Meh. Who am I kidding? Best Buy is selling it for $50 (USD)! You can buy an mp3 player with a built-in FM tuner for that price. I also think that it’s too big for a radio player. Wait a couple of years and HD radios will be smaller and cheaper.

Besides, the Zune HD will have a built-in HD radio receiver, so if you’re going to buy a portable HD radio player, I think you’ll get more bang for your buck with that.

[via Engadget]

With one of these, you’ll have no shortage of content for your listening pleasure. The radio can handle AM, FM and HD Radio broadcasts along with RDS track information (The European version supports DAB in place of HD Radio). The slot-loading CD player can play standard CDs as well as MP3 and WMA files stored on disc. But for those of us who store our music on our media players or computers, the S-52 takes care of that too. The system can handle audio files stored on your iPod or on any networked computer, and is adept with MP3, AAC, M4A and FLAC file formats. If that’s not enough, you can also tune in one of over 7000 internet streaming radio stations. And if your media player doesn’t happen to be an iPod, there’s a USB port and mini-audio jack for connecting your player. There’s even a dual clock radio on board, in case you want the ultimate bedside stereo.

While it won’t necessarily blow your eardrums, the system is well outfitted in the audio department for a device of its size. A pair of 2.75″ long-throw drivers provide the bulk of the sound, while a passive 3″ radiator on the bottom of the unit helps out on the low end of things. The speakers are backed by 20-watts of amplification and robust digital signal processing and equalization capabilities. If want some extra boom, you can hook up an external subwoofer, thanks to a pre-amp output.

The Denon S-52 is coming to North America later this winter for about $699. Electronics retailer J&R is accepting pre-orders now.

[What Hi-Fi via Audio Junkies]

Using a technology called “iTunes Tagging”, you can flag songs that you’ve heard on HD Radio broadcasts and queue them up for purchase via the iTunes store. The integration automatically sends the list of tracks to the docked iPod, then iTunes will automatically mark them for purchase when you sync up with your computer. (Hopefully they’ll update this to work with the new iTunes Wi-Fi store on the iPhone and iPod Touch once that’s live too.)

The $499 I-Sonic ES2 will be available from retailers, including the Apple Store and PolkAudio.com starting this October.

At just 99 bucks, the HD100 Radio from radiosophy costs about half of the price of the current bottom-of-the-line models. The new radio receives AM/FM analog and digital broadcasts, including track title and artist information for HD signals. It’s also got a stereo mini input for hooking up an external MP3 player. A built-in alarm clock with wake to music features rounds out the list of features.

The $99 price is an introductory offer, slated to expire on June 30th, so there’s some urgency if you want to get in on that deal.

[via Engadget HD]

Until recently, most HD Radio tuners have either been stand-alone stereos or designed to be put into your car. Now there’s a way to add HD radio tuning capability to any home stereo system. At roughly the size of a DVD player, the $199 Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio Tuner fits in nicely with most home entertainment systems. It adds CD quality digital versions of FM stations in most metropolitan areas, and its LCD display can show artist, track and title information in many cases.

In addition, the HDT-1 can receive traditional analog AM/FM signals and adds RDS information when available. The tuner comes with a compact remote control and can store up to 40 preset stations. The only real downside to the HDT-1 is that it only features analog RCA outputs, negating some of the quality enhancement that you’d expect from a digital signal. Oh well.