I bought a DAB radio purely out of curiosity and realised that in the UK it is compromised by the decision to use low bit rates on some channels. I believe BBC Radio 4 uses a better rate though as it was deemed appropriate to the music played.
The bad things that I have noticed with many DAB radios are:
1. They gobble batteries
2. They often do not have an external antenna port
3. The designs generally look like cheap 'trannies' from many years ago !
4. Sensitivity is often poor with the in-built antenna.
5. There are plenty of really cr*p DAB radios on the market that disappoint.
I own a very neat Sony DAB radio that actually works well but it eats batteries so they included a mains adapter for this compact PORTABLE radio
I also bought a PURE ONE DAB radio in as new condition from a charity shop for GBP5. It works OK but the design looks really cheap and nasty.
It is as though DAB radio manufacturers employed AMSTRAD designers for all their radio cases and had little confidence in the technology. A very poor implementation of Digital Radio in the UK.
I often listen to British Forces Radio so DAB offers me something not available via FM. My general radio listening is still FM though. The British Government have placed any plans to decommission FM analogue transmissions on hold and no surprises there.
Anyone remember Worldspace digital radio ? It has died and the company went into liquidation. Hillarious stories of how to deal with the defunct satellites have followed. NASA threatening all manner of action and demanding de-orbiting for which there is no money available.
I believe the USA has XM satellite radio that is satellite direct to car/home and I think it is still operating. I bought some of the active antennas for XM and they are a VERY sophisticated design with high quality pre-amplification. They are designed for use on boats, cars and trucks so have an excellent polar plot.
I just checked and they are now called SiriusXM Satellite radio.
http://www.siriusxm.com/Digital radio can be done well but UK deployed DAB falls short of the mark.