The future of Digital Broadcast

On reading the various diatribes on DAB on the register over the last few months of which Fixing the UKs DAB disaster | The Register was the most recent one to get me thinking. DAB as a technology is outdated and really hasn’t achieved the market penetration needed to bring digital broadcasting into the mainstream.

I tried DAB a few years ago and was disappointed then by the quality and reliability of the stations I was receiving and very quickly found myself returning to FM. In the intervening years I purchased a Roku Soundbridge with the primary purpose of listening to my growing MP3 collection over some decent speakers in my lounge when I am reading the odd book. The Soundbridge is also a very capable internet radio with 18 preset stations and more available from Radio Roku which are made available via the Sounbridge as My Favorites. So now I have a huge selection of Digital Radio stations available at home and to some extent on the move via my N800 which also has good internet radio capabilities.

There is one problem now for my digital life style now. The one place where digital radio has yet to make an impact and the one place where digital radio can make serious big wins. I spend a long time in my car when I am working and that is the one place I am still at the mercy of FM. Yes I can listen to CDs or I can re-play podcasts via my MP3 player but I can’t listen to my favorite radio stations unless I happen to be in their FM coverage areas. I like Virgin and Smooth FM and have them both on my various devices as internet streams but if I am working in the wrong areas then I am stuck.

I want to have my radio and listen to it where ever I am and that means the 10 or 12 hours a week I am in the car (sometimes more if I have a busy week). I have a phone with data and a data calling plan. I can get a Sat Nav that downloads up to the minute traffic announcements from the Web. I have a hands free kit in the car to make calls that will come out of the car stereo speakers. Why can’t I play my internet radio this way?

3g coverage and higher speed mobile data connections are getting better as the technology finally catches up with the spectrum allocation so expensively purchased by mobile networks. There are still some problems with more rural areas where broadband/3g coverage is still poor but I guess these areas are probably poorly served by DAB too so if we are going to invest money into any form of digital coverage for these areas it makes sense to me to ensure it is IP based coverage in one form or another to provide both digital broadcast and twenty first century network access. The growth of Multicast channels (as mentioned in the above article) should alleviate some of the additional bandwidth costs required by this switch and allow even the most rural of stretches of phone line to get reasonable sound quality.

Even the big radio makers are seeing the market trend with Roberts producing a WiFi Radio player and similar offerings can be seen from other major manufacturers. If I have the right phone then I can get a number of players from Sydus I just need to get an unlimited data plan that will not cost me an arm and a leg.