I wouldn't worry about it unless:

- you have crappy FM reception where you are
or
- you only want to use it in the car
or
- you want to listen to stations not available in FM in your area
or
- you only want to listen to Radio 3

The reason I say this is that they have butchered the bit rates so much now that it sounds crappy. Almost all of the commercial are streaming at 128k, which just isn't enough.

The BBC stations are little better, except for the sacred Radio 3 which is still at 192k. At the moment Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 6 Music and 1Xtra are on 128k (except Radio 1 and Radio 2 get boosted to 160k overnight when Radio 4 is cut to 80). Radio 5 is at 80k and WS at 64k.

And all this is before they finish cramming in the extra channels that they want (Asian channel and Network Z). At that point I fully expect bit rates to fall again, I'm so looking forward to listening to Radio 4 in 96k joint stereo, not !

Of course Radio 3, the sacred cow that a whole 1.1% of the radio audience listen to is promised to stay at 192k, lucky old them. Just proves it's not what you know but who you know...

In the car or if you have poor FM reception DAB is obviously more useful.

Sorry, didn't know it was going to be a rant when I started. Someone at the BBC decided that "choice" is more important that quality, and that pisses me off.

At least the BBC site is no longer claiming "pure digital sound" and is now saying things like:

"I get good FM reception, so why bother with digital radio?

If you already receive good FM, the differences in sound may not be as readily apparent. However, you won't gain access to additional services that can only be carried on digital radio, such as new radio stations and additional text and data services."