I am an avid radio listener. I think I have always been, except in my dark night period (1992-2003). So I am personally very interested in the state of the radio realm. And I think with the worldwide advent of digital broadcasting we have entered a long period of transition. It's not over yet. In fact, these are very strange times for radio listeners. We are able to listen to the whole wide world now, for the very first time in the history of mankind. But being an audiophile I still can't feel super happy about this, as I should. Problem is sound quality. And speaking of digital content, first and foremost bit-rate of digital radio. Go and look: it is very low. I keep hearing advertisments that recommend DAB as being "CD-like" just because it's digital.
Come on! While we audiophiles have stopped discussing the merits of 320kbps MP3 as a possible CD substitute,
because we use FLAC with no problem, Internet radio is mostly 96kpbs (not 960, 96). A long step back from what we already considered low. See the nice
article by Jim Austin on "the new aether" (i.e. the Internet) on Stereophile online for a general assessment of the situation.
In short, a lot of content, a whole lot of content, all the world's content, undeniable ease of use, poor and for many of us difficult to accept (not only for bit-rate) quality. We're crossing the desert. Godspeed to us all!
(picture is Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904), Riders crossing the desert. Source of the file is Wikimedia Commons)
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