Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Stereo vs. Mono: Q about AM Stereo
Message-ID: <1989Apr24.174150.1285@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <4046@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 89 17:41:50 GMT

In article <4046@bgsuvax.UUCP> klopfens@bgsuvax.UUCP (Bruce Klopfenstein) writes:
>The other question is, do you think the FCC should leave it to the market-
>place to determine technical standards? ...

One problem with leaving standards to the marketplace is that in practice,
this often means leaving it to the manufacturers.  Believe it or not,
maximizing annual profits is not the same thing as picking the best
standards.  In particular, manufacturers will seldom reject the idea of
a standard on the grounds that it is unnecessary and silly; quite the
contrary, each new standard means a new market to sell stuff to.  The
only major justification for AM stereo, really, is that it would sell a
lot of new radios.  It's a dumb idea otherwise.
-- 
Mars in 1980s:  USSR, 2 tries, |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
2 failures; USA, 0 tries.      | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu