Welcome to digital radio, it's finally here
You've probably heard of Freeview, but Adam Turner asks if you knew that digital radio finally launches in Australia this month.
Amid all the talk about digital television, it's easy to miss the fact that digital radio broadcasts officially kicked off across Australia this month.
The launch is staggered across five capital cities, with transmissions likely to be at low power during the evenings for the first few weeks while possible interference with television signals is assessed. The timetable is as follows;
Perth - 4 May
Melbourne - 11 May
Adelaide - 18 May
Brisbane - 25 May
Sydney - 30 May
ABC and SBS are expected to commence digital services in June. It's interesting that digital radio finally launches in Australia, to little fanfare, just as Freeview launches its next big push for the take up of digital television. Both digital television and radio were originally slated to start on January 1, 2001, but digital radio never quite got off the ground despite several trials.
So of course the big question is, why would I want to throw away my old radio and spend hundreds of dollars to go digital? Perhaps it's best to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. This is copied from the industry website www.digitalradioplus.com.au;
* Clearer sound and improved reception
* Extra features such as extra channels, pause and rewind radio, downloadable music, more details about the advertised product, slideshows, scrolling text, Electronic Program Guides, updated news, sports and racing information. Just to name a few
* Extra channels potentially doubles the number of commercial stations
* Tuning by station name, not frequency, making it easy to find favourite stations
* A wider choice of shows and program highlights better meets the needs of niche audiences
Sounds like it was copied almost word for word from the digital television handbook, doesn't it? I admit those reasons are enough to get me interested in digital television, but I can't say they tempt me to embrace digital radio. The only time I ever listen to the radio is when I'm at a live sporting event or in the car, and the latter is only because I haven't got around to swapping out the factory CD player for an MP3 player.
There's no doubt that radio still has a keen audience, despite the age of iPods, podcasting, internet radio and personalised online music channels. I'm just wondering if anyone is keen enough to spend hundreds of dollars to replace a radio which is probably used as audio wall paper, either at home, at work or in the car. If someone really cared about sound quality that much, you'd think they'd turn off the radio and fire up their CD player.
For the same reasons, I question whether people will be attracted by the interactivity of digital radio. Who wants to fiddle around with pausing and rewinding? Who wants to sit and watch text scroll across a display? The radio is something you switch on and walk away from so you can get on with doing something else. Like I said, audio wall paper. If you're after extra channels, you'll find far more specialist stations online than you ever will on the radio.
What's really funny is that you can also listen to all the digital stations streaming live over the web. To be honest I'm more likely to do this than switch on a real radio, although I suspect sporting events such as AFL matches won't be heard due to broadcast rights.
Ten years ago digital radio might have been something to get excited about, but these days I suspect it will be lost in the background noise of the internet.
With that, it's time for Silicon Lust to take a sabbatical, but I hope to return later in the year to continue my quest to attain oneness with technology.
Other Blog Entries written by Adam Turner:
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
Be the first to comment on this article.