100$ for a radio? Is this true? we have pocket fm radio for $1 to $2 in India. a bigger one with am fm would cost $8-10.

"* A wider choice of shows and program highlights, better meeting the needs of niche audiences"

cant this be done now? with existing radio infrastructure?

• Posted by: Brahmin (not verified) on June 2, 2009 6:09 PM.

I have listened to Dab+ broadcasts since they became available on the 11th May. Quality is not as good as FM. The same broadcast such as Gold 104 can be switched on my receivers from Dab+ to FM and FM is far more dynamic and does not sound compressed, no highs or lows on Dab+. Receivers are incredibly limited, no pocket size or portable units are available and car units don't exist either. My table top but battery and ac unit requires the aerial to be fully extended, even in Box Hill where I can see the transmitters, so difficult to use that while out and about! Reception is very dependent on aerial position much like rabbit ears for TV - I'm always tweaking them for better reception.
When the reception drops out you get annoying echo and tunnel sound effects and miss quite a bit of the reception. So far it's no where near as good as very old fashion AM, and without the ABC the content is woeful.

• Posted by: Chris Davis (not verified) on June 2, 2009 5:47 PM.

Reading some of the comments reminds me of the urchin looking through the steamy restaurant window at the wealthy diners. Oh, the urchin? That's me, by the way. You see, I happen to live in a "Regional area" and you can forget digital radio or Radio National, ABC-FM, etc., unless you are located in politically correct Aurukun, or some such.

Truly wonderful things are happening in Dig TV and Radio, so they tell me, but I shan't be holding my breath waiting for this whiz bang technology to reach the bush.
Yours wistfully,
Arthur

• Posted by: Arthur Gilbert Major (not verified) on June 2, 2009 5:39 PM.

One of the things that confuses me is why the radios are so much more expensive. I was in the UK about three years ago. They have had digital radio for some time ( I am not sure how long). My point is that a radio could be had for 40 pounds or less. ie $100 at the then exchange rate. This is an old technology that is in mass circulation. There is no reason for a price premium, its not blu-ray or some other new fangled small market system.
Is this something other than an early uptake scam? If so I'd love to hear the argument.

• Posted by: steve (not verified) on June 2, 2009 1:52 PM.

ABC Radio's services will be available from 1 July. ABC will also be offering 3 music stations - ABC Dig Music, ABC Country and ABC Jazz. You can listen to them online or on digital radio.

• Posted by: Karla (not verified) on June 2, 2009 11:26 AM.

To answer Paul's question:

I, too, have been listening to ABC digjazz through a digital TV set top box, but that won't last - it was always meant to be a digital test transmission and it will be ultimately switched off. The main reason though, is that it is in DAB format (which Britain uses) and Australia has decided to adopt the DAB+ format, which is of superior quality and is also used throughout Europe.

It has been mentioned in some publications that some digital set top boxes can be adapted/upgraded with a DAB+ chipset. If yours can be upgraded (whenever the chips become available) you'll be in luck. Otherwise, you'll need a new digital radio appliance.

• Posted by: John (not verified) on June 2, 2009 1:32 AM.

I have a set-top box for my digital TV, and I have been able to get some digital radio on it for a while - such as the ABC digital jazz mentioned in another comment.

Does anyone know if the new digital radio stations are also available on my set-top box?

AM stations are hopeless quality in Sydney so it would be nice to get them clearly in digital. But I'm not keen on buying a $100 radio just to listen to ABC News Radio.

• Posted by: Paul (not verified) on June 1, 2009 5:57 PM.

Internet radio is OK if you can afford the bandwidth or download limits, and if you don't mind compression.

But I like classical music as well as jazz, and digital is the best way to deliver it on radio. FM has been good, but I find that I need to reposition my antenna with the change of seasons and weather patterns, and some of the listener supported fine music stations here in Adelaide have stereo FM signals that are weaker and constantly noisy, hissy and static ridden. That even happens on ABC Classic FM at times.

No one will ever have enough bandwidth to hear internet radio for long periods: I have the radio on in the office and at home, for a total of about 18 hours a day. There are, in fact, many people who do that, and for long-term radio listening - especially serious listening, not just background "white noise" - digital is the way. Looked at another way, digital radio is free-to-air, internet radio is not. And that's not even taking into account the equipment one might use to listen to internet radio; computer speakers are never going to cut it, and if you plug the computer into a half decent stereo, you are still making a compromise towards lower sound quality because the signal (or digital stream) is being processed by componenets that cannot match the quality of a good stereo system even before they get to the amplifier stage.

I am waiting for the second wave of digital DAB+ radio sets to land in Australia in the hope that they will be cheaper, although I have already auditioned some, ranging from $299 to $999 that are very, very good, especially when plugged in to my Luxman amplifier and Wharfedale speakers.

In any case, analog radio will be switched off.

• Posted by: John (not verified) on June 1, 2009 4:34 PM.

What's all the fuss about. I've had a digital clock-radio for years!

• Posted by: Danny (not verified) on June 1, 2009 3:02 PM.

It's too late for digital radio. I get dozens of stations for free from my ISP, and thousands more on the web if I don't mind the (small) amounts of my monthly data quota they take up.

The main thing I want radio to solve is the need to constantly re-tune while driving across the country (I'm a rep, often on the road). Digital radio isn't going to help me with that, although satellite would.

Where is the advantage for digital?

• Posted by: Stuart Midgley (not verified) on June 1, 2009 2:13 PM.