I'm looking forward to it...

For example, if you like the song you're hearing, just look at the radio's screen for the song's name and the singer. With some radios you can rewind to the start of the song, or to the start of a news item you've come in on midway. You'll also be able to pause the broadcast.
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Digital radios are expensive [$300-$1k] because Australia is going with new broadcast technology called DAB+, which crams more programming into available bandwidth. This means that if you buy a digital radio in England, where they've been operational for years, it won't work here. Along with Switzerland, we're the pioneers of DAB+ although several other countries are interested in taking it up, including India and China. If they go with it prices will tumble.
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Commercial radio stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide will start broadcasting digitally in May and the ABC and SBS will come on line some time later - the ABC is forecasting July.

The source

Hopefully once this system is in place, the free radio stream online will also display the track info, and someone will make a thing that automatically records the stream so you can pause it, that's not hard.

Hopefully once this system is in place, the free radio stream online will also display the track info, and someone will make a thing that automatically records the stream so you can pause it, that's not hard.

lol, did you read the first sentence?

You'll have to speak up, I'm not running clear-type fonts.

In a time where mobile internet is becoming affordable and the abundance of web streaming stations, digital commercial broadcasts seem pretty futile and uninteresting, but then different strokes I suppose.

lol, did you read the first sentence?

I'm talking about the free stream you play through winamp. I wish it had some of these digital radio features, so I'm hoping once they actually need to have some sort of database with the song names it will be easier to get it over the net as well.
Basically I don't want to pay for this new radio.

lol, did you read the first sentence?

I'm talking about the free stream you play through winamp. I wish it had some of these digital radio features, so I'm hoping once they actually need to have some sort of database with the song names it will be easier to get it over the net as well.
Basically I don't want to pay for this new radio.

Ah right. Well when I was in Europe I noticed that most (new?) cars show the track info on the radio while the song is playing. Just seemed like regular FM radio to me though - maybe that was digital already and I didn't notice.

I agree with Dan, but radio to me is what I listen to for the one hour drive to work and then one hour home. If mobile data plans were affordable I'd like to stream radio in my car, but radio is free now and it's not something I want to spend $30/mth on.

I just crunched some numbers for streaming radio in my car.

192kbps stream for 1 hour trip twice a day = 86.4MB/h = 864MB/wk = 3456MB/mth.

Telstra Bigpond Wireless plan speed is 550kbps - 3.0Mbps (so well and truly suitable for this job) but the cost is $89.95/mth (!!!) for 5GB, which is the plan that you would need.

Yeah I guess internet radio is only practical when you're already on the net for some other reason, plus the net radio seems s*** quality - doesn't mean this won't improve as bandwidth and wireless prices go down. Digital radio might have the advantage for a few years.

Yeah I guess internet radio is only practical when you're already on the net for some other reason, plus the net radio seems s*** quality - doesn't mean this won't improve as bandwidth and wireless prices go down. Digital radio might have the advantage for a few years.

Yeah, I'm gonna be hanging out for FTTC (Fibre to the Car) as part of the NNNBN initiative (next next national broadband network), hehe

It's pretty similar to DVB - basically instead of a video frame/chunk broadcast once, the same audio frame data is broadcast repeatedly. Difference is because the data requirement of audio is low, they just throw the last hour or so of data out, and they don't need to keep retransmitting the new data as much - it might buffer say 30 seconds, with 10s chunks transmitted every 1/10s, and other data in the remaining time slots.

Shoutcast and WMA streams are more like your DVB type stream, where you only get the data you need once.

The J's sound crispy creme

http://www.digitalradioplus.com.au/index.cfm?page_id=1017&special=coverage&stations=4000

but you notice in the fineprint

"This streaming player in no way represents the audio quality or mutli media features available on digital radio plus services when listening via a DAB+ receiver."

So what, can we expect better through a DAB+ recvr?

or internet radio is for people with real internet connections that are 20mb+ uncapped...

i always listen to ABC radio.. i even have a widget for it

my alpine headdeck in the car does DAB

So you can do something like DUB DAB? Rub a DUB DAB?

I f***ing wish we had satellite radio like the yanks do, Sirius XM would be f***ing awesome.

hey, i listen to stuff on sirius!

dj icey!

Sorry to dredge old thread - Digital Radio went to air large scale last week - anyone bought one yet? Experiences?

I would say the future is now but I blame it for you deleting the last thread I wrote it in.

I'd love to get a Digital Radio module for my car, I don't see me needing digital radio around the home however.

I'm talking about the free stream you play through winamp. I wish it had some of these digital radio features, so I'm hoping once they actually need to have some sort of database with the song names it will be easier to get it over the net as well.

I am pretttty sure that feature has existed in shoutcast servers for a billion years - its just that most radio stations don't do it. It's really not a complicated thing.

It's possible it's actually against APRA licensing agreements to do this. They're definitely not allowed to announce their playlists in advance. I suspect it's just technical stuff that stops it from happening tho.

^ wow i never knew they coudnt post there playlists in advance.
there ya go.........

If they announce tracks in advance it would make recording a track too easy, lame reason but no doubt why they arent allowed.

can you get digital radio through your digital tv tuner on pc?

no its the wrong format, we're using some brand new DAB+ or something

Two things...

Ah right. Well when I was in Europe I noticed that most (new?) cars show the track info on the radio while the song is playing. Just seemed like regular FM radio to me though - maybe that was digital already and I didn't notice.

Thats probably RDS... Although it could be DAB.

my alpine headdeck in the car does DAB

We use DAB+ here... not DAB.

So will AM stations sound better on digital?

they shoulda called it DRAB+, who gives a fluzerwassun about radio anymore
my phone can stream video, radio is old news

yes much the same as fm is now.

If they announce tracks in advance it would make recording a track too easy, lame reason but no doubt why they arent allowed

Haha if that's the reason then it must be a seriously archaic regulation.

I think I was in school the last time I saw someone taping s*** off the radio ...

I think I was in school the last time I saw someone taping s*** off the radio ...

It's done on computers now.

I think I was in school the last time I saw someone taping s*** off the radio ...

Pro tip: http://trog.qgl.org/20090812/how-to-record-triple-j-to-your-computer/

Another pro-tip about recording (YouTube or other streaming audio) - just go to your audio options in Vista where you can set your inputs and outputs and add the input (new input) called 'Stereo mix' and make it active. Now you can use the Windows sndrec32 or Audacity or whatever you like to record.

So, does anyone have a digi radio yet?

$299 for an in-car unit.

f*** that.

classic example of early adopter tax really... but yeh, not something i'm interested in really

was out for years in the UK, was a massive flop. So annoying when your driving along and the spam your radio with traffic warnings.

Yeah, I can't understand the cost either. What's the exxy component in a digi radio?

And because of the very high frequency, range is an issue. Ok, not for me, I rarely go outside these areas anyway for fear of rednecks like CHUB, but for a blanket adoption it's a significant problem.

Brisbane coverage map (small) <-- what a considerate guy I am.

Coverage map for Melbourne:

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/digital/img/Melbourne_DAB sml.jpg

I'll be interested when there's actually worthwhile radio being put out over the air. Till then zzzzz

f*** YER, SALISBURY IS COVERED KIDS
outer inner city throw your hand sup
http://www.abc.net.au/radio/digital/img/Brisbane_DAB sml.jpg

last edited by Spook at 14:34:36 13/Aug/09

Why is the home reception a smaller area then mobile? I'd have assumed a home setup would have a better antenna?

Edit, oh it says indoor, maybe they mean taking a portable indoors?

last edited by Syco at 14:46:04 13/Aug/09