RadioDNS supports the convergence of broadcast radio and the Internet to create Hybrid Radio.
Today we’re publishing a proposal to update the RadioDNS specification to better handle radio delivered using IP streaming. The technical detail is available on our developers’ mailing list, but the primary aim of this change is to give listeners the same experience regardless of whether they’re listening to a station via broadcast radio or streaming it over the Internet. This means that broadcasters’ enhanced applications will now be available to all their audience, not just those who listen via broadcast radio. All our existing application specifications (RadioVIS, RadioEPG, RadioTAG) will be updated to support this new functionality.
The other significant change is to our RadioEPG specification. It has always been an aim of the project to enable true Hybrid Radio – a radio that can switch seamlessly between distribution technologies. The update to the RadioEPG specification gives a radio all the information it needs to find the same radio station in different ways. In practical terms, that means a broadcaster can tell a device to move listeners from IP streaming to FM, HD, DAB where a good broadcast signal is available, or vice versa. The technical details are on the EPG developers’ mailing list.
We’re very excited about these changes. The proposals are being circulated now on the relevant mailing lists for peer technical review and comment, or for people to build prototypes against. They are not yet confirmed changes. We will notify everyone separately when the proposals have been adopted as updates to the specifications, which is likely to be the end of 2011, beginning of 2012.
I’d like to thank the members of the technical Teams who have worked on these changes.
Nick Piggott
Chairperson