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Satellite Radio Coming Soon (?)
elucidus sent us a story that talks about the current status of
satellite radio. Lots of issues to deal with, and some good stuff mentioned. Personally, I think this is just a baby step before we have full custom audio stream dropped in, but my guess is that it'll be awhile before we have the bandwidth to broadcast stereo audio, from space, customized for every car in America, and do it in such a way that it's reasonably cost-competitive with old-fashioned radio.
Surely satelite radio is a step backwards, because it would not provide local content, as it inevitably has an international footprint, and uses up priceless satelite bandwidth which could be better used for something else?
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.
There is no
It's already here , checkout http://www.worldspace.com
:-)
and that too they stream as a 128kb mp3 stream
Nagendra
nagendra@SPAMMEPLEASEnagendra.com
Operating as VU2CLN somewhere on surface of the earth!
The only difference here is a factor of scale, and radio is so passe today...
Cool, Perhaps I will be able to listen to something better in my car than the crap on the Kansas City radio stations.
Use Lynx to view porn; it promotes an active imagination.
Has anyone here ever seen a mini satelite dish? It's broadcasting hundreds of audio channels commercial fromm and it comes with your 20$ per month subscription. Sound cheap enough? Add the commercials and You'll certainly make 20$ per person per month. The only problem is getting someone to intially build it and have faith that the listeners will come.
does anyone know if the defunct Iridium network could have been used for this?
I'm a little segfault, short and stout.
Would be nice to get small niche news delivered, such as minor-pro hockey or baseball, as well as maybe a way to get advertising based on the specific location you are in.
This would be better accomplished by regional companies. It would be smarter for them to provide the bandwidth only and not exclusive content.
On a long journey, I find the radio boring, tedious and repetitive. I prefer watcvhin television, but with only the standard terrestriqal channels, this is not much better.
When is someone going to introduce in-car satelite television? Do they expect me to read to pass the time?
A Satellite is an expensive appliance that only big corporations can afford.
If satellite radio becomes a standard then it is obvious small, independant radio will disappear.
Unless they are *given* an unlimited free broadcasting access, which should be a sign of democratisation of the media.
Until then, I will still see Eliott-Carver-ness whenever I'll access information.
--
Trolling using another account since 2005.
It just seems to me that they'll have rough competition from mp3's in all their incarnations from the start, and later on from G3 phones that download music at ~2Mb/s and send it to your stereo via bluetooth. We'll all have the phones, and everyone's car stereo will be smart enough.... Just seems like a rocky road, and satellite prices being what they are....
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
Although not really being pushed in the UK, it is in the Afristar footprint. Slightly less advanced than the system in the article, fixed position recievers with an antenna that has to "see" the sky (thick walls means no signal). Sound quality is fairly impressive through the optical out, with stations using between 16-128kbps, easily equivalent to FM stereo on the music stations.
They are also pushing some data applications on the website, but no sign of the need accessories yet.
Cheaper than any of the terrestrial digital recivers around at the moment (Sanyo was only 100 UKP), might make a nice replacement for that Multiband radio, that you take away on holiday.
Once high-speed mobile internet service becomes more common, I expect to see streaming audio superceding conventional radio. These satellite audio broadcasting systems won't deliver enough bang for the buck compared to what mobile high-speed IP offers.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
and IIRC - a much higher freqency...
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This is a huge step in radio communication. This does mean however that a receiver will be required for radio broadcasts, and not a Sony 100W receiver, an actual box that will convert the satelite feed into audio. This means that they can put a price on the radio now, kinda like a cable company's music choice service.
This would be even better if there was a more forgiving way of picking up a satelite feed. Granted the mini-dishes of today are a hell of a lot better than the 10' tall dishes that people used to put in their yards..it would be nice to have a smaller recipticle, maybe something that could even work on a car (assuming the car wasn't in a bridge, or had a clear line of sight to the sky)
This also would mean that you don't have to listen to country music the entire duration of your road trip. I'm not sure how popular it will be as a pay per listen service though, people have come to expect free radio, but then again, who still uses an antenna to watch TV?
It should be interesting to see how this develops.
As someone who was involved with satellite application programming, I can say that the problems involved in creating satellite based applications for non-analogue streamed data are enormous. Firstly, to prove boolean associative arrays on a parallel output device mediator such as a satellite demodulator is a difficult thing to do...the easiest way would be to retrometricise closed set compatible software using the tried-and-trusted method of numerically programming diagonally matrixed queries. The only other way to do this would be to program imaginary integer specific diagramatics, and I think that most programmers reading this would agree that that's not a good idea, since it could lead to several complications - including the possible need to macrodesign boolean polynomial equation identifiers specific to the application in question - not a nice thought, especially if you're running multiple satellite channels - then it'll also be neccessary to quantify timed long integer paradoxes on top of everything else! The general rule should be: if you're programming multiple memory stacks over multiple satellite channels, then PLEASE be aware that you need to redigitize logically programmable theoretical pipes and hypothesize cutting pipe contrived radials, otherwise your program WILL NOT WORK VERY WELL. The most efficient way to deal with this problem is to virtually trivialize complex conjuction composed computer generated interfaces and conglomerate statically linked theoretical pipes. If you keep all of this in mind, your satellite application development will be flawless.
Everything is but a number spoken by itself.
It can be quite hard to come up with something original. We all know they all have a gun. And that they forget to raise their children after they are born. And that they don't know how a democracy works. And that they think they're superior to everyone else. And that they're all fat from all that fast-food. Does anyone have a new argument?
I'm tellin' ya!
Get a clue. My 800 watt microwave oven runs on 2.4 Ghz and doesn't break down the air. How many watts are you planning on receiving on your antenna. I don't plan to receive anything stronger than 1 millionth of what my home microwave oven produces. I would be suprised if my antenna received anything over a few microvolts.
The truth shall set you free!
The main advantage of normal radio is that it is extreemly portable. Stick a radio in your pocket and you can listen anywhere. I carry a pocket radio on the long bus journey to and from work, and also use it on a Saturday afternoon when leaving the football to find out how the other teams have done. How is sattelite going to work here?
Digital radio would be a lot better. Currently I have problems with co-channel interference when travelling back from work, meaning that I can't here my local radio station until about 6.45pm, missing essential news bulletins. Digital terrestial radio would make things better. It would also make Radio 5 listenable on an evening.
IMHO radio sucks big time anyway .. here in brussels there's like not a single interesting radio station. i dont care wether they broadcast their shit over satelites or wathever, untill i'll be able to grab the microphone and reply to these asses.
As someone who has worked in the broadcast radio business for most of my adult life, it remains to be seen if the satellite guys can bring anything new to the table.
Both XM and Sirius are heavily invested by big broadcast companies like CBS and Clear Channel (the one I work for...)
My concern is that these companies view this as simply more of the same instead of something new, much like they view their internet streaming.
What's needed is something totally customizable. Someone else said it: Customizable stream to each car--you pick the program.
Broadcasters still think in the "push" world. I firmly believe the future lies in the "pull" world.
----- Leghorn "Not responsible for program content"
- technical discussions like Dr. Dobb's Technetcast
- Geeks in Space
- Financial planning programs like MoneyTalk
- Non-computer technical support programs like Car Talk
These programs could be aggregated by genre to produce a financial planning radio channel or a car maintenance radio channel. If you aren't used to listening to stuff like this, you may turn up your nose, but each of these programs have huge, loyal audiences, and would help make satellite radio commercially viable.--
Dave Aiello
-- Dave Aiello
This of course only happens where a resonant length of metal creates a high standing wave. An antenna with a load will drop the Q of the circuit and reduce the peak resonant voltage. I plan on having a reciever connected to the antenna on the car. Try the cultry experiment with and without a cup of coffee. Notice the difference?
The truth shall set you free!
aw, screw it
Did anyone else notice the comment about paying for the programming that slipped out near the end of the article? They didn't say much about it, but it seems like that's their goal. If I have to pay to listen to NPR while I drive, heck with it, I'm keeping the CD player, forget about the satellite ..
.. just TRY to get them to put in an ordinary FM stereo or (gasp) let you install your own ..
Not like we'll have much choice after the technology is rolled out, though. If they are planning to make it a revenue business, we can probably count on the satellite radio being built into every new car to hit the road, and I can hear the showroom sales pitch already
73 de N5VB (ex-KD5BIV) AR SK
A couple of people have mentioned Worldspace already. Worldspace is a satellite radio venture based out of Washington, DC, that aims to bring radio to developing countries, where many people live outside the range of conventional broadcast radio. In addition to the audio stream, there are data channels as well, opening some interesting possibilities for alternatives to traditional Internet access in the developing world.
Worldspace has two satellites in place and broadcasting, covering Africa and Asia. A third and final satellite, covering Latin America, either is about to launch or is about to begin broadcasting (I can't remember which).
The problem with Worldspace is getting a receiver. The low-end ones started at $350, which many people rightly pointed out was out of the reach of many of Worldspace's intended customers (though one often finds dirt-poor villages have at least one gigantic color television, so that was not necessarily an insurmountable barrier). The advertised prices recently came down to about $125-$175, which leads me to wonder if the company is in trouble.
I live in Cairo, which has been in the footprint of Worldspace broadcasts for over a year, but I can't get a receiver to save my life. I was willing to blow the $350, but the sets aren't sold here and the company is consistently unresponsive to queries about alternative sources. (I even ordered one online from their website, but can't get them to confim, deny, or fill the order).
The company claimed there were initial production problems, because the chipsets and everything had to be done custom. But the lingering distribution problems have not been adequately explained, and I can't imagine that bodes well for the venture.
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Give me liberty or give me something of equal or lesser value from your glossy 32-page catalog.
I just hope that it isn't a huge step backwards in terms of sound quality, like digital radio is. Despite interference, FM stereo is pretty good next to something that has all the sound quality advantages of a low bitrate mp3. It might work in a car, though. The ambient noise could be enough that you don't notice your music sounds like crap.
If you are modding me down because you disagree with me, use the "Flamebait" category, not the "Troll" one.
The DAB standard is pretty sweet when it comes to this, it can reieve standard digital anologue broadcasts and also had a band to receive digital signals from satellites.
I wouldn't mind a WaveFinder for christmas.
There is already some satellite radio in existence... we have a C/Ku-Band satellite dish (yeah, one of those big 10-foot ones like the farmers have)... and on certain satellites on certain transponders, you can find radio stations. There are listings of them in magazines like Orbit. But, I do think it would be quite nifty to be able to receive that in my car... that way, I could go wherever I wanted to and not worry about my radio stations going bye-bye when I travel.
Why, no, I haven't meta-moderated lately. Thanks for asking!
Asking folks to pay a subscription for radio just doesn't pass the common sense test.
;-)
Doesn't anyone remember the lesson of Iridium? Great technology isn't sufficient for success in the marketplace.
I hope this results in an IPO so that I can short it
As someone who works in radio I absolutely HAVE to post on this and explain to everyone about the current state of the industry and where it's headed, and it's not good.
I've seen several posts warning about satellite radio and they are correct. If you, the listening public, are foolish enough to buy into satellite radio, there's no turning back down the road when people come to the realization later that it sucks and isn't what you want.
A lot of you won't realize this but radio has already hit a critical point in the industry, and I don't mean technology-wise. Voice-tracking, the Prophet System, syndication, satellite, and huge conglomerates have already thinned the talent pool in both on- and off-air jobs in the industry. Chlorine's been tossed in the talent pool.
This discussion recently came up at radioedge.net the other day. There are no new broadcast engineers out there (or the very least, there are very few). A lot of stations don't even have an engineer to maintain their equipment, and the ones that do have one engineeer have them maintaining 5 or 6 statiosn at once. Hardly enough to even really be maintaining them. And that's with just local broadcasts. Who's going to take care of the even-more complicated equipment for national and worldwide broadcasts
Also voicetracking and satellite feeds have thinned the on-air talent pool. It's become nearly impossible for young talent to be given a shot at any stations, since there aren't any live overnight shifts at most stations and the other shifts are usually filled by more-experienced voices.
It doesn't take a genius to see where this is going. Down the road there will not only be noone to take care of the stations equipment and such, but also no new voices to replace the old ones on the air.
Let me put it this way. Think of the radio station you hate most in your neck of the woods. Given the /. crowd, it's probably a HotAC, Top40, or Country station. Why do you hate it? Because the same songs get played every hour? Because there's never any live jocks in the studio and it's all voice-tracked? Because there's never anything local that you care about on there?
Well if satellite radio goes through as a reality, you're going to get all of the above and then some. Every station will be like this. Your options will be even more limited, your information even LESS local than it is already, and the stations are going to patronize the listening public with even LESS intellignet content than you hear already.
And as it stands already, something like satellite radio will probably be the death-knell for radio, period.
So I guess ask yourselves how much you care for radio. If you don't, then just let the industry slide away like it's doing now. A lot of people DON'T care, and I guess that's fine, to each his own.
But if you really *do* care and listen to radio more than you watch TV, I'd start questioning some of this stuff now, and make sure you actively listen to and support your local radio.
And no I'm not kidding with any of this -- the industry is in a really bad time right now and things truly are not looking good for it(thanks to ClearChannel and AM/FM). Anyone who's involved in radio because they truly love it will tell you this and confirm it.
Even then it looks like it already might be too late for the medium. You've all been warned about this...
-- Primis.
I've noticed quite a few comments poo-pahing the idea of paying for radio. But I would guess those guys are not really the market the sat radio folks are targeting.
The beauty of this sort of system is that you can get in your car in New York, and listen to the same station without interruption in a drive all the way to Los Angeles. That's what appeals to me.
As some one spends a good quarter of my working day behind the wheel, usually driving to remote, rural work sites where the only availble radio is religious, country-western and spanish speaking, (and in the city, it's just bland pop), Sat radio will be a godsend. I'd gladly pay $10-30 a month for this.
The Internet is generally stupid
Want to see how digital audio broadcasting should be done? Visit:
http://www.worlddab.org
This isn't all so great. You have exactly two licenses for US satellite radio systems, so there are only two corporations who will choose the programming. That's even worse than terrestrial AM/FM radio, which has been horribly consolidated. So what crap will satradio have? The 70's pop rock channel, the 80's pop rock channel, the Don Ho channel?
Terrestrial digital radio is likewise only a couple of licensees, so it too will offer all the variety of McDonalds. The cheese and no cheese channels.
Abusing Americans is so much more fun than actually listening to them!
Cool! Simulcasted music with fireworks!
Would Rush then zap his own dittoheads, or is it only the Liberal talkshow hosts?