Have your say & ask the experts

At first we hear the DAB will the saviour of Radio:  No more crackle or hiss, just high quality interference-free
reception all the time. An much much more choice.

OK – so my hearing isn’t what it was 30 years ago, but this
is the same scenario as when CD hit the streets in the early 80’s.  The sound of the new technology is actually
worse than its predecessor (Vinyl)

Then I hear that a whole bunch of stations have disappeared???  Plugs being pulled due to finances etc!!!
-        
Never mind there is still good old
“2LO”

Then I read that in nitty gritty technical terms, all the
compression and jiggery pockery that goes on to packet the sound, fire it over
the airwaves, de-compress and de-packet it, means that the quality ACTUALLY IS
far lower than dear old Joe public has been led to believe.  So my ears are not deceiving me after all.

Not only that, in an attempt to squash as many stations into
the available transmissions gaps, the Govmnt deliberately chose the lower quality
transport medium!!  - How come that doesn’t
really surprise me?

Other countries are falling over themselves to adopt higher
quality infrastructure, (if they didn’t adopt it from the start).

So the much trod upon punter in good old Blighty, is paying
way over the odds for an inferior product, whilst being led to believe they are
paying the high price for high quality.
  -  How much did YOU pay to hear DAB???

Anyone know when they plan to switch off FM?

The Govnmt’s idea of more choice better quality, appears to
me to be bum deal!  
 

Serenity

It's true - all recent research shows gen.public more than happy with DAB sound quality.

Don't blame the technology, blame the broadcasters - they could (and in some cases - BBC! - once did ) use higher bit-rates, but (as with digital TV) have chosen quantity over quality.

Oh, and no plans to switch FM off for the forseeable future - it's not part of the TV digital switchover plans. 

Thanks to all (so far).

I still think the public are getting a raw deal, but dont know it.

The marketing men have earned their dosh, and done a good job.

How many listeners in the DAB land believe they are getting the best that technology can deliver at reasonable cost?

My gripe is not with the public.  My grips is the powers that be that assume they know what we want, then lower the standard and hope to rake in the max cash, whilst selling it as quality, choice and value for money.

As they say "you pay your money, and take your choice"

ONLY we have very little choice in either!

Keep Calm:-

Serenity 

Serenity:

Thanks to all (so far).

I still think the public are getting a raw deal, but dont know it.

The marketing men have earned their dosh, and done a good job.

How many listeners in the DAB land believe they are getting the best that technology can deliver at reasonable cost?

My gripe is not with the public.  My grips is the powers that be that assume they know what we want, then lower the standard and hope to rake in the max cash, whilst selling it as quality, choice and value for money.

As they say "you pay your money, and take your choice"

ONLY we have very little choice in either!

Keep Calm:-

Serenity 

Ah!  A refreshing change to hear from someone who is along the same lines as me. 

I usually get very strange looks or stir up a right old "storm in a tea-cup" when I mention this topic.

I just think that, if we dont air views such as these, the Big Brother style Gvmnt will continue to believe THEY know whats best.  If no one raises their head above the parapet and says "Hang on a minute".  Then their increasingly worrying tactics with grow and multiply.

They are getting good at this sort of thing.
See how meak/mild we all are at paying around £5.45 for a gallon of petrol.   2 years ago that would have been cause for civil war!

Be good!

Serenity 

Serenity:

Ah!  A refreshing change to hear from someone who is along the same lines as me. 

I usually get very strange looks or stir up a right old "storm in a tea-cup" when I mention this topic.

I just think that, if we dont air views such as these, the Big Brother style Gvmnt will continue to believe THEY know whats best.  If no one raises their head above the parapet and says "Hang on a minute".  Then their increasingly worrying tactics with grow and multiply.

They are getting good at this sort of thing.
See how meak/mild we all are at paying around £5.45 for a gallon of petrol.   2 years ago that would have been cause for civil war!

Be good!

Serenity 

JohnDuncan:

And that was my point, in case I was misconstrued and looked like an FM activist - in an ideal world I'd have all those DAB stations at lossless quality and a McIntosh tuner to listen to them (for the one hour a week I do). However, DAB is good enough (and indeed better than FM by perception) for 99% of the population. Democracy at work, i'm afraid, and nothing we can do about it, other than enjoy Radio 4 in FM while we can.

For me, radio is not about pure quality. It's about an instant fix i.e. I want music but I can't be bothered to get a CD / get my iPod etc. so I'll switch on the radio and have a listen. For me, radio is about instant gratification. I listen to the radio when I'm cooking in the kitchen or when I'm driving in my car, not when I'm sitting in my living room / bedroom looking to listen to some music. When I'm in serious listening mood, I know what I want to listen to and it's very unlikely radio will present that exact requirement to me so I wouldn't even bother.

I understand that the higher the quality of radio transmissions, the better, but I've found myself listening to some 192kbs internet radio stations recently and I've loved it. Okay, the sound isn't really "hi-fi", but that's not what radio is to me. It's about listening to a station which plays music I like without the effort on my part. Is it possible this is how a lot of other people feel?

Same with TV for me. I'm not bothered about TV really, I know the quality is far worse and this is why I generally watch either DVDs or Blu-Rays, but sometimes you just want to sit back and do nothing. TV offers you this luxury!

Again, just some thoughts, don't hate me for them!