The Leaf will not come with HD Radio

[mwalsh]

Leaf's USB and Aux jacks now confirmed to be exactly where we expected them to be...underneath the black plastic covers either side at the front of the center console.

Also, XM Radio is standard. Did we know that already?

 

[jhm614]

Leaf's USB and Aux jacks now confirmed to be exactly where we expected them to be...underneath the black plastic covers either side at the front of the center console.

Also, XM Radio is standard. Did we know that already?

Any idea on how the iPod will connect? Is it via USB and, if so, will we be able to control the iPod from the steering wheel?

 

[Bicster]

XM bitrates are so low I can't bear listening to it.

HD radio would be nice for NPR, but I can listen to the same streams on my smartphone over 3G. There's a good chance the Leaf will support Bluetooth stereo (other recent Nissan nav systems do), and if it does, that's how I'll get my fix. If not, I'm sure some other creative solutions will be found.

 

[JasonT]

Also, XM Radio is standard. Did we know that already?

I'm pretty sure that has been included in the feature set of the Leaf for a while now - it's definitely on the website currently if it wasn't before.

 

[mwalsh]

Any idea on how the iPod will connect? Is it via USB and, if so, will we be able to control the iPod from the steering wheel?

All I saw in the video was a USB jack and an Aux jack, so I would suspect via USB would be preferable between the two? Sorry, I don't have any Apple devices so I don't know what their connectivity is.

 

[Nubo]

I have to admit I don't think I'd heard of "HD Radio" before. Not with-it, I guess! I only just started using Pandora on my iPhone. Not bad. Or I listen to my own playlists, like an old codger. :lol:

 

[SeattleBlueLeaf]

I have to admit I don't think I'd heard of "HD Radio" before. Not with-it, I guess! I only just started using Pandora on my iPhone. Not bad. Or I listen to my own playlists, like an old codger. :lol:

Yeah - HD Radio being a free thing seems to make it something that no one ever hears about. It is pretty sweet though. Each FM station in most major markets has two or three stations all being carried at the same time. Here in Seattle, we have a station that plays alternative music and then one of their HD stations carries just bands from the Northwest. No commercials on the 2nd station.

 

[JasonT]

Any idea on how the iPod will connect? Is it via USB and, if so, will we be able to control the iPod from the steering wheel?

I would guess USB and Yes - Leaf isn't specifically mentioned here but it's encouraging:
http://www.nissanusa.com/technology/ipod/

 

[jhm614]

Any idea on how the iPod will connect? Is it via USB and, if so, will we be able to control the iPod from the steering wheel?

I would guess USB and Yes - Leaf isn't specifically mentioned here but it's encouraging:
http://www.nissanusa.com/technology/ipod/

Excellent! Good find - the nav system integration looks great!

 

[garygid]

HD sounds great, Thanks.

The XM in the Prius (and probably in the LEAF?) was only "useful" for its traffic reports. However, after the free 3-month trial was up, I did not think it was worth it to pay for a subscription.

I have other portable GPS Nav units with free lifetime traffic reports.

 

[Rat]

If you have a station broadcasting HD music that you like, it looks like a good deal. My problem(s) is (are) that the station I most want to listen to while driving doesn't broadcast in HD nor does it stream over the Internet and I can't even get it on my home (expensive) stereo due to topography and a weak signal. I have to drive a few blocks before I can get it on my car stereo. There are other stations, like classical or AM news, I listen to occasionally - very rarely really, but the regular signal and quality are fine, so I don't need HD or XM for those. The problem there is that they don't play the stuff I like any more. Even XM, which we have in my wife's car, doesn't either, so I listen to my own music mixes or audiobooks. I am skeptical of HD radio because since the TV stations switched to digital broadcast, my new digital TV now gets only two stations clearly, and a third one maybe half the time due to the surrounding hills. I'm excluding the foreign language UHF stations, since my Chinese and Japanese aren't good enough to watch those. I suspect that if I got HD radio, free or not, I would get nothing I could listen to. Not only that, if HD is free, then it will soon have ads if it doesn't already, just like Pandora. Someone has to pay for all the music licenses.

 

[planet4ever]

My problem(s) is (are) that the station I most want to listen to while driving doesn't broadcast in HD nor does it stream over the Internet and I can't even get it on my home (expensive) stereo due to topography and a weak signal.

[climbs on soap box]
Yes, Silicon Valley is in the incredible position of being treated as a distant suburb of San Francisco. Never mind that mountains block San Francisco stations from large parts of the Valley. Never mind that we created much of the technology we have so much trouble trying to utilize. Never mind that San Jose, not San Francisco, is the largest city in the Bay Area. As Rodney used to say, We don't get no respect.
[walks off with soap box in hand]

 

[Rat]

planet4ever, I agree with you completely, but my favorite station is actually a Cupertino station (KKUP), and I live only four blocks from the Cupertino city limit. Montebello Ridge is between me and their transmitter, according to their engineer, so a 5000-watt Spanish language station in Modesto overwhelms their signal at my location. When it comes to media, San Jose is the cultural pariah of the west coast. Even though it's the 10th largest city in the U.S., larger than San Francisco or Detroit, it has no NFL, MLB or NBA team - the only major city in that category. Even Oakland with a third of the population and ten times the murder rate has all three. It is the only one in that category with no federal judicial district headquartered there and no FBI field office (there are courts and FBI, they are just branches of the SF main institutions, though). Back on transportation, perhaps this lack of respect is why the local pols have pushed for BART so hard, even though it makes no financial sense. According to the EIR 70% of the ridership of the proposed BART to SJ line will be Alameda County residents commuting to Silicon Valley to take jobs from Santa Clara County residents who voted to tax themselves to pay for it, and traffic on 880 will actually get worse than it is now after the extension is built. The mind reels. They seem to feel that unless it has a subway no one will take it seriously as a major city, so they all push it even though the USDOT says it is the worst rider per dollar transportation project submitted for federal matching funds. CalTrain already provides fast rail service to SF - much faster and more comfortably than BART ever will. I have my own solution for electrified transportation - the Leaf!
</soapbox>

 

[SeattleBlueLeaf]

<snip> I suspect that if I got HD radio, free or not, I would get nothing I could listen to. Not only that, if HD is free, then it will soon have ads if it doesn't already, just like Pandora. Someone has to pay for all the music licenses.

Rat,

I can't speak for your taste in music and what you might like listening too. My contribution here was that HD radio is free, provides better sound quality, more options, over a greater distance and therefore I would like it to come standard in my Leaf.

Commercials will eventually invade the HD2 and HD3 broadcasts as well because, yes nothing is really free. But still, for less than $100, you can "upgrade" your current car deck to be an HD deck (Best Buy sells a JVC one for $99) and get both Analog and HD broadcasts.

I have a broad taste for different music and program types including NPR, Classical, Alternative, Rock, and some sports. All of the stations that I know in Seattle offer their programming in HD on at least their primary frequency and most offer additional programming (my local NPR station broadcasts BBC on their HD3 station) that makes the small cost of the upgrade well worth it for me. As a result, I'd like to keep this useful and free source of entertainment in my wonderful new Leaf.

A smartphone will work well too and provides additional options and I think that is what we all want - as many options as the technology will affordable offer to listen to what we want where we want.

 

[garygid]

The radio "deck" might not be a separate replaceable unit in the LEAF, but it might be just one section of a Nav, screen, CD, DVD, etc., and amplifier electronics single-unit "package".

I believe that is the way it is in the 2010 Prius.

Since the "Nav" section in the LEAF will have special "EV functions", and the "unit" will contain car control and monitoring functions, it might be almost impossible to "replace" with other equipment.

 

[patrick0101]

Has anyone gotten an HD tuner added to their Leaf?