Poll: DAB+ is the future? Digital terrestrial radio broadcasting

Which method do you prefer when listening to radio

  • Total voters
    36
  • Poll closed .
yes I have some nice concerts (eg cure) captured from their 2019 Glastonbury coverage. ... listened to the 320aac radio and watched the simulcast pictures on the tv;
Radio 6 has some nice concerts too.

If it's nice audio quality, personally will experiment/dip into more muical gendres.

jpaul said:
if they were delivering radio 4 & co. at, the 320Kb/s aac you can digitally stream
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PiKe said:
Isn't he just referring to using the Internet for the sole way to distribute radio? He would be right in that regard, and it wouldn't be radio then :p
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If you're referring to @4K8KW10 , then his argument is that Internet radio isn't a national service locked if you will to a specific country. That's true enough. The Internet crosses geographic boundaries and administration zones.

The difficulty here is that we've left the world of strict geographical limits far behind us. One could argue that in radio this happened with the advent of shortwave radio. The ability of shortwave to reach over the horizon enabled broadcasters to connect with listeners in different countries. This has been happening for the better part of 100 years.

Other AM radio bands have been used too, of course.

Radio Luxembourg was broadcasting to the UK on MW from the early 1930s and also a huge swathe of Europe. The pirate radio stations such as Carolyn broadcast from international waters.

What's happening with Internet Radio then isn't anything radical or even all that new. The key differences are that the tech makes it cheaper and easier to get message out. The construction of the shows though could (and is often) just the same as any local or national terrestrial radio broadcaster. In fact, quite a lot of the radio stations found on the 'net are simply simultaneous broadcasts of the terrestrial station.

I get the distinct impression that @4K8KW10 confuses streaming and Internet radio as meaning the same thing.

What's very clear though, certainly from the UK's approach to DAB, is that Internet radio is something that the Government's Radio Policy Group wants to exclude from its Digital Radio Action Plan. It is seen as an inconvenient competitor to DAB/DAB+.
 
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"Tuesday 26 January 2021, London, UK: WorldDAB announces the appointment of Martin Koch, Head of Development Entertainment & Car Functions at Volkswagen Car SW.Org Wolfsburg AG, as the Chairman of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group.
The WorldDAB Automotive Working Group brings together radio broadcasters and auto makers to collaborate on improving the DAB+ digital radio experience for drivers. Under his chairmanship, the Automotive Working Group will continue its work to:

  • Provide guidelines on implementing the DAB+ features which allow broadcasters to offer a richer audio and multimedia experience to the in-car listener
  • Develop further the Group’s ongoing work on enhancing the in-car user experience for DAB+ and hybrid radio
  • Expand the Group’s focus to cover the DAB+ user experience via voice control
“I am honoured to take over chairmanship and continue the work of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group” said Martin Koch. “As cars become increasingly connected, we need to ensure that drivers have access to a complete multimedia experience that combines a great user interface, rich content, and more importantly, a truly hybrid experience that offers seamless transition between broadcast, IP and on-demand.”

Martin Koch replaces Laurence Harrison, who chaired the WorldDAB AWG from 2015 to 2020 and leaves a strong legacy of developments. Under his leadership, the Group produced globally adopted industry guidelines on the best user interface for in-car digital radios, made advances in enhanced antenna and network performance and, more recently, increased broadcaster awareness on the importance of metadata in improving the visual experience of radio in the car.

Alongside Martin Koch, Gregor Pötzsch, Product Owner DAB at Volkswagen Car SW.Org Wolfsburg AG, becomes the Chairman of a sub-group of the Automotive Working Group that is focused on further enhancing the in-car digital radio user experience.

These appointments underline the important role that WorldDAB plays in keeping radio prominent in the digital dash, supporting the radio and auto industries in bringing new content and an improved listening experience to the driver."

https://mailchi.mp/51c305419e2e/worlddab-automotive-news-december-812362
 
4K8KW10 said:
You are free to leave the thread instead of spamming it :D
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The title of your thread is "DAB+ is the future? Digital terrestrial radio broadcasting". It asks a question, and by implication, it invites debate.

Bearing in mind that this is principally a UK-centric forum, several of us have attempted to engage you in debate in response to your question, and in those responses we have presented the case from the British point of view.

You seem to have abandoned the concept of debate, and taken instead to simply regurgitating large sections of prose directly from press and public relations sites with little or no commentary from you to move the debate forward. Whilst this may not be against the letter of the terms and conditions of forum use, I feel quite strongly that it is working against the spirit of this forum.

Further, one could take the view that in simply copy and pasting such pieces without commentary, that those posts are a spam-like. This is something that is against forum Terms & Conditions.

Perhaps it's time this thread was closed?
 
Surely asking for the thread to be closed/deleted is a bit harsh?

I absolutely disagree with 4K8KW10, but ultimately this thread isn't doing anything of harm. In fact I'd argue it's making the guy look bad to anyone who comes across it. I don't think silencing people who irritate us is a good way to go for the forum, this isn't Twitter or whatever cesspool social media that's popular on the internet. Furthermore, he'd just open up another damn thread that was similarly annoying yet milk-toast-enough to continue for weeks on end without closure.
 
Gray2233 said:
Surely asking for the thread to be closed/deleted is a bit harsh?

I absolutely disagree with 4K8KW10, but ultimately this thread isn't doing anything of harm. In fact I'd argue it's making the guy look bad to anyone who comes across it. I don't think silencing people who irritate us is a good way to go for the forum, this isn't Twitter or whatever cesspool social media that's popular on the internet. Furthermore, he'd just open up another damn thread that was similarly annoying yet milk-toast-enough to continue for weeks on end without closure.
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If I wanted to silence him I’d just block him lol. As Lucid has pointed out, he created this thread that is basically advertising. It’s all sound bites , with no real opinions from the OP .

He’s also just banging on about DAB+ and quoting Europe and how great it is. This is the UK . It’s rubbish in this country and he can’t argue the point when It’s pointed out by most of the members replying to the topic. His sole input to even try to justify it is a lame car radio YouTube video .

I’m all for freedom of speech, but sometimes sanity has to interject lol.
 
Gray2233 said:
Surely asking for the thread to be closed/deleted is a bit harsh?

I absolutely disagree with 4K8KW10, but ultimately this thread isn't doing anything of harm. In fact I'd argue it's making the guy look bad to anyone who comes across it. I don't think silencing people who irritate us is a good way to go for the forum, this isn't Twitter or whatever cesspool social media that's popular on the internet. Furthermore, he'd just open up another damn thread that was similarly annoying yet milk-toast-enough to continue for weeks on end without closure.
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@Gray2233, you make some valid points.

I agree that having the thread deleted would be harsh. I don't believe anyone has asked for that. Also, to do that would be counterproductive. No one learns if we delete history, so that would definitely be a step too far, IMO. Having said that, there has to be respect for the forum and for its members, and that includes not abusing the privilege to post.

@TALON1973 mentioned freedom of speech. You mentioned about silencing people. I don't want to see people silenced. That's not how we learn and grow.

At the same time too though, freedom of speech comes with certain requirements and responsibilities. If there's to be freedom to express views then it also has to be expected that others have the freedom to challenge those views. This is how we arrive at the point of having a debate, and there are a few different definitions of what constitutes debate, a lot of it centres on supporting a position with balanced, reasoned arguments backed-up by robust and relevant evidence.

We don't get anywhere if one side simply decides to rant on and disregard any counterarguments. That's what I feel @4K8KW10 is doing with his "PR Department" posts.

In effect it feels like he's just shouting us down and saying "Well it's like this in these countries, so you're all wrong in the UK". I don't refute the evidence that car makers are including DAB radios, or that new transmitters are being set up, or that new people are being appointed to certain positions in businesses or Government bodies. But equally I don't accept that as some kind of proof that DAB/DAB+ is automatically superior, which appears to be @4K8KW10's expectation. That's not supporting a position with robust and relevant evidence.

If this thread has become a soapbox by a backdoor route for @4K8KW10 to shout the gospel according to Saint DAB+ of Berlin then how is it serving and enriching the membership?
 
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I've been loving reading through this thread. DAB is an answer to a problem that no longer exists, so no wonder governments are wasting millions on pushing it.
Broadcast media only exists for boomers these days. I'm 40 and I don't even own a radio at home, and the one in my car isn't even tuned in. Like with my TV being plugged into a PC, my car connects to my phone as soon as I sit in it. Same at work when driving the truck, just hook my phone up and choose my own content. And you don't even need look at or touch your phone these days, you just talk to it and ask it for what you want.

Look at what's happening with tech right now:
Ever cheaper data plans
StarLink internet solving geographic issues
5g role out
Carplay/Android Auto becoming the norm
Alexa type devices for the home

I can't see what future terrestrial radio has long term. Fair enough if you want a curated radio show, or talkradio or whatever, but chances are you won't be listening through DAB. Why waste millions(probably billions by now) on this nonsense when we could push for better internet connectivity.
All new cars post 2018 have embedded phones systems for the eCall system, can't be that hard to chuck a data SIM in them and do away with radios all together.
I know I'm hardly outlier in my age group for ditching broadcast media almost entirely, and the trend will only continue. Go to any workplace these in days, where once you would had a radio in the background, these days it's someone's phone though a Bluetooth speaker or everyone wearing their own ear buds.
Just look at how TV's are marketed these days, no one even mentions Freeview, it's all about built in streaming apps....

..... but yeah, DAB+ will change radio forever.
 
Sales of DAB+ devices increase by almost a quarter
https://www.radiowoche.de/absatz-von-dab-geraeten-steigt-um-fast-ein-viertel/

"According to the GfK retail panel, 4.2 million audio devices (home theater systems, radios, tuners, receivers, after-sales car radios) were sold in Germany in 2020 as a whole. 38 percent of them are able to receive DAB+, compared to 2019 the entire digital radio segment grew by 23 percent. Around 70 percent of all portable radios sold last year are DAB-compatible."

DAB+ is free-to-air. No SIM card required, no annoying contracts with greedy GSM operators.


StarLink internet solving geographic issues
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lol 100$ monthly charge.
 
4K8KW10 said:
"Tuesday 26 January 2021, London, UK: WorldDAB announces the appointment of Martin Koch, Head of Development Entertainment & Car Functions at Volkswagen Car SW.Org Wolfsburg AG, as the Chairman of the WorldDAB Automotive Working Group.
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will be interesting if they provide car radio functionality that seemlessly switches between DAB/Fm and internet streams,
(as you say car head units giving access to streams are few on the ground)

a preset for paradise (they do seem to repeat their content regularly, even though they are HQ), radio 4, Linn radio, would suit me fine.
 
Problem with the above is the streams are not in sync so you would need to buffer them in the car.

Happy to just use both our cars inbuilt wifi hotspots / data plans and have good audio quality with more choice.

As more and more cars become "connected" streaming music will become the goto, will just take a while for this to trickle down from the high end vehicle makes / models.
 
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