On holiday in Canada last summer, our Dodge Avenger had a fantastic satellite radio which could pick up over 100 stations - everything from classical music to rock to comedy ? and all without advertising.
Is there any reason why we can't have a similar system in the UK? Are there plans to introduce satellite radio here?
I tried a Dab converter in my car but it was absolute rubbish. I think there is a small subscription for satellite, but I'd be happy to pay a few pounds a month for such a great service.
I suppose some of the content would upset a lot of people here. If you think Russell Brand is rude, try listening to Howard Stern!
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Internet enabled mobile phone and and you can have thousands of radio stations to listen to.
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Internet enabled mobile phone and and you can have thousands of radio stations to listen to.
Yes, provided you only drive in areas with decent 3G coverage and you're on a flat fee download package; I suppose, or it could get seriously expensive!
Personally I'm happy with the audio quality of DAB, I use it extensively for Planet Rock, 6 Music and BBC7. Higher bitrates would mean less channels and hence less choice, may as well go back to hissy FM then :-/
The DVB-T standard used for Freeview certainly isn't optimised for high speed mobile usage, neither is the forthcoming DVB-T2 to be used for Freeview HD transmissions IIRC, pity really as they would allow a decent audio quality with plenty of channels without consuming large chunks of expensive bandwidth.
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DAB is awful, it should never have been pushed as it is obsolete before it became popular. You can thank the government and OFCOM for that. The BBC alone have spent £67 on advertising it for every DAB set sold.
Satellite Radio would need a new satellite launch over Europe. I have no idea whether it's on it's way, as radio is considered a diminishing format in the EU, due to high licensing (TAX) and PRS performing rights fees compared to the USA. That's why most independent internet-only radio is not from the UK or EU but from USA and Asia.
Edited by Hamsafar on 30/10/2008 at 20:47
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"DAB is awful, it should never have been pushed as it is obsolete before it became popular. You can thank the government and OFCOM for that. The BBC alone have spent £67 on advertising it for every DAB set sold."
I assume you mean DAB on the move? Best thing I ever bought was a DAB radio - in particular 6music and cricket on 5live extra.
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I assume you mean DAB on the move? Best thing I ever bought was a DAB radio - in particular 6music and cricket on 5live extra.
I agree, couple of DAB radios in the house and no problems for me.
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Satellite Radio would need a new satellite launch over Europe. I have no idea whether it's on it's way as radio is considered a diminishing format in the EU due to high licensing (TAX) and PRS performing rights fees compared to the USA. That's why most independent internet-only radio is not from the UK or EU but from USA and Asia.
What?? I have two Internet radios - thousands of stations receivable and pretty much EVERY UK station (including vast numbers of internet-only I've never heard of) are available. Also thousands of European stations.
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We do already have satellite radio in this country. I have a receiver upstairs!
Have a look at: www.worldspace.com
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Are there any decent DAB converters for cars out there?
If there's nothing on R4 I'm lost and would love to be able to get 6 Music and R7
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Are there any decent DAB converters for cars out there?
Pure do a thing called the 'Highway' that seems to be a cross between a DAB radio and an iTrip. Not sure if it's any good.
I love DAB, and have three radios at home. Heavy use of Planet Rock and BBC7 (comedy, drama etc reruns. Goon Show, anyone?). Reception is mixed. Downstairs radio has too small an aerial, needs replacing as reception can be very poor. I used to listen to a portable DAB on the train, but could only get signal when I had the aerial extended. People did give me a funny look, but I didn't care as I was listening to Alice Cooper! I suspect that a car-based system would need a serious aerial to give consistent reception.
HTH,
Cheers,
Alex.
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I see from that link Fiat have signed a deal for satellite radio in its cars from late next year.
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DAB doesn't seem to work too well in cars. But is there any reason why some clever electronics firm could not produce an in-car receiver for the radio stations on Freeview? These are already being broadcast, and you get BBC 6 and 7, and loads of other digital stations.
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But Freeview is digital too; wouldn't that give the same problems as DAB in an in-car installation? I'm in a marginal Freeview area, but I get a decent signal at home after paying £150 for a full-spec digital aerial. (It helps when the leaves are off the big tree outside my house too!) I don't have a DAB set - I too have gone the Internet radio route for my home listening.
My method for harvesting Freeview for alternative en-route entertainment is a bit convoluted but worth the effort. (Even the most hardened Radio 4 listener can take only so much of Eddie Mair sounding pleased with himself before reaching for the off switch.)
I set my Freeview HDD recorder to record the programmes I'd otherwise miss on R4 and R7. I then offload the files from the recorder to my laptop, where I run them through a converter to turn them into MP3s. These I then copy to my Ipod, so I can listen to them in the car.
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I see from that link Fiat have signed a deal for satellite radio in its cars from late next year.
Must.....resist........aarrgghhhh.....can't.....
This can't be true as surely Fiat are an unimportant manufacturer producing vile junk?
Sorry.........but I feel better for that.
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DAB is awful it should never have been pushed as it is obsolete before it became popular. You can thank the government and OFCOM for that. The BBC alone have spent £67 on advertising it for every DAB set sold.
The problem with DAB is that the UK version of it is too heavily compressed. Fine for speech, lousy for music
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Brilliant Sat radio in the PT Cruiser we had in the states - best channel ? Blue Collar Radio - laughed like a drain for hours on end at the politically incorrect, but brilliantly observed, humour.
ABBA channel was totally entertaining for about 5 miles.
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? Blue Collar Radio - laughed like a drain for hours on end at the politically incorrect but brilliantly observed humour.
Totally agree, especially the "you know you're a redneck when..." jokes - none of which are repeatable here!
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none of which are repeatable here!
No but you can listen to it online if you know where to look. ;-)
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>>The BBC alone have >> spent £67 on advertising it for every DAB set sold.
6.94 million DAB sets have been sold in the uk. I dont think the BBC have spent 462 million pounds advertising DAB
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6.94 million DAB sets have been sold in the uk. I dont think the BBC have spent 462 million pounds advertising DAB
No, that's because they don't pay for it. They have spent the equivalent of that in commercial time pushing bubbling mud.
Drop the DAB donkey, says analyst - Farewell, consortium
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/09/uncouple_dab_alba.../
C4 abandons DAB - Digital burden is killing radio
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/10/c4_abandons_dab/
Fixing the UK's DAB disaster - Beyond the bubbling mud
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/02/dab_disaster_anal.../
DAB: A very British failure - Taxpayers to subsidise the digital radio flop?
www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/06/dab_fail/
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I still prefer a couple of seconds of bubbling mud every hour ( which is what I get with a piece of bell wire hanging out the back of my Pure dmx-50, never mind a proper aerial) to the constant background hiss of a less than perfect FM signal. I'm no 'golden ear' audiophile but I can tell the quality difference between Planet Rock at 128K bitrate and Classic FM at 160K; but I'd still rather have the wider choice of stations that current MP2 coded DAB allows.
Of course if we were to start again from scratch things would be different, but they aren't; this ""failure"" has an installed base of over 6 million!
>>No, that's because they don't pay for it. They have spent the equivalent of that in commercial time pushing bubbling mud.
So it's a number someone's made up to suit their agenda then....
To keep vaguely motoring related I reckon it's the lack of cheap in car DAB availability that has held DAB back, and I can't see that changing.
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