Before buying a DAB radio or tuner, DAB+ here (UK) soon!

DAB

DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) radio uses MP2 digital encoding.
The MP2 audio CODEC is based on the MUSICAM audio codec that was designed in the 1980s!
That is why it is a blatant lie that DAB audio is better quality than FM.
(It is better quality than AM/LW).

When speaking at the British Audio-visual Dealers' Association's AGM in 2007, Peter Davies, Ofcom's Director of Radio & Multimedia, was asked what he thought about the falling bit rates and sound quality on DAB, to which he replied: "I don't think the sound quality [on DAB] is good enough". Also, Ofcom has allowed music stations to be broadcast in Mono, a sad situation.

DAB+

Because of its inherent problems, broadcasters and governments from numerous countries became opposed to using the old DAB system, so WorldDAB (now called WorldDMB) was forced to upgrade the old DAB system or risk seeing the UK, Denmark and Norway stranded using the old DAB system while all other countries would have chosen a more modern system instead. The upgrade they came up with is called DAB+.

DAB+ radio uses the AAC+ CODEC, designed a decade later than MP2 and has the capability of much higher audio quality.

Countries that have or will be trialling DAB+

• Australia (DAB+ only [no DAB] from 01-JAN-2009 target)
  
• China (trialling during Olympics)
  
• Czech Republic
• France (which has decided to use DMB instead of DAB+)
• Germany
• India
• Italy (14 DAB+ stations since NOV-2007)
  
• Malaysia
• Malta (DAB+ only [no DAB] since 01-JUL-2008)
  
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Singapore
  
• Switzerland

It is guesstimated by industry watchers that the UK will start broadcasting DAB+ channels in 2010.
DAB would initially run in parallel, but eventually disappear.

So, what to do about buying a DAB radio/tuner?

The answer is simply to buy equipment that is firmware (software) upgradeable to DAB+.
Such is available from PURE (although they downplay the feature) on their USB equipped models.
PURE's firmware upgrades will be free of charge according to their website.
PURE's goal is to sell only DAB+ capable sets (i.e. already has the DAB+ firmware upgrade) from 2009 - there's a hint.

Revo have a DAB+ capable model available now (Revo Blik RadioStation).

I hope this guide helps you from getting landed with a dinosaur DAB only device.

A really good site with loads of information on DAB/DAB+ news, standards and equipment can be found by Googling "digitalradiotech".