> tune to your favorite station on an analog FM radio ... dial
I mean, when an ad says "Listen to 123.4 FM!", they are literally conveying that information to you digitally; they are telling you the number to tune to.
A fully analog radio has markings to give you a rough guide of where the frequencies are, e.g. 99.0 MHz, 99.1 MHz, 99.2 MHz, etc. When you take the number in your mind and map it onto the markings, you are performing a digital-to-analog conversion (DAC). And because the dial is analog, you can make it fall between any marking you want; there are no steps that you're forced to take.
Meanwhile, a digital tuner would let you tune to 99.1 MHz and 99.3 MHz with nothing in between.
I mean, when an ad says "Listen to 123.4 FM!", they are literally conveying that information to you digitally; they are telling you the number to tune to.
A fully analog radio has markings to give you a rough guide of where the frequencies are, e.g. 99.0 MHz, 99.1 MHz, 99.2 MHz, etc. When you take the number in your mind and map it onto the markings, you are performing a digital-to-analog conversion (DAC). And because the dial is analog, you can make it fall between any marking you want; there are no steps that you're forced to take.
Meanwhile, a digital tuner would let you tune to 99.1 MHz and 99.3 MHz with nothing in between.