[kelly]

Does anyone else have mixed feelings about this?
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/interne....ap/index.html

Quote:

Supporters say the new technology will bring CD-quality sound to FM broadcasts, an end to static for AM and new data features.

Good grief.

 

[CaptBubba]

does that page not display correctly for anyone else using Mozilla? The words don't wrap for me when I load it in 1.2a.

Quote:

"We don't get many items where it's a win-win for everyone. There's no down side," Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said.

What's the win-win? Stations have to buy new equipment, as do consumers, the range isn't increased any, and the same number of radio channels will be avalible. Plus, who really wants to hear hi-fi Britney and talk radio? Wait, maybe this will make people realise just how badly mixed most music is, and maybe they won't dynamically compress these digital streams...nah.

 

[john_jcb]

I get digital music as part of my cable TV package and it is nice to have commercial free music at home. Radio is a different story. I wonder if there will be much of an improvement in quality in mobile applications. I am guessing but I think car based AM/FM listeners makes up the bulk of the users. Will I be able to tell the difference as I bounce along in my truck? I doubt it.

 

[kelly]

Um? I think car audio matters to me. I'm just not sure the promise of new methods of advertising products on my display will be appreciated or that a compressed digital stream of unspecified bandwidth will sound better than the FM we already have.

 

[mbriant]

I read something about small, weaker broadcasters such as college stations, and fringe stations would get squeezed out somehow because digital stations would be utilizing more of their allotted bandwidth than they now do.

 

[Anders]

There could be some good things with digital radio but it very much depends on the content quality of radio stations and how they implement the sound.
We have digital test sendings in Sweden. I have not used it becuase the tuners have been expensive and local shops have not been interested in selling them. Digital radio seems to be most widely spread in UK where most digital radios are produced, now also with some reasonably priced tuners (£100 for a table radio and and 200 - 300 for a tuner).
Sound quality for a good digital tuner seems to be close to analog according to tests in British and German magazines. I don't know if the European standard is used in USA.

There are different options for the bandwidth of the sending. I have read that they not always use the highest bandwidth for music programs in UK, and critisisms of this. I'm not quite shure of this but think the highest bandwidth is about a tenth of a CD, that should be comparable to MP3.

There could be a great advantage with digital radio. There is a function called Dynamic Range Control which make it possible for the listener to set the compression ratio. Nothing at home, maybe a little in the car. If stations will send uncompressed.
Another advantage from the car and travelling point of view is that the same program is sent at the same frequency over different senders.