Digital Car Radios Get Warm Reception
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday February 6, 2004
Love that tune on your radio and want to know who is singing it - without having to wait for the radio announcer to broadcast the details at the end of the song? Or want to see up-to-date stock reports or sports results? It will all be possible in the not-too-distant future, thanks to digital radio.
Digital radio is to be tested in cars across Sydney in readiness for launch by the end of the decade. A market research firm is recruiting for the 18-month trial, which is being co-ordinated by Commercial Radio Australia (CRA). According to CRA chief executive Joan Warner, initially only 100 people from a wide range of backgrounds, including "taxi drivers, youth, opinion-makers, PC users and racing enthusiasts", will be selected to take part in the trial, but the test sample will be expanded to 500 as more digital radio receivers become available.
Digital radio allows more efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum, with static-free reception. Radio stations would be tuned by name rather than by frequency and provide information such as artist, song and album title, lyrics, CD covers, touring and fan club information via text and graphics. This Program Associated Data (PAD) can also include news, weather, traffic, finance and sports information that can all be accessed
on demand via new digital receivers. It
also allows listeners to rewind a song - or an advertisement, to take down a phone number. And, of course, there is near-CD-quality sound.
The drawback is cost. As with most new technology, digital radio is expensive and it will take time for such radios to become affordable. At present, they cost up to $2500.
Local retailers such as Harvey Norman and Dick Smith have digital radio demonstration units in some superstores. Car audio specialist Alpine also has a number of digital radio listening kiosks in specialist retailers around Sydney.
CRA is still negotiating with the Federal Government about possible public release, but transmission standards and the allocation of the spectrum are yet to be finalised. Warner has said publicly that it will be available to consumers within 10 years. But industry sources claim it could arrive sooner than that.
The digital radio system is different from the two rival satellite radio systems, Sirius and XM, used in the US. There, motorists pay a monthly subscription to listen to up to 100 channels.
Locally, it remains to be seen whether the third generation of radio broadcasting will provide enough benefits for both industry and consumers to warrant conversion. Australia has an estimated 40 million radio receivers that would need replacing. Prices will have to come down before consumers see the value of converting to digital.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald