Internet Radio vs DAB

[anavfan]

Sorry if this is a newbie question.

I'm trying to decide whether to ask my other half for a DAB Radio or something like the Squeezebox Boom for Christmas.

On the face of it I'd prefer a Squeezebox but I'm concerned about the availability of some of the stations that I like on DAB :

Planet Rock
BBC 5 Live

Also I listen to Key103 in Manchester for the United Games.

Is al this stuff available on internet radio or do things like UK content get replaced with other programs because of license agreements?

Any help would be much appreciated to this newbie!

[davepuma]

I've never heard DAB, nor am I likely to due to where I live and personally I think it's dead in the water by the looks of things. I mostly listen to radio in the car and by all accounts it's not much kop for that. However, since getting my squeezebox, I have started to listen to the radio a lot more esp. other commercial stations (my local one is terrible) via the SB3.

There is a handy list of UK internet radio stations here

[amcluesent]

Bear in mind the Boom is not primarily on internet radio, it's a music streamer. If you don't have now, or plan to have, music downloaded or ripped from CD then a dedicated internet radio may suite you better, or a DAB radio of course.

But that said, these three stations all stream. They also use mp3 or wma, so you could set them up as favourites on the SqueezeNetwork, therefore you could listen on the Boom without needing a PC switched on.

5 Live - http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/live/live.asx
Planet - http://mediasrv.musicradio.com/PlanetRock
Key103 - http://earth.radica.com/key-70

YOu can experiment without spending any money. Download the Softsqueeze player for your PC (it emulates players), create an account on the Squeezenetwork and add the stations. Then listen to them playing on your PC to check that matches etc. are covered.

[Autopilot]

The Boom is outstanding, i plan to get one as soon as i can to compliment my other Squeezeboxs. But i agree with the above, if you are not interested in streaming your music from your pc or want to use other services like last.fm etc then it might be overkill. Something like the Pure might suit, wont sound quite as good as the boom, but it has DAB too.

[anavfan]

Thanks to everyone for the replies - it's very helpful.

I'm going to take amcluesents advice and try softsqueeze. I'm pleased to see its a Java app so will work natively on my linux box.

The links are very useful so as long as they don't cut the football or other UK content then I think the advantages far outweigh any disadvtanges of the DAB ones. I've got a lot of oggs on my PC and listen to lastfm quite a bit so it looks very attractive.

I'll post back when I can confirm that my other questions are yes or no!

[Jules Tohpipi]

A good internet radio has some huge advantages over DAB. Listen to nearly any radio station around the world. No reception problems. Search on genre for stuff you like. Listen to your album collection off your computer or NAS.

The only fly in the ointment is the poor sound quality of the BBC radio stations. These are typically broadcast at a relatively low 64kbps - which is worse than DAB. In fact, it's 50:50 on falling below my threshold of listenability. Surely the BBC can do better than this ??

Overall though, unless you are an avid Radio 1 or Radio 3 listener, then an internet radio is the way to go.

[Edit: Any Reciva based internet radio can receive the three stations you mention]

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by robkirk

...I'm pleased to see its a Java app so will work natively on my linux box....

...I've got a lot of oggs on my PC and listen to lastfm quite a bit so it looks very attractive...

Sounds to me like the boom would really suit you. No other portable internet radio i know of does last.fm, supports Ogg Vorbis and you must be fair technically proficient if you use Linux. Sounds like the Boom was made for you.

[anavfan]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

Sounds to me like the boom would really suit you. No other portable internet radio i know of does last.fm, supports Ogg Vorbis and you must be fair technically proficient if you use Linux. Sounds like the Boom was made for you.

Thanks for that. I agree with you and so I'm asking Father Christmas for one!

I was quite impressed with Logitech when the charger on my multi remote stopped working and they replaced it FOC when it was over 15 months old.

However, I was disappointed that the football wasn't on Key103 over internet radio yesterday - they just replaced it with music. However, I'm sure this will change at some point and the Boom brings so much extra to the table than a DAB Radio.

[Autopilot]

Good review here - Logitech Squeezebox Boom wireless music player | Register Hardware