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XM PCR Control Program for Mac OS X
nsayer writes "I'm a fan of XM Radio. The least expensive XM radio you can get is the XM PCR, which is powered and controlled over a USB connection to a host PC (the audio does not, however, come back across the USB connection. It's just got an analog line-out jack). Unfortunately, the only software they give you is for Windows. But fortunately, it's been reverse engineered, so I was able to write MacXM. At this point, it is very stable and easy to use, and so far as I know it is the only XM radio software that integrates with the iTunes music store (click a button and iTunes pops up with a search for the current song title and artist)."
I'm glad to see Windows-only products made available to Mac users. XM Radio, though, isn't in great financial shape.
I'd be so much more inclined to subscribe to either XM or Sirius if their stations were available streamed as an iTunes Radio Station
From what I can see, XM doesn't stream online (only samples of their stations), and Sirius requires that you use WiMP.
Both of them should be able to offer attractive alteratives to the Live365 stations in iTunes, give the public a chance to try their service, and seriously consider whether they should layout the $ for a car/home/boat receiver.
Sirius radio is in much better shape than xmsr. Also, they have commercial free radio unlike xmsr.
I agree 100%. If they've already put together the service, why not make it available to as many folks as possible? Why require this funky dongle, instead of just an MP3 stream that I can get anywhere that I have internet access?
If the streams were good enough, yeah, I might be willing to pay the $10/month or whatever. But I sure as hell am not going to buy more hardware. I suppose it's there to prevent rebroadcast of their signal--but that would take more work to circumvent than I think most people would be willing to put forth.
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$tar -xvf
I think the developer did a great job with the program. However, I do think the interface could be improved by making it more like a radio interface or like iTunes.
1. Power should not be a check box. It should be a button with some kind of status light on or next to it.
2. Mute and Power buttons should be near the volume control.
3. Volume should be labeled.
4. Now playing box should be more distinguishable.
Again, I think the developer did a fantastic job, but there's always room for improvement. If I have the time, maybe I'll get around to learning Cocoa and interface builder to make the changes instead of just complaining... ahh the beauty of open source
Apple integrates the many apps together with publically accessible APIs, so that other people may do the same.
Careful how you bash Microsoft. It's fun, and I'm using Jaguar this minute to post, but nobody does a better job exposing APIs to the public than Microsoft and COM.
Guess how long it takes to make a web browser in Visual Basic 6? Seconds if you know what control to use (Microsoft Internet Control) -- and seconds if you don't; there's a pre-built form you can add from the Project-Add Form menu item. How long to add Media Player? Seconds. How about automate Excel or Word? Those are a little more complicated, but only b/c of their more complicated APIs.
(And yes, I know about cocoa and embedding browsers)
Don't get me wrong. I don't like Microsoft's silly claims that they can't take IE out of Windows OS. I hate the way they embrace and extend. I hate the way they aggresively go after smaller businesses and spend them out of existence. (imo, etc)
But when it comes to making something quickly that communicates between two application engines, whether first or third party, you won't get any more robust a solution than VB6. MS loves opening up their APIs. Means every one of your users will also have to pay the Windows Tax.
It's all 0s and 1s. Or it's not.