"Why don't you use DRM on Shortwave?"
DRM is the acronym of Digital Radio Mondiale, a new technology
intended to offer digital, almost FM, quality to Shortwave, Long Wave
and Medium Wave (AM) broadcasts. Unfortunately DRM is incompatible
with ordinary Shortwave radios and requires buying new receivers, that
are not currently available in mass production, or at a cost that is
anywhere close to a conventional, analogue Shortwave receiver. Some
DRM receivers requires a PC and a special device to listen to DRM
signals.
Our transmitters are DRM capable, and we already run preliminary tests
with our own developed DRM encoders. We are ready to broadcast using
DRM at any time, but unfortunately there are no mass produced
receivers for our listeners to buy at a decent price, and - most
im****tantly - there are no listeners for DRM at present.
DRM is a very promising technology, has a 2-3 year delay over original
plans, and it is still confined as a technological experiment. Will it
be successful, meaning that we will see soon lots of listeners
embracing it? Ask the man in the street: unfortunately marketing
efforts to create awareness of this new potential media have not been
started yet.
Some large companies are pu****ng DRM by convincing program producers
and broadcasters to start airing in DRM ahead of time, but unless
there is mass availability and penetration of receivers on the
listeners side, this will remain - unfortunately - a technological
experiment, and broadcasters using it to reach their listeners now,
are clearly throwing their money out of the window.
Similar "experiments" were run in the past using analogue & digital
satellite radio and WorldSpace. They failed miserably in reaching an
audience for different reasons.
We have been following with great interest the development of DRM, and
as soon as one of our members send us a request to start DRM
broadcasts we will do it. Currently we advise them to wait and see
until there are low cost receivers available in mass production, and
of course there are listeners using them.
We are still very active on conventional Shortwave and Internet
streaming, because there are listeners out-there, and there are
regions in the world where Shortwave is still popular, still listened
to. According to what we hear from missionaries in Africa, the Far and
Middle East and S America DRM will have a hard time to be popular in
those regions for some time (if ever), due to the high cost associated
in the conversion of the present Shortwave and Medium Wave receivers
to DRM capable devices.
Unfortunately we have seen something similar to DRM today happening
for satellite radio in Europe and WorldSpace, another promising
technology marketed initially for listeners in Africa, and confined
for years to embassies, consulates and a bunch of rich people on that
continent.
DRM, Worldspace and satellite radio in Europe, Africa and Asia are NOT
what XM and Sirius are today in the USA. We wish they could be, maybe,
sometime in the future.
http://www.egradio.org/index.php?name=FAQ&id_cat=7
Then I ran this hit count for http://drm.org
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http://siteanalytics.compete.com/drm.org/?metric=uv
It looks almost dead. Is DRM causing much interference on SW, and does
DRM appear to be a bust? I could only find a handful of very
expensive DRM receivers. Radio Shack has indicated that they are not
interested, and Sangean put their DRM receiver on hold. Thanks...
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