Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Saturday January 07 2017, @03:35AM   Printer-friendly
from the more-haste-less-satisfaction dept.

Norway is set to become the first nation to start switching off its FM radio network next week, in a risky and unpopular leap to digital technology that will be closely watched by other countries considering whether to follow suit.

Critics say the government is rushing the move and many people may miss warnings on emergencies that have until now been broadcast via the radio. Of particular concern are the two million cars on Norway's roads that are not equipped with digital audio broadcasting (DAB) receivers, they say.

Sixty-six per cent of Norwegians oppose switching off FM, with just 17 per cent in favour and the rest undecided, according to an opinion poll published by the daily Dagbladet last month.

Nevertheless, parliament gave the final go-ahead for the move last month, swayed by the fact that digital networks can carry more radio channels.

Should there be a push to switch off FM radio in order to 'persuade' users to upgrade their receiving equipment? Or should the change be implemented much more slowly to enable FM radios to be replaced as they age? How would you do it?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:05AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Saturday January 07 2017, @10:05AM (#450675) Homepage Journal

    This is coming to Switzerland soon. I've been ignoring it, because we rarely listen to the radio except in the car, but...why? So I went surfing for the reasons behind the switch. Here are the advantages of digital radio, along with my off-the-cuff reactions. Feel free to chime in with your own pros and cons...

    - Clear audio signal.

    Hmmm...analog FM is already very clear. I wonder about degradation. In Switzerland, with lots of mountains, stations tend to fade in and out. A weak analog signal is still usable. A weak digital signal? Unlikely, unless they are packing in a pile of error correction.

    - Digital radio transmits additional information that your radio is able to display. Examples include program information to show what is on now and coming up next, weather forecasts, news headlines, and for music stations you can see artist and track names.

    Program information is already being transmitted [wikipedia.org], piggybacking on top of the analog signal. Weather forecasts? News headlines? This is radio, to listen, and should not be trying to reinvent the internet. If you want news, you can switch to a news station.

    - More advanced digital radios allow the display of images.

    Um...why? I was in a rental car just yesterday that had a massive display for the radio. Even if you turned the radio off, there was a fancy graphical image on the display. I really, really want them to start displaying album cover art, which will be promptly followed by animations and - wait for it - advertisements. This is going to be very distracting to drivers.

    - Some also allow you to record radio programs for later playback, or even pause live radio while you answer the phone.

    Nothing to do with digital at all. Those are perfectly fine features that could be easily added to analog radio.

    tl;dr: So...why? My best guess is truly the advertising - being able to sell radios with displays that they can plaster with visual ads.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @05:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 07 2017, @05:21PM (#450771)

    a massive display for the radio. Even if you turned the radio off, there was a fancy graphical image
    [...]
    animations and - wait for it - advertisements. This is going to be very distracting to drivers

    Handled by a piece of cardboard cut to the proper shape and size plus a bit of Blu Tack. [google.com]

    ...but I do see your point: "The System" trying to worm its way into every corner of your life.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Saturday January 07 2017, @07:39PM

    by richtopia (3160) on Saturday January 07 2017, @07:39PM (#450807) Homepage Journal

    I haven't researched radio so I may be mistaken, but with switching from analogue TV to digital I was under the impression that freeing up spectral bandwidth was the true reason. Every other benefit was just because the technology was there. Is it not the same for FM radio?

    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday January 07 2017, @08:06PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday January 07 2017, @08:06PM (#450820) Homepage Journal

      Digital TV didn't just free up bandwidth, it allowed HDTV to be broadcast, and there's no snow or ghosting. Since TV went digital, there's absolutely no reason whatever to have cable, unless you're running a bar.

      OTOH if there would be ghosts, you lose the signal on digital. Since digital, I can no longer pick up NBC or PBS from the next city, but digital gives me three times as many channels as I had with analog, so no great loss.

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:18AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 08 2017, @02:18AM (#450915)

        Good for you, but multiple relatives i know in different states had to get satellite because they don't get any stations in watchable condition anymore. The ones that can be tuned in are a mess of decoding artifacts, frozen picture and cutting in and out. Maybe its because my family lives in rural areas, but at least analog TV worked. Additionally, many blind people I know instantly had their TV audio receivers become useless with no inexpensive alternative (short of buying a television, the cheapest of which are 8x the price and programmed visually).

    • (Score: 1) by toddestan on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:54PM

      by toddestan (4982) on Saturday January 07 2017, @09:54PM (#450849)

      I assume that's the big push. FM sits on a prime area of the spectrum, and the governments likely stand to make a fair amount of money auctioning it off most of it (minus the small subset left for the digital radio channels).