"Stephanie Weil" wrote in message
oups.com...

[snip]


Does IBOC sound better than current analog AM? Yes.

Yeah, others have said it sounds good. And I think ibiquity is doing it
with a lower bitrate than even mp3s, although they had to change their
decoder to get it right. I don't really know anything about digital
demodulation, but ignorance has never stopped me from imagining things, and
I wonder if ibiquity has somehow optimized their demodulator for current
programming. That would be fine for now, but maybe not so fine if jazz
music gets a big as it ought to be or if Beautiful Music makes it's dreaded
comeback or if the Chinese Communist Party "new economies" all the radio
stations and blankets the country with Chinese opera.

Again, I don't know anything about digital decoders, but I don't imagine
we're getting something for nothing.

And it wouldn't make a bit of difference to ibiquity, as long as the radios
sound OK until thier patents run out.



Would it be the saviour of AM radio? No, and I'll tell you why. Too
many analog radios in use. Billions probably.

People will be using those radios for a long time to come. Hell, some
people are still listening on radios that are 50-60 years old! At
night, it's going to be nasty when these listeners (at least the ones
in the hinterlands) try to tune in a long distance station, because all
their locals are off-air, and can't get anything but hiss and hash.


IBOC AM is nasty enough during the day on a current radio. Tune around and
hear the HIISSSSSSSS between a few stations. What happens if ibiquity gets
their way, and almost every station has a IBOC noisemaker running 24/7? How
annoyed will most people get? Will some choose to avoid the AM band
entirely? Most people know as much about the technical side of radio as
they want to know, which is practically nothing. I suppose Big Radio will
have to start telling people that if people just knew more about radio,
they'd get it through their thick heads that the HIISSSSSSS is just chock
full o' crystal clear digital audio.

You'll love the HIISSSSSS, after we sell you an expensive radio!!



IBOC-FM does seem like a nice thing though. There's no interference
caused to the analog signal like there is on AM; and you can get a
couple more channels of acceptable fidelity.

Sure you get the 67 and 92 khz subcarriers on analog FM (plus RDS), but
the SCAs sound nasty. I should know. I listen to quite a lot of SCA
stations in this city.

The problem with digital broadcasting of any kind is that you won't get
an imperfect signal that's still listenable/watchable.

Either you get a good picture/sound or you get NOTHING. There's no
middle ground.

Ah, yes. More of the "broken radio" sound. Normal AM interference is
intuitively obvious, it sounds pretty much like what it is, two people
talking at once, or whatever. It requires no explanation. But dropouts?
What the hell is that? Is there smoke coming out of the radio?



And there's way too many people that are in that middle-ground area
that are going to be dumped out. Especially when it comes to stations
with niche programming, it's going to chop up their audience numbers
quite a bit.

--
Steph


Frank Dresser