What about a very simple "Bootable Linux" version of DReaM on a USB drive hidden inside a radio? It would be a great way to jump-start some people into DRM reception!There once was talk of a cheap Chinese set like this. The added piece would be the tiny flash drive (512M are about $3 US retail currently). The only other problem is what it would take to get permission from Fraunhofer for the AAC+ rights (can anyone pull some strings here? The Consortium?) We have made some headway this year by getting compiled DReaM executables out there!
The radio was the Kchibo KK-DRM 01. I can't tell if it is around any more (or if it ever really was!) A single unit did get out and received some attention in 2005-2006. I'd hope that production costs have improved and it would be even cheaper now.
Reports were less than ideal but perhaps simple improvements would suffice. I'd guess it could retail at sub $30 US. Certainly a cheaper alternative to the current standalone offerings. Post your thoughts to the Yahoo Group! Is it just me, or does it look like this might be the same/similar radio?
UPDATE 20111107: Digger from DRMRX forum is an owner of the original KK-DRM 01 set. I quote from his email: "It is useless for DRM above 9 MHz, probably due to instability in the PLL or lots of jitter or noise from it."
My Clarification: I'm just thinking in terms of a simple way (regardless of computer hardware) to be able to use DReaM and a low cost receiver.
My idea came from Puppy Linux Bootable CD and Harv's Ham Shack Hack Bootable CD. Both of these work on older hardware yet offer very workable options.
In the case of the "bootable" radio, the USB would only function to get the user access to a simple Linux based desktop where they could run DReaM or an equivalent DRM decoding program. They would still be required to the feed the 12k IF into the computer soundcard and tune the radio manually.
A USB based receiver system would be nice, but I felt this alternative option could be based more on a simple solution by using the open source software already available.
