Radio gaga

[Drago]

I too was an early adopter of DAB.

However, with streaming now so ubiquitious the only DAB I listen to now js on my little personal radio while walking the dog. At home I stream radio stations from Alexa, in the car I stream from my 4G tablet and listen to radio via that...I teally can't see the point of DAB now.

Broadcast radio as a means of distribution is dying on its arse. Fair play to the government for authorising the new standard, but even a technophobe like me has gone beyond that already. In 10 years radio broadcast directly to the consumer via radio waves simply won't be a thing any more.

As an aside, its fruatrating how DAB has been trwatedmin this country. The potential is there for some decent bit rates, but the lure of the filthy lucre means so many staions are rammed in to each multiplex the bit rate needs to suffer to accommodate them. Some stations are 96 wotsits a seconf, and in mono - why bother at all?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Radio? I still listen to morse.

 

[Drago]

Every night I drag the 700lb battery home from the bike shop where it wasmon charge and listen to Marconi shouting rude words across the atlantic, thinking no one can hear him.

 

[cougie uk]

Dab in the car - and Alexa radio at home.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Some stations are 96 wotsits a seconf, and in mono - why bother at all?

I think 96 words a second is pretty fast for a song.

 

[newfhouse]

Fair play to he government for authorising the new standard

Too little, too late. DAB+ was developed in 2006 and could have been implemented a decade ago if Ofcom and the radio industry had got off their backsides.

 

[Drago]

Inceed. DAB is superb for thrash metal.

 

[Drago]

Ofcum (as radio hams call them) are there to make money, so spend the bulk of their time selling the spectrum. Useful stuff like this is very mich an afterthought.

 

[figbat]

Home:

• DAB for the bedside radio (on the basis that Alexa is never going to be invited into my bedroom, and phones/tablets are also excluded overnight).
• Alexa in living spaces; one in the kitchen/diner/family room and another in the sitting room connected to a Technics stacking system from the '80s, with turntable

Car:

• DAB if it works, FM if not. The car is clever enough to switch between DAB and FM as required to maintain a constant output. I can tell when it switches from one to the other by the change in apparent sound quality.

There are two DAB blackspots on my commute where DAB always disappears, just for 50 metres or so but always, without fail, in the same place.

 

[newfhouse]

Ofcum (as radio hams call them) are there to make money, so spend the bulk of their time selling the spectrum. Useful stuff like this is very mich an afterthought.

As an ex employee I’d dispute that always being the case, at least at an operational level. There is sometimes a necessarily slow approach, often determined by the need to work with bureaucratic international standards bodies.

Oh, and the spectrum auction cash goes straight to HM Treasury.

 

[DaveReading]

Too little, too late. DAB+ was developed in 2006 and could have been implemented a decade ago if Ofcom and the radio industry had got off their backsides.

Quite so - there are posts on CC from more than 10 years ago extolling the advantages of DAB+.

 

[Drago]

I didn't think it went to the Ofcum biscuit fund.

 

[MntnMan62]

No idea what DAB is. I mostly listen to my iPod or NPR on WNYC FM. I rarely listen to music on the radio since they rarely if ever play what I like. My wife has Sirius and I still can't find anything I like for the most part. Occassionally I'll find something decent. But it's too much trouble. That's why I like my iPod. And I learn about new music from friends. I then search it and check it out to see if I want to own it. I have no interest in paying in perpetuity for streaming music. If that makes me an ornery old fart, you would be correct. Although at 58 I don't feel old. Except when some medical issue arises that tells me I need to exercise more and lose weight.

 

[newfhouse]

No idea what DAB is.

It’s Digital Audio Broadcasting, a radio standard used in much of the civilised world. I think the incompatible US standard is HD Radio, but as you say, you also have Sirius via satellite.

I only listen regularly to a couple of US stations, both non-commercial and listener supported, Radio Paradise and KEXP.

 

[MntnMan62]

It’s Digital Audio Broadcasting, a radio standard used in much of the civilised world. I think the incompatible US standard is HD Radio, but as you say, you also have Sirius via satellite.

I only listen regularly to a couple of US stations, both non-commercial and listener supported, Radio Paradise and KEXP.

Ah. So DAB is the same thing as our Sirius? Got it.