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(Short-, Medium-, Long)wave Radio Meets Digital Stereo

Posted by timothy on from the use-tubes-they're-smoother dept.

cryptec writes "Today shortwave radio will have some new life pumped into it as the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle will be the first full time shortwave broadcaster of DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale). DRM is a full stereo fully digital broadcast system. The quality of the broadcasts are close to that of FM radio. For samples check out this link." Akai adds this link to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle with some more information, like the involvement of the BBC and Voice of America in this undertaking.

14 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. DRM? by Roto-Rooter+Man · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't think that's a popular acronym around here.

    --

    The goatse guy for president. Win one for the gaper!
    1. Re:DRM? by BJH · · Score: 5, Funny

      It'll get even worse when the RIAA starts screaming that DRM needs DRM.

  2. Wie sind die Borg... by cruppel · · Score: 2, Funny

    Come on, we've heard enough about DRM from M$, now from German DJs?!?

    1. Re:Wie sind die Borg... by Distinguished+Hero · · Score: 3, Funny

      Wie sind die Borg...

      Yeah, how are the Borg? :P

      (Wie = How, Wir = We)

      --
      Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
  3. The first? by ShadyG · · Score: 4, Funny
    the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle will be the first full time shortwave broadcaster of...a full stereo fully digital broadcast system.

    Hardly the first. Lisp has been doing this for decades.

    -- ShadyG
    --
    Nerd Rock In Progress
    1. Re:The first? by boomgopher · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's funnier than this post is that it was marked interesting instead of funny... gotta love those moderators.

      --
      Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
  4. BURN THEM! by NeoPotato · · Score: 4, Funny

    Deutsche Welle will be the first full time shortwave broadcaster of DRM

    Broadcasting DRM! How dare they! First, they try to stuff copy-protected CDs down our throats. Then they introduced copy-protected HARDWARE! And now, they're trying to RESTRICT OUR RADIO!

    WE MUST BURN TH-eh? Read the article? Bah! I'm fighting Digital Rights Management! No time for that!

  5. Why not WMD for Wireless Music Device? by corebreech · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or IRS for International Radio Service?

    Or PMS for Portable Media System?

    Or any of a thousand other shit-poor choices for acronyms?

    --
    Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
  6. Re:Nice! by wfberg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Digital radio over SW sounds interesting. I wonder if old Auntie's going to pick this one up? I gather BBC services got cut over North America recently in favour of web broadcasts... maybe digital technology will allow that to be reinstated in the future?


    Sure. You see, it's far cheaper to use as-yet-experimental state-of-the-art technology than to continue using transmitters and technologies that have been in use for decades and that are well understood and easily serviced by thousands of technicians.

    The new transmitters will no doubt be fitted in, say, a few weeks. Then, in about three months, just about every household in North America will have bought the new receivers, and switch to tuning in small transistor radio sets to BBC broadcasts, instead of, say, surfing pornography or using AOL. Once the BBC starts digital broadcasts, well, no one will want, or need, broadband internet connections!

    Notice that the bitrates used in these AAC streams are wayyyy too high to ever be transferred over a dial-up connection. Even IF PCs could be equipped with AAC decoders, or similar codecs, such as ogg vorbis, the bitrates needed, some even exceeding 22 kilobits per second would prove a lethal hurdle for people who would want to listen to a stream using such a "magical" codec on their PCs..

    Plus, other, existing, methods of delivery for digital radio, such as satellite, are clearly inferior to this new technology.

    </SARCASM>
    --
    SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  7. Aww... by Miffe · · Score: 1, Funny

    I thought they meant thah Welle Erdball would broadcast. =(

  8. Deutche Welle needs a name change. by eightball01 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone else read that as "douche well" instead of Deutche Welle?

    1. Re:Deutche Welle needs a name change. by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, they should just reaname the whole country, since the name looks offensive in english.

      Just like you can't use the word "niggardly" anymore because it looks like it should be offensive. :)

      --
      I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  9. It's about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Finally I can get my instructions from the KGB without them getting garbled beyond inteligibility.

  10. Re:You will need special gear by josh+crawley · · Score: 2, Funny

    The really cool thing about PSK31 is that your computer can copy a signal you can't even hear.
    Umm yeah that's cool that I can't hear radio waves, I think.