Will 'Digital' Radio Be Next?

[shapeshifter]

Will we soon be needing to replace all our radios or buy converter boxes in order to keep hearing radio?

 

[USS KG5]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

 

[Garrovick]

Well, we have digital TV and the new blu-ray. I think as soon as the industry and government can make money off of a conversion it will be in the works. Probably some thing like the conversion from tube to transistor radios. It seems to be the logical plan of action.

 

[Brent]

not anytime soon though, look how long it is taking them to transition to digital tv

i think a lot of people are going with alternatives to radio anyway, like XM

 

[Verteron]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

Several countries have DAB radio already. Here's a map:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/DABcountries.png

In the UK, though, it's now more popular to watch radio using audio-only broadcasts over Freeview (our terrestrial digital TV system), Satellite TV or the Internet.

DAB's pretty good, although there were complaints in the early days about quality (they're working on improving this) actually being worse than FM, since some stations were being transmitted in mono at bitrates less than 100kbps (i.e. much worse than MP3, whereas FM can be near CD quality when you tune it properly!). Better bitrates and the new DAB+ system are improving things though.

The Government regulator OFCOM (a bit like your FCC) is looking to switch off analogue radio here some time between 2017 and 2020.

 

[JoeZhang]

DAB's pretty good, although there were complaints in the early days about quality (they're working on improving this) actually being worse than FM, since some stations were being transmitted in mono at bitrates less than 100kbps

I think you still have talk fm at 96kbps and then Planet rock at 128kbps but that's about it. I'm in a bad reception area so they are poor for me anyway.

 

[Squiggy]

Will we soon be needing to replace all our radios or buy converter boxes in order to keep hearing radio?

It already exists. You do need to buy a new radio to hear it, but the industry will never allow it to replace analog due to the millions of car radios and the proliferation of other media (CD, iPod, XM/Sirius).

Radio is limping along as it is. Getting behind this would kill it.

 

[JoeZhang]

Will we soon be needing to replace all our radios or buy converter boxes in order to keep hearing radio?

It already exists. You do need to buy a new radio to hear it, but the industry will never allow it to replace analog due to the millions of car radios and the proliferation of other media (CD, iPod, XM/Sirius).

Radio is limping along as it is. Getting behind this would kill it.

I listen to a *lot* of radio but I notice that since I downloaded spotify (see thread in misc) I haven't turned it on once...

 

[bryce]

Yeah, digital "HD Radio" already exists in the US - most people just aren't aware of it!

http://www.hdradio.com/
http://www.hdradio.com/what_is_hd_digital_radio.php

(Hell, I live in a semi-rural part of west-central Illinois, and our local public radio station offers HD radio!)

You have to buy a special reciever and those can be expensive right now and sometimes hard to find (none of my local stores sell them but I live in a pretty rural area) - but in time I imagine prices will drop & availability of both stations and recieves will increase.

(Target sells them I understand.)

The cool thing about it is that it you have an HD Radio reciever, just like with digital TV you not only get MUCH better sound qualitly, you also get multiple "channels" (or whatever they are called) from each station - here our local Public Radio (NPR, classical, Jazz, etc) comes in regular radion on 91.3, but if I had a digital HD Radio recviever I could also switch to 91.3/2 and listen to their broadcast of XPN (electic, indie & 70's & 80's "classics"...)

I can't afford a digital HD Radio reciever for my car (and they don't make MP3 devices with digital recievers yet - mine just gets standard FM) and at home I can listen to XPN streaming online so I don't need one for home - but the local coffee shop has one (that's how I first discovered HD Radio even *existed*!)

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

That's TV, not radio.

 

[JoeZhang]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

Years away - 2017 at the earliest and that might never happen.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Digital radio, or DAB, has been around in the UK for years. It is very good, when it works, but ultimately I can't see it totally replacing FM radio any time soon.

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

That's TV, not radio.

It's BOTH.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

That's TV, not radio.

It's BOTH.

It is not, Radio switchover has yet to be given a date. DAB has been going for a while, yes, but there has yet to be an official target for switch off of analogue radio. There's supposed to be a review of AM radio this year and one of FM in 2012, but until then there is no timetable for it.

 

[JoeZhang]

Well that's good, because I was under the impression that come 2011 or 2012 the only radio that will be available to UK listeners will be digital radio.

That's TV, not radio.

It's BOTH.

NOPE.

A lot of mongs are under the mis-conception that because analogue TV will be switched off in 2012 that also means that FM and AM radio will be switched off in 2012 as well. This is not correct, because as you will be able to read below, no date has been set for FM to be switched off by -- there hasn't even been a date set for AM to be switched off by. FM will eventually be switched off, but it almost certainly won't be before 2017, and it is more likely to be in around 2020.

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/fm_switch-off.htm

 

[All Seeing Eye]

It's going to be one day very soon not long after the TV switch-over. Trust me on this.

 

[JoeZhang]

It's going to be one day very soon not long after the TV switch-over. Trust me on this.

Yeah - because companies are going to turn off their profitable FM radio networks so people can only turn into the current lose making DAB networks... and during a recession the govt is going to force them to do so...

Do you ever consider, you know, thinking before you post? Since you got the most basic facts wrong, why would we want to trust you on this issue?

a digital migration plan would not kick in until digital radio accounts for more than 50% of all radio listening and national DAB coverage met current FM levels. Digital radio currently accounts for 18.3% of all radio listening. It also said local DAB must reach 90% of the population and all major roads before migration could begin. This was unlikely to be before 2015, it said, although industry initiatives could be introduced to hasten this date.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/29/digital-radio-lord-carter-report

 

[wamdue]

the only way DAB will work, is if they switched off FM, which I dont see happening.

DAB in its current form is rubbish, as for it being able to cover major roads, isnt it jsut as important that cars be able to receive digital radio? Is there a movement towards putting DAB in cars?

 

[JoeZhang]

the only way DAB will work, is if they switched off FM, which I dont see happening.

DAB in its current form is rubbish, as for it being able to cover major roads, isnt it jsut as important that cars be able to receive digital radio? Is there a movement towards putting DAB in cars?

It's just doesn't make any sense at the moment, the coverage is just not there...

I think DAB is going to be a lost technology, by 2017-2020, god knows how we'll be able to stream radio...

 

[wamdue]

ill be honest I listen to most of my radio online, on freeview, or on FM in the car.

DAB needs serious investment by many companys, be it radio itself, or as mentioned car manufactures putting DAB in new cars, not sure what to do with older cars.