John Phillips wrote:
In article , DAB sounds worse
than FM wrote:
Don Pearce wrote:
Does *anybody* listen to that other crap? Low bit rate is the least
of their problems.

Yes, see:

http://www.rajar.co.uk/INDEX2.CFM?menuid=9

Well, no. This researches "reach"


Did you actually look at the page? RAJAR researches more than just
"reach"; they also survey the number of hours that people listen, and
from this calculate the total number of hours that people listen and the
% share of listening. And it's these parameters that should worry any
Radio 3 fanatic who is trying to justify why Radio 3 is provided with a
50% higher bit rate than Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and 1Xtra on DAB.

For example, the combined % share of listening for Radios 1 & 2 is
24.6%, whereas the % share of listening for Radio 3 is just 1.3%. In
other words, there's 19 times as many hours spent listening to Radios 1
& 2 as there are listening to R3.


and it does not actually tell
you who listens, only who tunes to a station. There is research
which differentiates (according to what I am told by a manufacturer
of broadcasters' kit - who uses it to decide on essential features)
between those who actually listen and those who merely have the
station on in the background. He says the results are quite
different (and no
I don't know what his sources are).


Basically, Radios 1 & 2 only needs 1 person out of every 19 people
listening to make it so that there's more people listening than on Radio
3, and that's assuming that every Radio 3 listener never does anything
other than listen.


I think a more pertinent question would be: Does *anybody* listen to
Radio 3?

I suspect quite a lot listen within the reach figures,


2.1 million people. It would help if you actually look at the page I
gave a link to.


however much
anyone wants to question the role of minority interests in quality
public broadcasting (using a wide definition of quality).


I am not questioning the role of minority interests; I'm questioning why
Radio 3 has a 50% higher bit rate than Radios 1 & 2, despite the fact
that Radios 1 & 2 have a combined share of listening that is 19 times
higher than Radio 3's, and that classical music is actually easier to
compress than virtually all the music you'd get on Radios 1 & 2, AND
that Radio 3 is available on Freeview, digital satellite and cable at
192kbps.


My main objection with DAB is that in the beginning we were promised
compression (dynamic) free broadcast, and the ability to select our
own degree of compression on the receiver. Well, Arcam certainly
kept their promise for that last part, but the broadcasters went
ahead and compressed anyway. *******s.

Yes, I agree with you there. But my main objection to DAB is that the
radio stations that I would listen to all use 128kbps and sound
crap. R3 and R4 listeners are extremely lucky compared to everybody
else.

It is a pity many recent arguments about bandwidth allocation have
descended into fixing the problem with specific stations based on
their purported popularity and the unimportance of other "minorities."


There just isn't a strong argument why Radio 3 should have a 50% higher
bit rate than Radios 1 & 2 other than arguments that rely solely on
elitism and nonsense.


The fundamental issue seems to have been abandoned of radio bandwidth
available to cover all interests, including "minority" interests, as
per a public service broadcaster's obligation.


Which bit of this do you not understand?:

Radio 3 has a 50% higher bit rate than Radio 1 despite Radio 1's music
being more difficult to encode and Radio 1 having far more listeners
than Radio 3.
Radio 3 has a 50% higher bit rate than Radio 2 despite Radio 2's music
being more difficult to encode and Radio 2 having far more listeners
than Radio 3.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

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