Colin's Journal

DRM is usually taken to mean Digital Rights Management, an often derided concept that entails restrictions as to what can be done with digital media. I’ve just learnt about another meaning for DRM: Digital Radio Mondiale.

This version of DRM is a digital radio standard for existing AM band radio stations (frequencies less than 30MHz, including short, medium and long wave). The broadcasts are to start on the 16th of June this year, and the standard is ratified for most of the world (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand), with the notable exception of North and South America. The quality is claimed to be similar to that of existing FM services, but not as good as the main digital radio standard DAB.

I doubt I’ll be hearing any DRM broadcasts soon because the current generation of digital radios only seem to be supporting DAB (based on higher frequencies and useful over shorter distances than DRM). I can’t imagine how the marketing for DRM will work given the name clash with a disliked technology, and the phrase ‘digital radio’ being so closely associated with DAB.

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