Free digital (DAB) radio - this Saturday's Daily Mail

Barnetbear

miketerry wrote: »

The Daily Mail’s reader offers are the envy of the newspaper world. They always look good; they always capture the zeitgeist. So the thought of giving away a ‘free’ DAB radio worth £35, just days after scare stories about the cost of the digital switchover, must have seemed like a spiffing wheeze.

But sadly, all is not what it seems. Your ‘free’ radio most certainly isn’t ‘free’.

Where shall we begin? Let’s take Route One or, as the Mail calls it, ‘Priority Orders’. For this you need to collect 20 differently dated tokens, so let’s assume that you take the Mail from Monday (50p) to Saturday (80p), so you’ve spent £10.90 just to qualify. You then need to make a telephone call to register your interest (75p a minute for two minutes) and then also enclose a cheque for £26.70. So that’s £39.10 for a radio that’s ‘worth £35′. What a bargain.

So let’s tread the pauper’s path. For this, you need 60 differently dated tokens including eight that MUST (their caps) come from the Mail on Sunday. So that’s five days at 50p, one day at 80p and one day at £1.50. Your 60 tokens are going to cost you £40.40. Oh, and then there’s a cheque for £6.70 postage. So that’s £46.10 for a radio that’s ‘worth £35′. What a bargain.

It doesn’t stop there. DAB radios eat batteries, so you’ll need a rechargeable ‘ChargePAK’ at just £20, plus there’s the opportunity to purchase an ‘attractive’ case for your ‘free’ radio for another £20 (or just £35 for both).

So your ‘free radio worth £35′, with tokens, ChargePAK, case and phone call, could end up costing you a phenomenal £74.20. What a bargain. Mind you, you do get to read the Daily Mail every day.

(Thanks to the Press Gazette for pointing this out).

The reason I posted details of the offer was I was unaware of the number of tokens needed. However, once I became aware of the number it seemed to me that no one would buy the DM especially but that my thread might be put to good use to simply alert those people who buy or find the DM anyway on weekdays, so that for the sake of a few extra pounds by purchasing the Mail at weekends they could get a DAB radio.

The arithmetic the PG, yourself and others have highlighted does demonstrate that it is economically unwise to buy the paper just for this radio, as good a model as Pure radios usually are. (I happen to quite like the DM and if I were a commuter I'd pick one up most days anyway, that's me coming out of the closet, but of course when I'm not travelling anywhere by train etc I don't buy newspapers at all unless it's a special report or souvenir issue.)

Those who want to buy a digital radio - may I recommend the one I was fortunate enough to get for just a few quid secondhand. They're bound to be doing them again soon and last time new they were just £15 at Netto. The make is Mulberry Innovations and the sound quality and reception are really, really good compared to my older one which cost me £40 in 2008.
Those that want more info, click here http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/dab-fm-radio-with-alarm-only-14-99-/222049

miketerry

Might be better to wait until DAB+ comes on the UK market.

DAB+ is a further development of the existing DAB platform and is currently being adopted in a number of new and emerging digital radio markets such as Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Malta, Hungary, Kuwait, Malaysia and New Zealand" (quote from Revo).

Many DAB sets being sold in the UK will not receive DAB+ so when this standard is adopted by the UK, which is very likely as its superior technology, new DAB radios will need to be bought.

roddydogs

The way i read it is you dont phone priority orders first, you may NOT get a Radio no matter that you've got all the vouchers, Right.? I buy the DM every day, but I know from experience that 60 is a hell of a lot to remember to collect.

malc1603

Think this is the one pictured : http://www.pure.com/products/product.asp?Product=VL-61410&PageType=Specification&Category=On%20The%20Move

It has a USB connection for power / software updates but drawbacks seem to be it doesn't take regular batteries (and no headphone socket!).

JAG

roddydogs wrote: »

The way i read it is you dont phone priority orders first, you may NOT get a Radio no matter that you've got all the vouchers, Right.? I buy the DM every day, but I know from experience that 60 is a hell of a lot to remember to collect.

I think those that phone get the first shippment and those that don't get the second shippment which could take an extra 56 days after the last token.

malc1603 wrote: »

Think this is the one pictured : http://www.pure.com/products/product.asp?Product=VL-61410&PageType=Specification&Category=On%20The%20Move

It has a USB connection for power / software updates but drawbacks seem to be it doesn't take regular batteries (and no headphone socket!).

You will have to run it off the mains or buy the extra battery power pack.

Unless you buy the newspaper everyday then it would be cheaper to buy a DAB radio elsewhere.

robin_banks

Banner_Stands wrote: »

What will happen to my mind if I read 60 editions of the Daily Mail straight?

You'll probably get your own show when Nick Ferrari is on holiday !!!

inspiron1200

Half price DAB radio in Argos £29.99 Save yourself from having to buy umpteen copies of the daily mail http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002201&langId=-1&searchTerms=9238378

everett_psycho

they aren't doing it at the moment but T3 often do deals where you get a free DAB if you subscribe, i paid £23 for 6 months of magazine and got a DAB thrown in to boot :j

Tony5101

The DAB radio that I bought a couple of years ago, is sitting in my conservatory gathering dust. I once (and I do mean once!) got a signal on it for about 30 seconds or so, and since then....not a peep. No digital signal at all.
Lets see what happens when the area does eventually switch over to digital TV...maybe we'll see an improvement - but I'm not holding my breath.
Currently, we can't even get terrestrially Ch5 / so we chose to go with Sky a couple of years back.
Sadly, the NorthEast is in the very last phase to switch to digital.
DAB has been a big FAIL so far for us....so lets see what the future brings.

friar

Collected 60 tokens but no mention as to where to send them1
Can anyone tell me please?
Thanks in advance.:beer: