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I don't know if I have ever heard digital radio, other than Sirrius satellite radio, although we apparently do have digital radio here in the US.
Apparently there is a move towards doing away with FM radio in some parts of the world. According to the FCC, digital radio is a superior technology to FM. And it is free, although you do have to have a receiver that is designed to pick it up.
In any case, what do you guys think? How desirable is it for us to do this?
As usual, the rich will get richer at the expense of the working class. The first impact is that lots of people will have to buy new gear.
IMHO there WILL be a decoder for digital radio for those of us with antique hi-fi's and high dollar stereos like Marantz but the rest of us will just buy the new digi receivers and call it good.
Shouldn't be an issue for either set, if you have an input for the antenna common on higher end receivers then you could just plug the converter in. Radios with built in antennas would require something like those units they make that broadcast music over a very weak FM frequency for your car radio.
They were very slow to adopt this with the TV's and a lot of missteps. They kept moving the date back, if they are going to do this they better get going. The first step is mandating new radios have digital tuners, they waited too long with the TV's and didn't mandate that until 2007.
Give it ten years after mandating the digital tuners....
The government shouldn't be mandating anything. That's called tyranny. It's sad that you call a failing to institute tyranny quicker a "misstep." Statist.
The government shouldn't be mandating anything. That's called tyranny. It's sad that you call a failing to institute tyranny quicker a "misstep." Statist.
This is my first thought also. If someone wants to sit in a building sending out FM signals to people with radio's they have used for years, who should care?
It'll just force people to spend a gazillion dollars on new receivers.
Digital radio won't work on regular FM receivers like most of us have.
More planned obsolescence.
FM radio stations were began broadcasting in 1941. XM radio was first made available in 2001. There is a 60 year gap between the start of FM and XM radio. That is not planned obsolescence. That is technological progress. Planned obsolescence is when they develop a new charing port for every new generation of macbook so they can sell an adapter.
This is my first thought also. If someone wants to sit in a building sending out FM signals to people with radio's they have used for years, who should care?
Limited resource. Old FM prevents new FM or Digital. If many try to use it none works. And there are other spectrum users in the same areas.
For a good example consider lightsquared. Basically lightsquared owned spectrum and started to implement a broadband wireless network. That network however would have interfered with the GPS network. The GPS network is of course unlicensed devices spread widely. So FCC shut it down. The actual fault here lies with the GPS devices. They simply were not done well enough to allow the use of nearby spectrum.
Can people claim a property right in spectrum? Only by the government license that allows it. But even that may require changes to avoid public harm as in this case. I would have thought that Lightsquared was due some compensation...but they have problem with the licensing of the techniques they were applying.
The government shouldn't be mandating anything. That's called tyranny. It's sad that you call a failing to institute tyranny quicker a "misstep." Statist.
When you have a change of standards like this such a mandate is appropriate becsue that equipment is quickly going to become obsolete. It will ease the transition and the long term costs for the consumer since the products they will be buying will remain functional.
This is my first thought also. If someone wants to sit in a building sending out FM signals to people with radio's they have used for years, who should care?
Who should care is the guy in the other building that is not getting reception of what they should be getting on the same frequency you are using. The airways belong to the public and are regulated by the FCC. Since there is very a limited supply this regulation is absolutely necessary, otherwise you'd have chaos.
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