Re: [OT] Pioneer stereo question

[Tom Nas <tnas@euronet.nl>]

Ken Keith <auditude@impulsedata.net> wrote:

>Okay, a friend of mine was showing off his stereo
>system in his Jetta, and he had a Pioneer CD player.

>He said that it could connect to a satellite or
>something, and if he programmed what city, he could
>listen to the local stations in that city.

>I didn't get a chance to pursue the subject, but
>I'm not thinking that it would be pretty darn
>sophisticated if it could do that.

>Perhaps it just had a little microchip that had the
>call letters for all frequencies based on what
>city?  Because I really doubt the unit was communicating
>with some kind of satellite.

Your friend should read the manual (or stop believing everything salesmen
tell him) ;-) .
He has RDS EON (Radio Data System/Enhanced Other Networks). A common system
here in Europe, that helps your stereo keep its station when travelling
across the country, enables you to select stations based on the properties
(e.g. MOR music, news, discussion...) and displays the station name on the
head unit's display. Here in Holland, it's also used for displaying
irritating commercial messages (I don't need reminders that the new Opel
turbodiesel is out when I'm driving my Audi!).

The only other innovation in radio technology is DAB (Digital Audio
Broadcasting), but I doubt very much that he's bought such a system...

Tom