HD radio

Apple considering HD radio in future devices

Way back two or two years ago, they first heard about some HD radios coming out that would permit for iTunes tagging of songs for later purchase. I guess Apple thought that was a mighty nifty idea, as they later gave similar capability to the latest iPod nano, and the company has recently filed for a patent that integrates HD radio right in to future iPhones and iPods.

Unlike with traditional FM radio, HD radio transmits with it information on the song, artist and album you’re listening to. The most recent iPod nano has a song tagging feature for its built-in, traditional FM receiver, though it depends on later syncing the tool with iTunes to make sense of what song you tagged.

With HD radio capabilities built in to an iPhone or iPod, theoretically you could set your tool to search for a specific song title by HD radio information. You’d even be able to quickly tag the song for purchase and be brought immediately to the iTunes app.

With iOS 4’s multi-tasking capabilities, most likely one would be able to listen to HD radio stations while performing other tasks, much like you can do now while listening to iTunes. While streaming apps like Pandora are popular and will have backgrounding capability, HD radio does one thing Pandora doesn’t: it won’t use up your information plan. Of work, as with any number of the slew of patents Apple files for, there’s no telling whether we’ll actually see HD radio built in to future devices.