Internet radio vs DAB

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Sput
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Joined: Wed 20 Aug, 2003 19.57

I was mulling getting a little hi-fi for the front room that dealt with Airplay and DAB. It turns out that that's quite an obscure combination, but there are units that do Internet Radio and Airplay.

Anyone got any thoughts as to what the downsides (apart from the obvious "needs a broadband connection") would be if I sack off DAB in favour of Internet?
Knight knight
wells
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Joined: Sun 31 Jul, 2005 14.52

The main ones would be it's taking longer to change stations, online streams are usually less reliable too and you might not get the same level of sport commentaries due to rights reasons. Some streams will be better quality some will be much worse.

Obviously you'd get loads more choice.
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Sput
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Cheers wells. Any idea if the "big" stations are alright in terms of quality?
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Alexia
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Sput wrote:Cheers wells. Any idea if the "big" stations are alright in terms of quality?
Quality wise, you're talking mainly around the 128kbps area, and 48kbps for AM talk stations. Not really audibly noticeable but at least you get stereo, whereas on DAB some stations ONLY transmit mono MP2.

A bit out of date, but our mutual friend Mr Cridland explains all here (from when he was on the BBC payroll):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/ ... o_onl.html
robschneider
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The sound quality will generally be better via Internet - DAB uses MP2 and most of the stations transmit in mono at low bitrates, something I can't see being solved any time soon. Conversely, you'll get 128k Stereo MP3 or 64k AAC+ as the norm via the Internet. I go for Internet over DAB for that reason generally.
Alexia
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What did you plump for after?
wells
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Joined: Sun 31 Jul, 2005 14.52

Alexia wrote:What did you plump for after?
Silence it seems.
Alexia
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Joined: Sat 01 Oct, 2005 17.50

wells wrote:
Alexia wrote:What did you plump for after?
Silence it seems.
Perhaps he's just waiting for Rob Schneider to say exactly the same thing I did a month later.
.--. .---
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Alexia wrote:
wells wrote:
Alexia wrote:What did you plump for after?
Silence it seems.
Perhaps he's just waiting for Rob Schneider to say exactly the same thing I did a month later.

Perhaps they clicked on reply and are the the slowest typist in the world, maybe one or two words a week? :lol:

PJ
Alexia
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Joined: Sat 01 Oct, 2005 17.50

:shock:

You'll fit in well, my lad.
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