Mazda's Infotainment is a pile of garbage
Not mentioned in this article is that the cost of a replacement 'head' for the infotainment system is $1500. We all know that car electronics is wildly inflated in price but this isn't the first time I've seen or been offered custom options at many times the cost of generic. A decent Bluetooth radio is less than $100; you can spend more if you want, but why bother?
Mazda also needs a lesson in software development. I know that Microsoft has never been able to process file extensions properly, their mindset is still very much in the DOS 8.3 days. UNIX never had the file extension -- you could add them but it was just part of the name. You'd never, ever, make decisions about a file content based on the name, that's asking for trouble.
(HD radio's crap anyway, I'm surprised that anyone is still bothering with it. Its our (US) answer DAB. Like DAB "Hybrid Digital" is based on proprietary technology, it places one or more digital subcarriers outside the audio band. The audio you get from it low to mediocre quality, its better than DAB because you can still receive the conventional signal but with certain caveats. For example, FM with HD is likely to be broadcast as medium quality mono and AM with HD tends to be noisy, about the same level of hiss that you'd get from a really cheap cassette recorder. Like DAB HD is a redundant technology - when out and about I can stream audio into my car more reliably than I can receive radio stations.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
