from more than 2,000 HD Radio stations on the air, and 1,000+ new FM multicast channels (HD2/HD3).

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 9th 2009 1:42PM]

Why couldn't apple just do this with the already existing radio remote that works with iPod classic? Sure, it wouldn't be HD, but damn, sometimes my iPod content is stale and I want to hear the radio!

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 9th 2009 8:45PM]

HD adapter for my Pioneer car stereo is $60, and that's off eBay. If I wanted HD radio bad enough, the iPhone HD adapter would probably be a better choice because I could take it with me anywhere. The crappy part is that you can't charge your iPhone while using this adapter, meaning if I want to listen to the iPhone HD radio through my car stereo, I'd have to connect the iPhone to my car stereo via bluetooth and drain the battery. It'd be nicer if I could at least charge the thing with the HD radio adapter plugged in.

It really doesn't matter though. At $80, I'm not that desperate for OTA HD radio. I'll just keep listening to Pandora/Slacker through my car stereo's iPod connection.

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 9th 2009 10:35PM]

OK, cool, but where do the headphones go? Reason for the question is the similar, though not HD, Griffin product, http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/navigate. The headphones plug into the controller, and NO, you cannot plug in the Apple headphone/mic set and answer the phone. Something about the dock connector not handling audio in. If These let you plug the headphones...AND MIC...into the normal iPhone jack and answer the phone, with the expected, mute the radio and ring in my ears feature, they have a customer. If not, i.e, using them makes me drag out the iPhone to answer a call that I probably wouldn't hear cuz I have the radio going in my ear, then I'll just keep using the FM radio with BT thingy I have, and wait for Apple to provide the 'hey, there's an FM radio already in the thing' software upgrade.

[gomobileaolcom Posted Nov 11th 2009 2:28PM]

Current software options are significantly better. ooTunes costs ~$5 from the itunes store and gives you most all hd stations across the country. Why bother with another latched on device? A la Zune player 2 you'd think that Apple would build OTA HD functionality into the iphone/touch and it would reduce the burden on the ATT network. Oh wait why would apple care about ATT's lack of 3g distribution and overburdened ntwks in NYC and SF? Keep the sales comin, that netwk of yours is your problem.