Originally Posted by Phil Dodd:
“But there is still the ongoing DAB disaster of “waiting until a certain percentage of listeners are using DAB until we switch over”. All that is, is an excuse to do nothing. This is an industry that indeed wants to coast along doing nothing. With technology, you can't do that. I worked for over 30 years in the computer business. The first computer that I worked with was made in 1955, and was finally decommissioned in 1976 – that's 21 years. The next one lasted 4 years. And so it goes on, such that computers are outdated as they leave the factory. No sane industry is going to still have not fully implemented a technical system 35 years after it was initiated.”
In a time where people are changing far more expensive TV's, mobile phones, computers, games consoles, broadband services and other tech devices every few years, if that in some cases. Yet radio is the odd one out. If you ask someone of the idea of replacing their FM or even DAB only radio with a DAB+ one, the reply will likely come back as "no, absolutely not". There is this idea with FM switchover and DAB+ transition that whilst a single FM/DAB only radio exists, we can't switch. If we applied that thinking to digital TV switchover, we'd still be broadcasting in 405-line black and white!
There is also the problem that we are looking at FM with rose tinted glasses - FM isn't perfect - the concepts of a lower sample rate than a standard DAB(+) station, less spectrum efficient and noticeable hiss being annoying are suddenly ignored. You're seeing the same behaviour with DAB now DAB+ is here - the concepts of a lower audio quality than DAB+ for the same bitrate, less spectrum efficient and noticeable "bubbling mud" because DAB error protection is less efficient than DAB+ are suddenly ignored sees history repeating itself.
Originally Posted by Phil Dodd:
“There is now the debate about DAB+. The fact remains that nobody can listen on DAB+ if they can't buy the equipment that decodes it. I keep saying that one of the biggest retailers in the UK, Tesco, has digital radios on the shelves none of which decode DAB+. Every mobile phone in the UK, which people under 25 use as their multimedia device, has an FM radio but no DAB or DAB+. Apparently there is one model of phone in Europe that has a DAB radio, but it isn't yet imported into the UK.”
The idea that there are still DAB only sets is a shambles. Even with the Digital Radio UK tick mark (or in the case of Norway, their equivalent), there is still a situation where lower priced sets (the ones most people tend to buy) are like the digital radio wild west.
Even worse is that there is little to no consumer information about radio tuner sensitivity. Someone can buy a DAB radio for any price and just expect it to work. Online reviews are very subjective - one person can state a radio works well, another can complain it doesn't work. When I did my own personal investigation into pocket radio tuner sensitivity (the one radio type where sensitivity is vital and information was badly lacking for consumers to make a informed decision), I was surprised at the wide chasm between radios. A couple of radios I had could detect, one locked onto, the weak Derbyshire multiplex which only the likes of the Sangean DPR-69+/Roberts Play or Wintal DAB10B could lock on to whilst others couldn't even maintain a stable signal from a mast three kilometeres away! Price is not a determiner of radio reception, a radio costing at the moment £40 can beat one costing £60+ though even with this information to hand, price is a major determining factor in a decision to purchase a radio. Depressingly, there seems to be some correlation between higher sales numbers on Amazon and pocket radios with weaker tuners. Which can't help the reputation of DAB being one of poor reception and 'not a patch on FM'.
As for FM radio in mobile phones and DAB being missing, the trend is for mobile phone manufacturers to remove these tuners from sets, with one exception, the LG Stylus 2. But that phone is an outlier. Mobile phone manufacturers and networks would rather we use more financially lucrative for them mobile data for radio listening at a time where mobile phone prices are rising significantly, data allowances are falling, add-ons are being sold to consumers so networks can profit and the mobile phone networks are raising prices of their packages as the addiction of smartphones really takes hold. And even then, you're more likely to see people using their smartphones to listen to MP3's, Spotify Premium or another streaming service than listen to radio on the move.
