"Serge Auckland" wrote in message

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...


As mobile internet gets cheaper and more widespread, I think it
more
likely that Joe Public will listen to Internet Radio on their
mobile
'phone rather than buy a DAB portable.


An extraordinarily inefficient way for Joe Public to listen to the
radio.
A broadcast transmitter uses up the same amount of bandwidth
regardless
of how many listeners there are. With internet radio the bandwidth
used
is a function of the number of listeners.

David.



Indeed, it is inefficient, but so is Internet Television, Music
downloads
etc. I think that bandwidths and costs are going in the direction
that
encourages profligacy, or at least, doesn't discourage it.


Internet bandwidth costs fall in-line with Moore's Law, because
Moore's Law increases the speed of Internet routers without increasing
the costs of the routers.


Home broadband
started with download limits, which were rapidly increased, and/or
converted to unlimited use packages. I envisage that competitive
pressures will ensure that mobile broadband packages go the same
way.


Yes, there's 4G using LTE or WiMAX just over the horizon, then 5G
after that.


Internet radio on a mobile 'phone will be all about portability and
choice of channels, audio quality won't be an issue, so streaming at
32kbps or less is quite likely.


There are over 8,000 Internet radio streams on shoutcast.com using 128
kbps or higher, and a third of all UK commercial radio stations are
using 128 kbps. Don't see why you think 32 kbps will be common for
Internet radio streams, to be honest.



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

The adoption of DAB was the most incompetent technical
decision ever made in the history of UK broadcasting:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...ion_of_dab.htm