For a growing number of people, music at home means digital. That's taken for granted. Except when they listen to the radio. For radio is still analog, despite the digital (i.e. numerical) readout of station frequencies.
     But that's about to change if you can believe the propaganda. Digital radio will offer you CD-quality sound without interference, plus a host of other services radio has never been had before. Of course, we always tend to wince when we hear the words "CD-quality," but in this context it makes us blanch. The truth is completely contrary to the official propaganda.
     Predicting the future is always risky, especially in a print medium, whose permanence can return to haunt us, but we do believe that digital radio will fail. It is, very simply, a cure for a disease that has yet to be discovered. What's more, technology is advancing fast enough to overtake it.
     Explanations are in order. And we've been hearing so many questions about digital radio that we thought a giant FAQ (frequently asked questions) might be the best explanation of all. Here goes...

Q. Are digital radio stations actually on the air right now?
A. Yes they are, in major cities in Canada, the UK, continental Europe, and parts of Asia. Experimental stations are broadcasting in some other countries, including the United States.
Q. Can I actually tune in these stations?
A. Sure, if you can find a digital receiver. They are expensive, and they are scarce. In fact, if you're in the US, the answer is probably no.
Q. Why is the US a special case?
A. Because the US is adopting -- or will probably adopt -- a system different from that of the rest of the world...or more correctly more than one system.
Q. Wait a minute...you mean that the US and Canada, which share radio and TV standards, have incompatible digital radio standards?
A. That's exactly right.
Q. Why?
A. It is surprising, but it seems to be because Canada decided to move on digital while US broadcasters were deadlocked on the system to use. Because some European countries, such as the UK, were about to actually begin digital broadcasting, Canada followed their example, adopting the Eureka 147 system.
Q. Is that a good system?
A. By audiophile standards, of course, it isn't, because the Musicam compression system used throws away much -- actually most -- of the musical information.
Q. So we're using the European system in Canada?
A. Yes, except in respect to the frequencies used. In the appropriate international forums, Canada has been pushing to have the L-Band (which runs from 1.452 to 1.492 GHz) reserved for digital radio. That's the one being used.
Q. Might the US following suit?
A. It doesn't look that way.
Q. So what's happening with digital broadcasting in the US?
A. Two things, in fact, one of which we'll get to. The system that most resembles present-day radio would operate right on the existing radio bands, both AM and FM.
Q. How is that possible?
A. It means adding a subcarrier, much like the one that carries stereo information on FM and TV stations, that would be modulated with the digital information. A normal radio would simply demodulate the usual analog signal, but a special receiver could recover the digital code and reconstruct the signal in that way.
Q. Is there room on the existing signal for that much extra information?
A. Of course, since the system is already being used experimentally. There isn't space for as much information as the Canada-Europe Eureka 147 system can broadcast, so the compression used has to be brutal.
Q. Is anyone objecting?