Pure Digital: internet radio is not 'the future'

UK DAB radio specialist Pure Digital does not see a transition from digital to internet radio taking place in the coming years, claiming that DAB radio is still the future for UK broadcasting.

Pure's marketing strategy is to integrate broadcast radio and internet radio in what it calls 'connected' radio devices, such as the recently launched Pure Avanti Flow and Evoke Flow.

"We aren't really particularly interested in 'internet only' radios – radios which are only there for streaming – because we still see that as relatively niche the foreseeable future," Pure's marketing director, Colin Crawford told TechRadar.

"We still believe that the majority of people will listen to pretty much the same stations that they do now," Crawford added.

"And, knowing that from a broadcast perspective it costs money to stream to individual users, our aim is to come up with a device that's a cracking broadcast radio, but also one that lets you use internet connectivity in a number of ways on top of that"

Why 'connected' radio?

"We call it 'connected radio' because it is not just a one-way channel (or stream) that has been opened," Crawford explained.

"It is potentially a two-way flow of information. That's the stuff [we're] working on right now – making use of that back channel to allow the customer to talk back and have a dialogue with the radio station in new ways.

"The possibilities for this are almost endless (scarily so, in fact!) and we have a development plan for at least the next five years – and every time we talk about that we end up adding more ideas to the already huge list of possibilities of things you could do with a connected radio."

The first development in this area from Pure will be to give listeners the ability to buy a track that they are listening to on the radio.

"If you like a track, a button will appear on the radio that says 'buy now'. To see this you'll [need to] already have a small value account set up on The Pure Lounge, which is our online portal – then you hit the 'buy now' button and you've bought the track. Job done!"

"It's then stored on The Lounge, so you can play it on the radio whenever you like – and it will also be emailed to you as a high-quality MP3 file. The codec we use in The Lounge will probably not be MP3, simply because we will want to reduce bandwidth. But that will make very little difference – the gist of it is that you've got access to your music wherever you are: via The Lounge, your connected radio, or you have it on your PC as well."

Check out rest of the full Pure Digital interview only on TechRadar.