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Related: Norway is first country to turn off FM radio and go digital-only https://www.newscientist.com/article/2117569-norway-is-first-country-to-turn-off-fm-r

• jedberg 10y ago
  If we did this in the US it would be terrible for me. I still listen to the radio when I drive because I don't have unlimited data on my phone for streaming. My car is 16 years old so the radio doesn't support digital and it definitely isn't worth upgrading. So I'd often be driving in silence which, while not the end of the world, would suck. My wife's car does have a digital radio, but on long trips around California there are often times when I can only get analog radio because they digital infrastructure just isn't there. Perhaps a forced change would make them upgrade, but I suspect there would be a lot more dead zones (because at least at the current power levels, the analog versions of the stations reach much further).
  • realo 10y ago
    Are you aware that most music apps like Spotify allow you to pre-load music? You can download thousands of tunes in an hour or so, from any wifi hotspot. No advertisements either. Then you play it back in your car. Weeks of music, if you want. FM radio is usually heavily handicapped by advertisements on-air. THAT is one major reason that is driving "Internet-enabled" people away. And they never come back.
    • ocdtrekkie 10y ago
      Honestly, I enjoy the radio personalities and their choice of music. I have playlists I can listen to on my phone, but I hear most new music through the radio. The ads aren't that bad, I flip channels sometimes because of ads, but that's not a big deal.
    • jedberg 10y ago
      I enjoy the curation of the music directors and the witty banter in the morning (despite the fact that a lot of it is from yesterday's Reddit). I can usually get six good stations in the Bay Area so commercials aren't a problem. I just go to the next station.
  • vmarsy 10y ago
    At least the oldest cars had a cassette player, so you could use a jack cassette adapter[1] and listen to music on your phone/mp3 player. The more recent one would have mp3 CD players so you could burn discs with hundred of hours of music. But the worst are the car in-between, with no Cassette player, but only a CD player, where you could burn at most ~20 tracks on those 650MB CD-R. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Insten-Cassette-Adapter-Compatible-Player/dp/B00QHNCQR4 https://www.amazon.com/Insten-Cassette-Adapter-Compatible-Pl...
  • amalcon 10y ago
    They used to make a device that is essentially a tiny AM transmitter. You'd plug it into your MP3 player's audio jack, and tune your car's radio to a particular frequency. I'm not sure if this is still a thing, though. It also doesn't totally solve the problem (e.g. can't possibly listen to anything live like sports or news), but it does help.
    • LeoPanthera 10y ago
      FM transmitter, not AM, but yes they still make them.
    • jedberg 10y ago
      It was FM and I have one so that I can listen to podcasts when I drive in foreign countries. But it sure is a pain in the ass. :)