Funferal

DAB dumps MPEG 2

I’ve been complaining about the poor quality of the DAB/Eureka 147 standard for over 9 years now, so it’s heartening to see that World DAB is dumping MPEG 2 and moving to AAC. Of course, there are many other issues with digital radio, such as the pernicious influence of intellectual property and the creeping privatization of the airwaves, but one step at a time, right?
The focus of the Guardian report is on the fact that Britain – as one of the few countries to have had a significant DAB roll out – now has an obsolete standard, and a lot of (rather expensive) radios that won’t work with the new standard if/when it is adopted there. I’m particularly struck by the statement from the Digital Radio Development Bureau that “If people didn’t like [DAB radios] they wouldn’t buy them and we’d be dead in the water.” Of course, since governments are pushing digital radio adoption – and planning eventual elimination of the analogue signals, as with TV – it’s not a level playing field. People, for the most part, have been satisfied with analogue radio (particularly when it’s enhanced through the use of RDS) but ‘progress’ demands that radio be digitized. Just like our ‘stupid ould pencils’ I suppose…..