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Thread: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

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    PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    Here I am, sat writing code, because the boss says if I don't then all I'll get is a lump of coal for Christmas. To stop me from tearing out my RAID array and smashing it to pieces because I keep accidentally running SQL queries that return millions of rows, I'm listening to theJazz on DAB digital radio. In the ad breaks, PURE Digital's running ads about their amazing new digital radio for the car. But it's not really digital. Well, it is, and it isn't...
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    HEXUS webmaster Steve's Avatar
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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    As an aside, I'm listening to theJazz over the Internet, which uses WMA9.1 at 128kbps. Not sure if that's better/worse/the same as 128kbps MP2, I'd wager slightly better, so let's hope it's not transcoded from the MP2 stream.
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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    Someone has to ask...

    By MP2, do you mean Mpeg-2 (but not audio layer 3?), or Mpeg 1 audio layer 2?

    Or even possibly Mpeg 2 AL2?

    Not being a pedant, just wondering

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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    I mean MPEG-1, layer 2.
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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    I think this is a good thing.

    DAB in the car is very limited and usually expensive. Most car audio manufacturers have a DAB addon for their head units, adding at least £100 to the cost of upgrading your head unit. And with the number of car manufacturers building the stereo completely into the center console, replacing it is becoming a lot harder.

    If this makes it easier to have DAB in the car, and more people become acustomed to having DAB in the car, then car manufacturers will be forced to at least have dab as an option, precious few do at the moment, and often only on the higher end o the range.

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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    DAB radio is low quality, everyone knows an for some strange reason, accepts this. The quality of radio3/classic is frankly awful. But in a car who gives a **** you're not going to be able to truely apprechate that motzart because a hammer drill digging up victorian water mains beats flute. And sure as rock beats scsissors the sound of your cars engine, the fact that your moving at, obviously no more than the speed limit, will also help ensure everything sounds crap.

    Audio in cars is always awful, enless you've got a roller, in which case the damn clock is making too much sound
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    Smile Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    I drive around London and the UK, regularly, as I work for broadcasters with stations across the regions. Am feeling a little fed up with the charges that are piling up on me personally as a car driver - congestion charge, parking charges, increased resident parking rates and increased taxes so for me the Pure Highway is the best news for car drivers this year! I have a car with an FM radio built in to the fascia panel so I have not been able to take it out and replace it with a digital radio and as I have dab at home I miss the station choice when in the car. Now I can take the Highway with me and so at last long car journeys will be made that much more pleasant by the opportunity to listen to all those great, digital-only, radio stations around the country. Enjoy.
    Last edited by fiona; 18-12-2007 at 04:31 PM.

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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    Where's the post gone about "fiona" hiding her identitiy and that she's actually Dianne Wray, the managing director of MXR, the DAB digital radio multiplex operating company and the company behind the getdabdigitalradio.com website?

    For the record, Dianne Wray also said that people complaining about the sound quality on DAB should "go get a life", but Dianne has now edited her post to remove that.

    And whilst Dianne is here, perhaps she could tell readers about DAB+ making all DAB radios obsolete in the next few years? This seems to be a fact that has conveniently not found its way onto the getdab website. Could it be that the UK DAB industry wants as many people to go out and buy DAB radios this Xmas even though they know full well that these very same DAB radios will be made obsolete in the next few years?
    Last edited by jenny_abramsky; 18-12-2007 at 06:22 PM.

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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    One problem with it, is that it's windscreen mount will create a magnet for theves, even it it is removed, when you leave the car.

    Unfortunately these days, many car theves have learnt to recognise an empty mount on a suction mount to the windscreen as a sign that there is likely to be an expensive sat-nav left in the glove box. The latest police advice is that if you have a sat-nav, you should not only take it with you, but you should also remove the sucker, and clean the mark from the windscreen each time you leave the car.

    I actualy think it the Pure digital highway is a nice bit of kit that fills a niche, but if I buy one (I probably will), I will have to find another way of mounting it away from the windscreen, and more discreetly.

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    Re: PURE Digital's Highway takes the digital out of digital radio... or does it?

    Ive had DAB Kenwood radio in my car for ages now, when I first put it in it was brilliant but after some time the signals have changed, you drive around with great signal then it starts to splutter or dissapear totally, If this is what you get from an outside magnet airiel then how can a sticky inside one be any better, be ok if you in London but us down south coast get weaker signals so until they boost signals forget DAB for car unless your not moving.

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