"This is going to allow the 44 thousand AM/FM stations broadcasting today to be heard from further away and to sound better."
Hansen estimates the new chips could go into one hundred million new radios a year.... but not just yet...
"In Christmas 2003, consumers will be able to go into the store, and get the choice between Symphony digital radios and traditional analog radio."
Motorola's demonstration of the sound difference is impressive. Hansen says listeners will hear the difference...
"Absolutely it's going to be very noticeable. You're going to find stations on your dial that you never knew were there before cause it can pull in stations from further away. When you have stations that step on another station... you're getting adjacent channel interference... we can tune that out almost 32 times better than the current analog radios. The hisses and crackles and pops that keep the Bloomberg report from coming in very clearly... that can be minimized through software."
Hansen says consumers will be able to look for a Symphony logo... that will be used by some manufacturers. The downside is... .the availability won't be until late next year. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.