Something's really wrong with the world if more than a few months pass by without a new iPod alarm clock from iLuv, so we suppose everyone's a-okay for a few more months now. Announced today, the firm has introduced its first pair of HD Radio clocks, and sure enough, one of 'em plays nice with Cupertino's darling. The i169 would be that player, which offers up a mostly black motif, dual stereo speakers, remote, iPod dock, AM / FM / HD Radio reception, an auxiliary input and dual alarm settings for good measure. As for the currently available i168, it provides most everything you read up there sans the iPod compatibility, but then again, it only demands $89.99. What about the i169, you ask? It'll set you back a cool $169.99 when it lands in "early May." Full release waiting after the break.

Directed Electronics' president and CEO Jim Minarik isn't letting Polk Audio sit idly while rivals make a push to get all up in your grille -- oh no. Just days after the firm announced that its products would be hitting Best Buy later this year, now it's proudly proclaiming that Polk's logo will also be seen in Apple Stores this March. In particular, consumers will notice Polk Audio's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 (ES2), which is hailed as the "world's first product" to feature iTunes tagging for HD Radio. Curiously, there's no word as to whether any other Polk items will show up in Apple Stores, but we suppose we've only got a month or so to find out.

Well you may have missed this particular feature in your rush to pick up Polk's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 table radio, but like its upcoming iHD brother from JBL, the ES2 is one of the first HD Radio models to feature a new iTunes tagging option that lets users bookmark over-the-air tracks for later purchase. In a symbiotic program that should potentially benefit studios, consumers, and perhaps even the medium itself, Apple hooked up with HD Radio developer iBiquity to integrate a "Tag" button into future hardware releases, which when triggered loads metadata about the current song to memory for future transfer to a docked iPod. Once that iPod has been synced with iTunes, users will have the option of previewing and / or buying elements of the specific playlist that's been cobbled together. Le's just hope Universal and Apple make nice sooner rather than later, because the absence of a major label from iTunes certainly isn't gonna do anything to turn us into a nation of taggers.

Already, new peripherals are popping up to take advantage of the new features in Apple's updated iPod line-up, with Polk Audio's I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 packing a poor man's equivalent of the Starbucks song purchase feature over in-store WiFi. When songs are playing over the built-in HD Radio, users can press a tag button, which creates a custom playlist on docked iPods, allowing songs to be purchased later when at a computer. The ES2 also features XM Connect & Play capability, a CD/DVD drive for audio playback, an alarm clock mode, and 360-degree sound, whatever the hell that is. The ES2 hits next month for $499.

We got our hands on Sony's so-hot new XDR-S3HD home HD radio. Here's the quick rundown:

We like:

• Gorgeous, mid-century modern design.
• Clear, easy to read display, even uses RDS.
• Phone-like reception meter even works with AM/FM.
• Decent enough sound output.

We don't:

• Massive friggin power brick. Oh, and it can't be unplugged from the unit.
• Annoying to scan channels with the dial.
• Included aux cable looks like it will fit your iPhone. But it doesn't.
• Actually still blinks 12:00 if you don't set it. Sheesh.

Peep the photo gallery!

Normally home theater receivers aren't considered anything special, content to switch inputs and power speakers, letting the plasma flat-panel take all the glory. But Yamaha has thrown all the goodies and features into the RX-Z11 receiver, with THX Ultra2 Plus certification for quality assurance, five HDMI 1.3a inputs and two outputs, four component inputs and two outs, and support for five audio and two video zones. It also supports the newest audio codecs, including Dolby TrueHD, and DTS Master Audio. To finish off the features, the receiver also supports terrestrial HD and XM satellite radio, network capabilities and internet radio, and includes an iPod dock for external media. The RX-Z11 comes out in November, for an undisclosed (but surely expensive) price.

Denon has launched a pair of tabletop music players with plenty of features, including wireless streaming and the nearly-ubiquitous dock for your iPod. The $500 S-32 can decode MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, WMV, and Rhapsody subscriptions, while the $700 S-52 adds a CD player, HD radio tuner, satellite radio support (no mention of which service, although won't that be a moot point soon, anyway?) and a USB port for future expansion. Both players will start rocking your desk in October.

Onkyo has the loot for you if you want to hear Oprah and Howard back-to-back, with announcements of five receivers featuring both XM and Sirius satellite radio compatibility. The TX-SR575, TX-SR705, TX-SR805, and TX-SR875 models all support both formats for your radio jones, while the high-end TX-NR905 model also adds support for HD Radio digital broadcasts and an Ethernet jack for Internet radio and multimedia streaming. The receivers all have the usual collection of video ins and outs, and sport 1.3a HDMI connectors with Deep Color capability for switching between sources up to 1080p resolution. No pricing or dates were announced for the TX-SR575, but the TX-SR805 will ship in May for $1099, the TX-SR875 in June for $1699, the TX-SR705 in July for $899, and the TX-NR905 in August for $2099.

Read - Onkyo THX Certified Receivers
Read - Onkyo TX-SR575

Despite Ibiquity choosing to name next generation terrestrial radio after the ever so popular HDTV, it hasn't been widely accepted yet. The initial cost of HD radio tuners has been a big reason and Radiosophy is hoping to change that at NAB, by introducing the first $99 HD Radio, which makes it half as much as the next cheapest model. Like most radios today, it has a few more tricks: it's an alarm clock, has an external antenna connection, as well as the latest must have for any device with speakers, a line input for your MP3 player. According to the release you have to act now to get the $99 price, as those who wait until after July 30th will have to pay $119.99.

We all know how great HD is, if we didn't love it then we wouldn't be here at HDBeat. HD is taking the world by storm and starting to hit critical mass. It's no wonder that some marketing departments have tried to latch on to take advantage, but HD radio?

What could possibly be considered HD about radio? HD or High Definition as defined by answers.com is "The clarity of detail in an optically produced image, such as a photograph, effected by a combination of resolution and contrast." or "The degree of clarity with which a televised image or broadcast signal is received." As you can see this has nothing to do with sound, the worst part is that sound has it's own high quality designation; Hi-Fi, but unfortunately for us and the iBiquity's marketing department that term is so 1970. Regardless of the correct terminology HD Radio is here to stay and the worst part is the sound quality isn't even close to be as good as the audio from HDTV. It is better than AM or FM, but does it deserve to be tagged HD?

So if you have something to market in the consumer electronics world don't forget to either put a 'i' in front of it(iRadio?) or call it HD or it won't succeed.