Digital Radio

Heather Starke



Digital Radio As time moves on, so do technologies. But are these incredible technologies helping to make life better, or are they taking away from the quality of life? Things like transportation are of great value to humans at this point in time, but look at how they are having a negative impact on our lives. All the waste and pollution that they cause can't be very good. Any form of media, like the telephone and radio, are good examples of a useful technology. Without them information would travel at a slower rate, and wouldn't be of much use by the time it got there. The digital radio is one piece of technology that is beneficial.

So what is this digital radio? The piece of equipment has a transmitter inside which transmits the sounds and forms digital patterns with it. The end result is a high quality of sound, equally as good as a CD. The digital radio can pick up signals from around the world, making it very useful. If you are traveling worldwide and want to know what's going on in BC, it's very simple. All you have to do is select the station you want to hear, such as CBC, enter it into your liquid crystal display (LCD) and it will look after the tuning for you.

Inside, the device is wireless. It is cellular, which will allow connecting to the services and making it available for use at home and away from home. Anywhere, at any time, this will be available, with the equipment of course.

This is a very simple piece of equipment, but very useful. Information will travel internationally, at the same amount of time it would take to reach local people. Think of the possibilities! To learn about a digital radio check out this site.

The digital radio is very simple and easy to use. To listen to a top 20 countdown, all you have to do is enter top 20 and it will automatically find you a station of interest. Things like stock market quotes will be available through the digital radio as well as being displayed on the LCD screen. The initial investment for the equipment could be a very good business prospect! Emergency warnings, traffic, weather forecasts and conditions will be available as well. Another added feature would be the paging system.

Unfortunately, the digital radio is not yet on the air because of the bandwidth requirement. It needs 1.5 MHz for stereo service, whereas AM radio only requires 0.01 and FM is at 0.25 MHz per channel.

The cost of this service for the consumer is unknown since the technologies are still currently being developed. The estimated cost of a digital radio unit is approximately the same price as a good quality radio today, if the digital radio sales are high enough to bring down the costs of the equipment.

For the broadcasters it looks as though the pricing will be less than what they are currently paying. The equipment costs will be cut down, but the quality will remain high. FM transmitters will be around the same price as the digital transmitters, so what brings the cost down is the fact that the operation of one single unit will be capable of being shared by several users. This is where the cut in cost comes from in the operation of the digital radio.

The digital radio will play a part in the perfect society. The possibilities are endless with this piece of technology. Faster information sent, global understanding, awareness, and other things like this will help make the world a better place.

Average people will be able to broadcast their own productions, and make them available to the public. This will greatly help new artists become aware. The digital radio, when it takes off, will create many career opportunities, and make them more accessible.

Driving will be safer and easier with this new technology. Being capable of tuning in to weather and traffic reports will make driving less stressful. It may even cut down the time it takes to go from point A to point B. The general attitude of this person using a digital radio will overall be better, and lift the spirits of this person as well. The society will be noticeably happier with the new digital radio, in my opinion.

Digital radio will hopefully be the sound of the future. One day AM and FM stations will no longer exist, it will be strictly digital. Most likely this will only happen when the consumers have accepted the digital radio, and the technology is more readily available, and the cost is competitive.

The success of this product will come from the market. The consumers who will buy it because of the various features will bring the price down, and make it more affordable for others. As with other technologies, it has been shown that society loves the advancing technologies and will pay for bigger, better and faster pieces of equipment.

Overall I see that the future of the digital radio is amazingly promising. The world is continually growing and accepting more and more new technologies. The digital radio will provide many great benefits to both the consumer, and the broadcaster. Our goal of a utopian society will be one step closer with the digital radio!



© Heather Starke