DAB already on it's last legs in England and elsewhere...

[radiopilot]

Hopefully Iboc is also on it's way too as listeners are not flocking to buy recievers even if the early adopter geeks are buying them, and the average 'Joe' could care less about HD radio.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2008/01/31/enders-report-uks-digital-audio-facing-extinction/

HD radio was as I've said before 15 years too late!

Radiopilot

 

[clouseau]

Hopefully Iboc is also on it's way too as listeners are not flocking to buy recievers even if the early adopter geeks are buying them, and the average 'Joe' could care less about HD radio.

http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2008/01/31/enders-report-uks-digital-audio-facing-extinction/

HD radio was as I've said before 15 years too late!

Radiopilot

At times I wonder if people believe everything as fact.

From the "Enders Analysis" webpage at

http://www.endersanalysis.com/aboutus/

Enders Analysis offers its subscribers research generated by a programme covering the major commercial, regulatory and strategic issues in mobile and fixed line telecoms, TV and the Internet, as well as the major content businesses such as music, publishing and advertising.

Lucky for us they also represent radio... Oh wait...

Not EXACTLY unbiased.

And this article was linked earlier as "DAB is the Betamax of Radio" earlier.

Clouseau

 

[KB1OKL]

Germany just ended DAB after ten years.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/28/germany_switches_dab_off/

 

[dbdigital]

Continuing on with the story about DAB funding being cut in Germany. The Sunday Times of London said this:

"In Germany last week, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), the service that offers easier tuning and catchup facilities to radio listeners, had its funding cut because of poor take-up. One reason was that consumers were switching to listening online, a classic case of a new technology being overtaken by an even newer one before it has had a chance to take hold (remember how laser discs were overtaken by DVDs?)."

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article3287726.ece

Could this happen here with internet radio overtaking HD Radio (or satellite radio)? Looks like it could happen.

BTW, I thought the comparison of digital broadcasting to laser discs was choice.

db

 

[R.F. Burns]

I don't think anyone would argue that when infrustructure is put in place which makes internet radio available to people in automobiles and on portable devices that it willl become the prefered method for receiving content. That's all well & good but it's 2007 not 2017 and as of this date there is no infrustructure in place to receive the internet in a mobile environment and as of this time, not everyone has access to high speed internet. Cost is also a concern at this point. Today if you want to listen to radio in this country, once you've purchased a radio there is no further fee (other than an electric bill or the cost of batteries). Will internet radio also be a "free" service? While Germany might be able to go this route, you can't compare what it will take to provide wireless internet to Germany with what it will take to cover the US. In total area alone, where the US has 9,826,630 sq KM of land, Germany only has an area of 351,021 sq KM.

 

[Play Freebird]

Another reason DAB has been slow to catch on in Germany: Listeners remain satisfied with the performance of analog FM. RDS, with its "alternate frequency" automatic retuning function is running on nearly all of the stations, and many factory-installed car radios include this feature. You can tune in a regional station in Munich and drive all day through Bavaria without having to touch the dial. The public networks maintain excellent main transmitter sites, as well as translators to provide fill-in service to small communities, and their philosophy towards audio processing generally favors quality over quantity.

I would guess the Germans decided to concentrate on internet radio because, as a software-defined system, it offers an easy upgrade path.

Although Eureka-147 DAB offers the advantage of single frequency networks, weak error correction and mediocre audio quality of its "hard wired" MPEG-1 Layer-2 codec leave much to be desired. An updated standard (DAB+), which uses the AAC+ codec, has recently been introduced in Europe, but it's not backwards compatible with existing receivers.

 

[R.F. Burns]

Again, what is good for Germany is does not necessarily translate into success in this country. The broadcast demands of the European community are much different than what is needed to service our needs. Stating that e must duplicate what Europe is doing would be like insisting that all Americans be multi lingual. While being multi lingual is a nice idea for Americans, in Europe it is almost a necessity. In the UK they pay an annual receiver license fee. Should we emulate that aspect of European life too.