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A comment on Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying government order. Parent comment

Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by cup-of-tea on Friday December 15, 2017 @11:51AM (#15933109)
The quality is not guaranteed. Many of the DAB stations in the UK are broadcast at such a low bitrate they are noticeably lower quality than good quality FM reception.
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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by ddingus on Friday December 15, 2017 @12:12PM (#15933249)
The industry trend is clear: Choice over quality.

Almost everyone wants sub streams so they can offer more options.

Never waste a bit on quality that could be delivering choice.

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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by pjc50 on Friday December 15, 2017 @02:52PM (#15934499)
I believe there was a deliberate choice to keep DAB quality low to avoid people getting clear digital recordings for piracy.

Subsequently rendered redundant by Napster, but we are stuck with DAB.

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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by ddingus on Saturday December 16, 2017 @06:26PM (#15942880)
That was a factor, but the core was more choice. Broadcast used to be about quality.

It's quantity now, with "just goos enough" translating to what people will tolerate.

Thought experiment for you:

Which do you prefer?

Low quality, but compelling. Or high quality, not so compelling?

That answer is what drives everything. People will take compelling every time. Very few will take quality as a primary factor.

More choice = more opportunity to be more compelling = higher AD rates = more revenue per bit.

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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by peapicker on Friday December 15, 2017 @02:03PM (#15934154)
Sounds like a recipe to kill radio in favour of higher quality cell data streaming.
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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by ddingus on Saturday December 16, 2017 @06:22PM (#15942861)
It's never higher quality.
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Re:Norway switches off FM radio, but a station is defying go... by mark-r on Friday December 15, 2017 @01:40PM (#15933978)
In the US everybody wants sub streams so they can sell more commercials. It's all about the money. Thankfully FM is still going strong here.
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