Static

While in a rental car a few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to become re-acquainted with something that future generations will not have to endure.  Static on the radio.

I've become spoiled in my usual car - we have both HD radio and Satellite radio. Neither of these suffers from static.  It's like Digital TV - you either have signal or you don't.  HD Radio is slow in catching on. One more reason I'm glad I live where I do.  Here in the Seattle area, I have a number of stations available in HD, including both local NPR affiliates (which I listen to a lot).

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I dislike my long commute. It gives me plenty of time to listen to the radio, however. And I do listen, because otherwise I'd go nuts.

When I was a kid, I used to have a clock radio. It was a really bad one, with really crappy radio reception. Everything I listened to was static-filled. And I hated it.

Instead, I listened to a lot of tapes - but I got tired of only having the same limited selection of music available to me, so I would listen to the radio for a few days, gritting my teeth against the static. Usually, I'd hear a new band or group or song, and would buy that tape a few days later.

Compact Discs were the same way, only better because they didn't wear out over time. They were digital.  At the time, the difference between "digital" and "magic" was only that one was real and the other wasn't.

Then I discovered streaming music online.  I remember thinking If only I could listen to digital music in my car!

And now I can. And do. Constantly.

The stereo which is in my car is now in its second car. In fact, my wife and I both found ourselves getting angry at the factory stereo before we upgraded. To the point where I was borderline road-raging nearly every time I sat behind the wheel.

It's not a good place to be, so it was only a few weeks before we upgraded the factory stereo to the HD-radio we had pulled out of the previous car. Because we just couldn't take the static anymore.

I look forward to the day it is abolished completely.