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Well, actually, it won't come to the radio you already own. It will come
to a radio specially designed to receive either the terrestrial (ground-based)
signal transmitted through something called the In Band On Channel
(IBOC) system, or it will come from a satellite, and only to subscribers
of Sirius or XM satellite radio services. Yes, like TVs, cameras and
phones, radio is making the transition to digital. In this article,
the first in a two-part series on digital radio, we'll cover some of
the issues surrounding satellite digital radio. Next week, we'll go
into the terrestrial digital radio, and tackle some of the issues that
will affect radio-listeners with the push toward IBOC.
Right now, if you have a digital radio that means it has a "digital display" that
offers more features than a standard analog display. Most radios people
listen to are still based on analog technology. They receive analog
transmissions, and that's what we hear. Historically, analog radio
signals have had a lot of beneficial uses. During war times, many soldiers
benefited from their ability to craft radios out of available parts
- making foxhole and POW radios capable
of picking up simple analog signals. Analog transmissions basically
follow a sound wave similar to that of the human voice - in fact, that's
why they're called "analog" from the word "analogous" - and so it's
possible, however challenging, to pick up those sound waves and listen
to them.
Even though the capacity to capture analog transmissions benefited Thomas
Edison and the history of radio, television and communications, analog
remains a very unstable and imprecise form of transmission. And it's
precision that makes digital technology so exciting. Remember your
old vinyl records? Analog signals used to be scratched into the vinyl.
The problem with that process, however, is that over years the needle
of your record player actually changed the analog grooves in the plastic.
With times, it changed the grooves so much, that it eventually even
erased some audio altogether.
Compact discs (CDs), on the other hand, are largely successful because there
aren't any grooves to alter when hearing the sounds recorded on a disc.
When making a CD, analog sounds are converted to digital signals. In
other words, an analog wave is changed into a series of 1s and 0s that
can't change. This is pretty complicated stuff, and it can get a little
confusing. Since most readers probably don't want to go into all the
particulars, I'll move on back to the possibilities of digital radio,
and encourage interested readers to learn more about analog and digital
at whatis.com.
Now then, back to digital radio. Why aren't you listening to a digital
radio right now? I'll go into the reasons for the slow shift to digital
in the public airwaves next week. For now, we'll concentrate on XM
and Sirius, the satellite digital radio companies. Back in 1997 XM,
then known as the American Mobile Radio Corporation, and Sirius were
granted satellite digital audio radio service (DARS) licenses by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Since then, both companies
have launched satellites, and made the promise to consumers that soon
they would be able to receive up to 100 channels of commercial-free
broadcasts on a specially designed radio. The XM and Sirius radios,
however, are not interchangeable (thought both companies have provisionally
agreed to cooperate in phase two of their technology). That means subscribers
to either radio, will be limited to the channels of that satellite
radio provider.
The receivers designed to work with XM and Sirius will also be equipped
with AM/FM receivers, which means people will still be able to pull
in their local channels. But this leads you to wonder - who would pay
$10 to $12 a month to listen to a broadcast only part of the time -
and usually in the car.
XM and Sirius both bank on developing a type of subscription-based radio
similar to what people get in cable or satellite television. Will their
ventures work? Who knows? It depends largely on their ability to convince
consumers that it's a good, useful development in radio - one that
radio listener's didn't even know they needed. They'll also have to
count on the car industry, and the ability of their partners in the
auto industry to get new receivers into their cars as a dealer-installed
option.
When it comes to digital radio, if things go right, the consumer should
be the greatest beneficiary. The precision of satellite digital signals
will allow listeners to hear the same station from one end of the country
to the other, and will also offer high quality sound. Digital radios,
the actual receivers, should also feature some nifty displays. Rather
than just telling you what station you're listening to, you may be
able to receive weather updates, names of performers or talk-radio
guests, phone numbers to order something you might hear advertised,
and even, eventually, something like a global positioning system signal,
letting you know exactly where you are at all times.
Satellite radio as envisioned by XM and Sirius so far puts it mostly into cars,
where people do most of their radio listening. Will they be able to
compete with the home listener market? Or with programs that are already
broadcast across the country on AM? I don't know. Time, and consumer
response will tell. Personally, I prefer listening to CDs if I want
to hear music of my choice in the car, and when driving across the
country, I enjoy listening to local stations. It's just remarkable
to me how much the local news reported on the radio in Nebraska differs
from that of New York.
Once, while driving through Nebraska, I heard reports of a purse being stolen
from a restaurant, and even a neighbor's dog being found. It made the
area seem real to me - and gave me a feeling to associate with a place
I otherwise could have just driven through, and simply looked past.
I guess I worry that if you send a signal into space, and then beam
the same 100 channels across the entire country, you risk losing the
sounds that make travel across this amazing country so rewarding.
Lately, I've found a great way to bring signals into my home from far away.
I've been playing around more with Internet radio, and finding more stations to
listen to from remote places of the US and the world. I've also found a great directory of
Internet radio stations - it's radiotower.com.
In a single evening I was able to listen to talk radio from Australia,
New Hampshire and Guam. And even though I did it late at night, I didn't
bother anyone, because I plugged my SoftSpeaker,
pillow speaker into my computer, and just listened away in quiet comfort.
While the US waits for a digital radio that receives a digital signal, you
may as well take advantage of some of the few radios that already make
the most of digital technology in their displays. C. Crane's development
partner, Sangean, manufactures radios that use digital technology to
give you precise tuning of analog stations.
Check out the Sangean
DT-200V Digital Pocket Radio. It uses digital technology
for ease of tuning and offers durable, unbeatable performance. Some
of the features include:
- 19 memory presets
- Memory scan
- Compact design. 2-5/8" W x 4-3/8" H x 3/4" D
If you'd like to enjoy digital technology in other gadgets, you can also
use the "search" feature in the top margin. Just type digital
in the "description" box, and you'll find such things as a digital
wireless thermometer and a digital altimeter.
Next week I'll cover the type of digital radio technology that will probably
have a greater impact on more of us - the IBOC system. It seems the
US might be falling behind the rest of the world in digital radio technology.
IBOC might prove to be a huge compromise when compared to the potential
of the Eureka 147 system. Europe, Canada and UK have been enjoying
digital radio since the mid 1990s. What's taken so long in the US?
Come back next week, when I'll discuss the issues concerning IBOC in
America. In the meantime, rest assured that C. Crane company will act
as the consumer's watchdog when it comes to digital radio, and we'll
always try to make sure that your needs come first.
To view our past articles, please visit our What's
in the News Archives.
As always, please e-mail
me with any comments or article suggestions you might have.
If you have a customer service or technical question, please send to
ccraneco@aol.com or call 1-800-522-8863.
If you are interested in using C. Crane's articles on your own Web site,
please let me know. I'd be happy to take a look at your Web site and
see what we can do. Good-bye for now, Carlos. About
the author
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