Radio amnesty starts today

[TimberWolf]

If you turn your analogue radio set into your nearest (scheme signed-up) purveyor of expensive unreliable battery sapping digital radio sets that might not work as well as your old one, you may get a discount no questions asked. But you will have to be sharpish, as the amnesty ends of the 26 June. Alternatively you can discard your old radio set that works fine and will do for years in special bins from which other people might make good use of it.

Stephen Fry ad to promote radio 'scrappage' scheme | Media | guardian.co.uk
Radio executives plan analogue 'scrappage scheme' to aid digital switch | Media | The Guardian

What was the name of the song that went something like "let's get digital"? It might have had the words "let your body talk" in it, or I might be mixing up two unrelated songs or even have dreamt up the whole thing

[threaded]

Forgive me, but I don't ever remember voting to be charged to receive radio signals.

It's quite something isn't it: radio and TV was 'free' until they found ways they could charge you for it.

Each jump in technology has resulted in a new way to charge you for something that was free up to then.

TV and radio was free.

Then they made the people who charged batteries register using some spurious reason like battery charging companies explode and hurt nurses.

Then they used this register to charge a tax, as it's expensive to check battery charging companies are not exploding.

Then you had to register your equipment, under some dubious "the Germans will use them to bomb us if we don't" scare nonsense.

Once they had this register: oh we can use this to tax people.

Then they found a way to gather tax by selling off spectrum. Was it ever 'theirs' to sell in the first place?

But the spectrum is a finite resource and so they're running out.

Oh, lets see if we can cram more into less spectrum, doesn't matter if the quality drops off, or it costs the users more, as they're not paying for it anyway. Erm, yes they are, they have to pay the taxes!

Oh, looky here, the signal crammed into this spectrum is encoded. Why, what we can do is charge the user for a key to decode the signal.

Then we have a register of all the users with a decode key.

Tax people say, oh, you have a register, we can use that to tax people.

[d000hg]

What a long and bizarre response.

I personally like digital radio, provided you can get a decent signal. Though I don't see any reason to get rid of FM radio (AM is a load of rubbish).

[HairyArsedBloke]

I love my DAB radio. It was a cheap one I bought in Dixon's when I was in hospital a year ago. Kept me sane (-ish)!

All my media is digital now. I do have a freeview set top box, but I hardly watch the TV set these days as I use iPlayer, download, or whatever. That is probably because I'm at my desk most of my hours.

In central London, FM has become unusable because of the number of pirate stations.

[SueEllen]

So what do I do with my car radio?

While it's easy to replace my working analogue radios (and CD players attached to radios) in the home it isn't so easy in the car.

Plus if I drive out of the UK will I be able to get digital radio everywhere in Europe?

Anyway I'm not getting rid of my analogue radios until I have to.

[shaunbhoy]

What was the name of the song that went something like "let's get digital"? It might have had the words "let your body talk" in it, or I might be mixing up two unrelated songs or even have dreamt up the whole thing

I think you are referring to "Let's get Physical" by Olivia Neutron Bomb, a song for which the video contained clips of her getting a bit hot and sweaty in a kind of leotard arrangement. It also includes the line "Let me hear your body talk" IIRC. Funny how the vision of a young fit cavorting ONJ sticks in the mind. Ah...........halcyon days!!

[TimberWolf]

I think you are referring to "Let's get Physical" by Olivia Neutron Bomb, a song for which the video contained clips of her getting a bit hot and sweaty in a kind of leotard arrangement. It also includes the line "Let me hear your body talk" IIRC. Funny how the vision of a young fit cavorting ONJ sticks in the mind. Ah...........halcyon days!!

Thanks, that's the one!

Remix:

...
Let's get digital, digital,
I wanna get digital, let's get into digital
Let me hear your radio talk,
Your radio talk, let me hear your radio talk
...
Let's get analogue, analogue,
I wanna get analogue, let's get into analogue
Let me hear your radio talk,
Your radio talk, let me hear your radio talk

[cojak]

[RANT]
A Radio amnesty eh?

Well they can shove their fecking digital portable radios where the sun don't shine. I was trying to listen to the Roberts Sports radio Whilst gardening but just got a maddening blocky reception because I was too close to the house. In fact I couldn't get a decent reception unless I stood in the middle of the road. Digital radio reception in Notts is absolutely rubbish.
[\RANT]
Can anyone suggest a reliable little pocket FM radio?