"David Eduardo" wrote in message
. net...

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
. net...

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message

Actually, I am a programmer and a pretty good one. I am in favor of
anything that extends the life of AM radio or terrestrial radio in
general.

Is AM radio or terresterial radio really going to die? If so, how?

It is, in business terms, in full matruation and in slow decline. It
will
not grwo in usership, and will only grow slightly ahead of inflation in
revenues. At some point in time, the deliver system will be obsolete,
but
HD
can extend that somewhat.

What's the timeframe? When might the delivery system become obselete?

We don't even know if we are going to be useing towers and transmitters 10
or 15 years from now. technology is moving radpidly enough to consider
that
the current bands and distruibution systems will become obsolete, while
content may be moved on other carriers.

The broadcasting establishment concievably could get out of radio someday,
but I can't imagine any way radio itself could go away. If the price of the
equipment goes down enough, there will always be some dreamer who will try
to make a go of it.

And the evangalists don't expect to turn a profit.


However, we weredall told that the
Internet and streaming would kill radio back in the late 90's, and that
never happened.

But there are reasons streaming audio didn't have many advangages over
radio. "Net congestion" audio. Streaming wasn't portable or availble on a
car radio. Podcasting fixes those and offeres it's own advantages.

Nobody has any basis for making a prediction as the device that will move
us
from towers and transmitters probbly does not exist yet

Sure. It's easy to imagine Pandora like programs autoloading
individualized
net programming into portable players and car radios in the near future.

So, who needs IBOC?

There is no system with adequate bandwidth to satisfy the needs of a
quarter
billion people at present. There is also no system that can do it free,
like
radio is today. The major impediment to satellite and other systems is the
cost of delivery on an ongoing basis.



At present, no. But I don't think it would take a technological
breakthrough for somebody to do it right now. That's "somebody" not
"everybody". And, if there's a limitation on internet bandwidth, we're
nowhere near it. Bandwidth will continue doubling and doubling again into
the forseeable future.

Radio, however, is stuck. It might get a bit more bandwidth at the fringes,
but it won't double.

I also suspect IBOC is fixed in it's currrent incarnation. The newest IBOC
AM might sound good even with it's limited bandwidth, but I can't see any
reason why similiar bandwidth conserving plans can't be used across the
internet. And the internet has the advantage of being able to continually
update it's decoders.

Although I sitll figure ibiquity has the pay radio card up it's sleeve.

I wouldn't blame the ipod generation if they thought IBOC just another
dinosaur media attempt to sell them something like a more sharply pixellated
newspaper.

Frank Dresser