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Archive for the ‘Radio and MP3 Technology’ Category
What’s playing in America
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007The Future of Radio
Thursday, November 23rd, 2006Ofcom have just announced a consultation document entitled the The Future of Radio.
Digital Radio and its future are at the heart of the study. DAB in the UK is growing, no suproses there, but the study also looks at the standards used to broadcast digital radio In the UK. MP2 is the current standard-de-jour. You don’t need to be an expert in digital audio to know that there are better systems around, MP3 and MP4 for starters.
MP2 has worse sound quality than FM and is a backwards step. The biggest drawback with MP2 is that you can get two better quality MP4 stations in the same broadcasting space as MP2. This means there is more space for more stations.
Jack Schofield in the Guardian has raised this issue a number of times over the last few weeks and is leading the campaign for the use of MP4 (sometimes confusingly called AAC+).
The problem I have with Jack’s campaign and the possible switch to MP4 is that I own two digital radios that won’t play MP4 and three FM radios so if this campaign is successful I’ll need to buy 5 new radios. As we speak the number of digital radios sold with MP4 playback is almost zero in the UK so I won;t be alone in having problems if this change happens.
The study also mentions TV over DAB. Virgin Mobile recently launched the Lobster phone which can receive DAB-TV. TV broadcasting takes up a lot of broadcast space further limiting the number of radio channels out there.
So what should be done. All new digital radios in the UK should support both MP2 and MP4. MP4 should be introduced in tandem with MP2 and DAB-TV should be phased out and introduced as the analogue TV broadcasts are stopped. I wonder what Ofcom will decide to do.
A radio to match your toaster
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
Dualit, the folks behind those stylish fridges and toasters are launching a DAB radio and a pretty thing it is too.
There’s a full review over at Pocket-lint.co.uk.
Engadget Podcast
Monday, March 13th, 2006
The Engadget podcast is going from strength to strength. The gadget and technology site has recorded record listener figures – so if like me you have the geek gene and know your Origami from your video iPod you’re sure to love it.
The best radio on a mobile?
Monday, February 13th, 2006
When I was looking for a new mobile recently at the top of my list of features was a really good radio. I walked in Carphone Warehouse and asked the guy working there if he could recommend me a phone with a good radio. This seemed to really throw the poor guy. He ummed and ahhhed for a while and eventually showed me the K750i from Sony Ericsson.
And guess what? It really does have a very good radio. RDS, auto tuning and loads more features make it fantastic. My favourite thing about the phone is that I can use it as a clock radio – meaning I can hear the Today programme in it’s full glory (well through little speaker in the back of the phone) wherever I am.
Not only is radio good but the Mp3 player is pretty good too. It’s a top phone, go and buy one now!
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I want one of these
Thursday, February 2nd, 2006
I was reading the Guardian this morning and came Victor Keagan was talking about Internet radio and mentioned the wifi radio.
It’s a really interesting idea. A radio that uses your broadband connection to stream Internet radio. I listen to a lot of Internet Radio and hate the fact I have to have my PC on to listen – meaning I can’t listen away from a computer. Victor Keagan mentioned he had little problems with network connectivity – but found it difficult to search out new stations. At £199 it’s pretty reasonable, especially as it can also stream MP3s from another computer on the network meaning you can listen to your music stored on the PC anywhere in the house.
Invasion of the Robo-DJs
Wednesday, January 18th, 2006Slightly older story here about Robot DJs being the new thing in radio. Bit a funny idea if you ask me, still it’s probably better than you average GWR DJ.
Lovely Radio
Friday, January 13th, 2006
BBC Annotatable Audio project
Wednesday, December 21st, 2005I’ve been meaning to post about this for a few weeks now – Tom Coates of plasticbag fame has been blogging about the BBC annotatable audio project. The widget being produced will allow text comments to be added to audio, so if say you were listening to an item on the Today programme you could comment on that article and people using the BBC radio player can then see your comment. Other stuff can also be attached to each segment such as transcripts, contact details etc.
Sounds like a great idea, digital TV has transformed how information can be delivered about a particular TV show and radio would really benefit from something similar.
Yahoo! launch audio search
Wednesday, August 10th, 2005
Yahoo! have just launched a beta of their audio search tool and it’s lookinglike it caould be really useful . It searches all the major download sites as well as the web. I’ve only had a couple of plays with it and found some Radio 4 comedy I’ve not heard before.
My only concern is around copywrite – the limited searches I did found copyright material on personal homepages let’s hope that the legal firms of the big record companies don’t find out about it, they’d have a field day.
Why I love radio
Friday, July 29th, 2005
It’s not just the programmes that I love. Radios themselves can be so beautiful, much more so than TVs or other electronics.
I subscribe to an RSS feed on flickr dedicated to pictures of radios and one of my favourite things is to browse through these photos looking for lovely radios. Here’s one that caught my eye today.
BBC to introduce more podcasts
Tuesday, April 19th, 2005Underwater Radio
Monday, April 18th, 2005
Swimming for me has also been fun if a little boring. Well the days of bordem in the pool could be over. h20 Audio have developed a casing for iRiver’s mp3/FM radios.
Radio Blog Club
Wednesday, April 13th, 2005Radio blog club is an interesting idea – it allows you to stream mp3s of your choosing on your website. I’ll try and set one up over the next couple of weeks, although there must be copywrite issues I’m sure. Anyway, watch this space.
Automatic Request Machine – sad but true
Friday, April 8th, 2005Hello to Paul & Lizzie Hawkins, who’s currently mending the clothes horse, wants this song as in bed with the ‘flu
Have you ever wondered who those people are who ask for shout-outs on the radio? Well it seems that they may not be people at all.
Devaweb have a shout-out generator that spits out a request from a set of predefined terms. Give it a go yourself and see if you can get something that makes sense: