All posts by MikeB
Below are all of MikeB's postings, with the most recent are at the bottom of the page.
Steve P: 'When do you expect the wheel to fall out of use?' - Good point, although one or two societies never discovered the wheel - the Inca's, for instance.
However, I was refering to more modern technology (although there was one nomadic Siberian tribe which only discovered cermaics apparently in the medieval period, and then forgot about it after about a century) - do you still use an eight-track cassette player? A reel to reel tape deck? A 'radiogram'? Laserdiscs? Betamax? Windup gramaphones? Wax cylinders? In fact how often to you use your VHS recorder, if you still have one? Things change, and although many technologies do carry on, others fall by the roadside.
If you want to listen to FM, thats going to fine for some time to come, although there is a clear shift to digital listening in some form. I have only one DAB radio in the house, the other four are analogue, so I'm not wishing a digital switchover next week. I'm just observing the trend.
Stan: The Evoke 1 is a nice set, and the wood really does help with the tone. Its not cheap, but you pay for audio quality. As for DAB, etc, its up to you to use it or not, but I dont think its much less reliable than anything else, and although you might not wish to listen to those extra stations, evidently many people do. Of course, if you listen to them, you might like them. Radio 6 Music is rather good.
Brianist has already explore the idea of emergency broadcasting, but I am trying to think of such an emergency which wiped out all broadcasting but FM radio.
'People might well buy a DAB radio, but will still switch it to FM if that's where their favourite station is' - but their favourite station might just be on DAB, not FM, and even if it is on FM and DAB, they could listen to it on either. Personally, once its on DAB, I just leave it. Did anyone really switch between analogue and digital TV?
'As for tablets/iphones - people might well buy them so they can listen to radio on the move - but when at home they may still listen to FM. ' Actually, its kind of the reverse. Most cars still dont have digital radios, etc, so most listening while driving is still done on FM. If you've got a decent package on your smart phone (and they start from just £40 for a pay as you go), you can stream via the net, either via 3/4G or possibly wifi, if thats possible. Most tablets/laptops are not cellular, so although tethering is possible, by and large your not going to stream from them while out and about.
However, at home, you have a larger amount of choice in your listening platform. Since most phones have at least bluetooth, and many wifi these days, as are all tablets and laptops, you can happliy wander your house streaming from the net. Have a look at the large department store in Norwich with the green logo, and look at just how many bluetooth, Airplay and wifi speakers and docks there are - its a huge market now.
Your tablet, Ipod, etc, with all your music, plus anything online such as Spotify, Iplayer, TuneIn, etc is available, and you can send it to any speaker, radio, etc you like, if you want. For something like the Sonos, you can stream from whatever you like to up to 32 Sonos speakers. If I have a dock at home, and a smartphone, do I need a radio at all? And even if I do, why would I buy one without bluetooth or DAB, so I can listen to my stations and music, rather than just whats on FM? Just because I didn't buy a DAB radio does not mean I'm listening to analogue - I'm just listening digitally.
You may wish that Sony will be to receive a signal as long as you live, and you might be right, but I would not guarantee it.
| link to this comment |
Steve P: That £40 is the cost of the handset - after that its up to you how much you want to spend! If you did want to spend that amount per month, you'd probably get a Iphone 5 for nothing and 5Gb of data. As for mobile reception in Wales - I'd hoped things had improved since I visited my Welsh relatives..!
Michael & Stan: I have no problem with FM, AM etc lasting as long as possible - if it works for people, I'm fine. I have no idea as to what will happen in the future, I'm just looking at what people are doing already.
However, I would urge everyone to look at how people (and mostly young, but by no means all) are starting to use mobile technology. A mobile phone for many people is their contact book, their way of emailing, texting, facebooking and tweeting, their camera and their radio. Its how they shop, listen to music, and perhaps how they pay bills, report their utility readings and possibly control their central heating. A lot of people dont have a landline - they just have a mobile. And where they do have a landline, its often now just for broadband, and for using their mobile in the house via wifi.
Have a look at the average teenager - even if they have an FM radio on their phone, are they likely to regularly use it? And although you and I might think its sensible to carry a small cheap FM radio around with us (which was I used to do when I commuted), I suspect that if you suggested that, they'd think you were mad.
Young people will eventually do sensible things like listen to Radio 4 , but if they've got used to listening via mobile/wifi, its unlikely they are suddenly going to buy FM radios.
Michael, I know what you mean about doing maths late at night....I did find on the BBC website that they estimate that an hour of radio might use up to 60mb of data on 3G (TV could take up to 5 times as much data per hour) BBC iPlayer - Help - How much will it cost to use BBC iPlayer on my mobile phone over 3G networks? .
There is a really good popup at the site of the US provider Verizon Data Calculator . - at 2 hours a day audio streaming, that would be about 3.5gb per month. Thats a lot of data, but you can get some pretty good deals for less than £40 a month How much 4G data do you really need? | News | TechRadar - and frankly, for a lot people the mobile is part of everyday life.
| link to this comment |
Alan Chadwick: If the TV is asking you to plug in an aerial, its obviously your aerial (not the tv) that is the problem. The TV is telling you that it can't get a signal at all.
Your pretty close to Winter Hill, so there shouldn't be any problem with signal strength, etc. Although the aerial seems fine, start by checking each part of the cable, working back from the TV to the aerial. Its likely there is a break or corrosion somewhere. If you have a booster in the roof, etc, make sure that the power supply is working. To be honest though, being so close to the transmitter, you really dont need a booster at all - in fact it can cause problems.
| link to this comment |
pw69: The answer is, goodnes knows! DAB+ only came in as a recognised standard in 2007, whereas DAB began in 1995. So, obviously any DAB radio purchased before 2006-7 isn't going to be DAB+. From 2009, a multi-standard chip was introduced, so that many DAB radios are also DAB+.
Now there has been about 1.9m DAB sets sold each year for the past 5 years, so in theory thats c.7.5m sets. However, as I found out the other day, although a lot of Roberts radio do have DAB+ (the Sovereign series), its difficult to see if they all do (Roberts really dont make it easy). Some cheapish little known brands do, but frankly, its really difficult to tell which ones dont, and which ones do. Even Pure, which all seem to have DAB+, may not. The Chronos 2 is described as 'UK products receive DAB/FM; non-UK products receive DAB/DAB+/DMB-Radio/FM.'. So it might have DAB+, but only if your outside the UK....
Whats even stranger is that my own digital radio (actually my only one), the Pure One Flow, does seem to have DAB/DAB+/DMB, plus FM. But since its an internet radio, you could argue that it doesn't really need it!
Frankly, I suspect the actual number of DAB+ radios is relatively low at the moment. Thats not a huge problem in the short term, but it would be nice if DAB+ was standard, if only to make life easy!
| link to this comment |
Stan: I agree with Mark - some DAB radios do fail earlier than they should, but most do not, any more than TV's, microwaves, PC's or any other electronic equipment. However, we tend to remember a relatively expensive bit of kit failing, rather than the cheap FM sets that have also gone.
michael: its true that tablets are not perfect for audio in themselves, although the speaker on Ipod Touch is surprisingly loud. However, if you've got any old radio with a 3.5mm input, then just a cheap cable will turn the radio into a speaker. I just use an old pair of PC speakers in the kitchen, which do work OK.
Much better is to go bluetooth, and you can get adapters from about £15. I keep meaning to use the 30w bluetooth speakers one of my wife friends bought in a panic for my wife's birthday party, after the person supplying the music tried to up the price. Considering they were £30, they are surprisingly good.
What actually went wrong with the Pure? Even if the DAB part has gone, if wifi is still usable, then you can use the Pure app with it. Admittedly its not a very good app (the Sonos one is a lot better), but at least it might work!!
| link to this comment |
Ian: I was asked this question by a customer last year ('is there a firewall on my tv'?), so I had a quick look around the net for answers. These were pretty useful: Buying a Smart TV, do I need an anti-virus? - CNET Home audio & video Forums & Can A Smart TV get a Virus?
The first thing to remember is that although TV's (and probably other devices) tend to run on Android/Linux systems (Panasonic used an Opera browser during 2013), they are mainly loaded via apps from the manufacturer. So although you could hack the system by finding bugs, backdoors, etc, in the main you can't put in your own software in the way you can with the average PC.
The second thing to remember is that although you might be using passwords for your Netflix access, etc, again much of that will be via an app, so its more secure than a browser (although they all have one now), and the amount of effort required by a hacker to mess with your fridge etc is probably not really worth it.
However, the rise of smart appliances does mean that there will be a need to supply firewalls more generally, and I suspect that the cloudbased systems like the one from Sophos will become the norm, as well as preloaded basic security baked into the appliances software, and updated as and when.
The company I work for is the first in the UK to stock the Samsung smart washing machine - the fact that it is preloaded with powder etc is great, but we are still wondering who is going to take the washing out of the machine and put in the next load!
However, I did read about a scheme in the US a couple of months ago on Grist, where the article's author get a reduction in his electricity bill in return for his electric company being able to turn his fridge on and off. He had a smart fridge (which has a small battery backup to run software, etc), which allowed the electric company to manage demand on a micro second basis. By balancing out supply in this way, they did not need to employ extra spinning capacity, which lowered their costs.
I think the author is wise to look at the possible compatibility problems - although android TV's are happy with android phones (Miracast, etc), Apple plays different, which is why I tend to to just suggest Apple TV - its just easier. Apps should not be a problem (the platform really does not matter, as long as its supported), but the protocols connecting different devices will be interesting!
| link to this comment |
Briantist: It does put into context my outrage at Norton's renewal price.....!
To be fair, if you want a washing machine, fridge, TV, etc that you can control from anywhere in the world, then the cheaper one isn't so bad - the £2k one is for the very serious user!
| link to this comment |
Charles Stuart: In reply to your earlier question about car radios having a streaming function, I think BMW has started introducing them. There is an interesting article here as well all about the history of car radios, etc 13 car audio milestones from AM to MP3
And i agree that the variety thats available from digital is valued by a great many people. MikeP might be fine with just FM (and my wife likes listening to Heart FM, so bad reception on FM or DAB might be a blessing), but I think the BBC World SErvice, Radio 6 Extra, etc are great - and they are not available on FM. DAB coverage will improve, and DAB radios will continue to fall in cost, as will the cost of streaming.
I suspect there will be a mixture of all three for most people - FM, and increasingly DAB and streaming. BTW - Iplayer is really useful (there is a radio version, which particularly easy to use), and of course you can download podcasts (you can schedule them).
Frankly, a lot of the time we just use our Ipods (my wife's playlists sound a lot like Heart FM anyway, but at least there are no ads..). You get to chose your music, etc, and gives you even more choice.
| link to this comment |
Colin Campbell: The answer to your questions should be YES! Obviously you need to check that the dish is aligned properly, then it should work. Check your TV, it might have a screw fitting on the back - its called a F fitting - which would be for a sat. tuner. If you've got a tuner already, then you can see if it works. You can get a Freesat receiver from about £50, and a Humax PVR is about £204. To use a twin tuner PVR, you'll need at least two cables.
Have a look at the Freesat section on this website, and the Satcure website will give loads of information.
| link to this comment |
Wednesday 30 April 2014 11:00PM
Stan: That radio was unlikely to have ever been offered at £79.99 (or even the £59 quoted on the companies website).
Your not going to get a great sound from a £40 radio, DAB or not, any more than a £30 FM radio - the speakers are too small, etc. But for most people, listening in the kitchen, etc, they are OK. You could do a lot worse than the Pure One Mini for £40, but have a look at the WhatHifi review of the Pure Evoke D2 - Pure Digital Evoke D2 - they really liked it.
I suspect that your loyality to analogue radio has led you to ignore the reality spelled out by the research - digital is growing, and that also seems to be where the growth of listening is coming from.
'DAB listening may grow somewhat, but on the other hand it may well have pretty much peaked'. There is no evidence to support that - its clear that digital listening is increasing year on year. At home, analogue is at 50% or less. To assume that its peaked is wishful thinking. And how long as DAB been available with reasonably priced sets and digital only content?
'The other devices like tablets, smartphones etc ARE going to grow rapidly, but realistically they will NEVER replace traditional broadcasting.' - Nobody says they will, but you yourself admit that analogue is an ' ever-shrinking presence in the market, switchover or no'.
Is LW indispensible? Apparently not, judging by the numbers listening to it. At some point, its going to stop. We have put all our eggs in one basket with TV - do you still use analogue TV? No, and neither does anyone else. Multi-platform? Commercial radio goes where the audience is - if nobody is listening to the platform, then its cut loose.
Nobody is bullying people to listen via digital - the data says people like it. In the same way, retailers are not stocking mostly DAB sets, tablets etc because the Stonecutters have told them to - its because thats what people wish to buy. If they are satisfied with what they have, why are analogue sets sales dropping so much year on year?
' It could well be that radio listening is simply expanding because of these technologies, and as a result of that the share of Analogue listening is declining.' Could well be - but thats still a decline, and every tablet, smartphone, laptop or DAB/internet radio sold is one less person looking for the FM switch. At some point, switchover will happen, its just when enough people have stopped using analogue. I'll be sad if this happens, but I don't believe that any technology lasts forever.