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Satellite Radio Subscriptions Rising
aSiTiC writes "Apparently, satellite radio is finally catching on. I'm an avid internet radio listener on stations such as KEXP, BBC 6Music and SomaFM. I am looking for a more portable alternative and I wonder if eventually my favorite MP3/RM/WMA internet stations will be ever be carried on satellite."
As Satellite Radio becomes more popular, watch for in increase in ads / spam a la The Internet.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
old enough to remember ON tv, we can see whats coming.
ON tv was on of the first cable TV. it cam with a set top box that had a knob with 2 positions ON and OFF. change to chanel 3 or 4, turn it on, instant commercial free movies, no restrictions.
Copar it to cable TV now. there is a lot more channels, but most of them have commersials. If you want to see something commercial free, you have to pay more on top of your basic service.
Satalite radio will go the same way. within 8 years, you'll have commercial, unless you pay for premium content.
There is a lesson in there, somewhere.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If your interests in music fit in a small miche, you may be better served by CD's. That doesn't work for news, hovever.
So you could by a cd or three every 2 months. How long until you have ALL the dead Kennedys and XTC music?
Probably for the cost of the XM hardware, you could have had both there complete collection and then some. I'm not sure what XM costs these days, so maybe I'm wrong.
By rthe way isn't XM owned by clear channel?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
TiVoRadio would kinda defeat the purpose of radio.
"Radio" is in part designed to deliver a stream of music that you don't control because there's program directors behind the scenes who have the job of determining what mix of music the listeners who like their format want to hear, which is what defines their format. That is to say, how would you know that you like (your favorite artist here) if it wasn't for the existance of a radio service of some kind? You're just gonna read about them? No, you need to hear their music without knowing you need to request to hear them. That's the purpose of "radio".
You'll also notice that "radio" services are priced much differently by the content owners because of that samplingly and lack of control feature. Basically, we have TiVo radio in the form of the iTunes Music Store and BuyMusic.com... and more or less the price of getting a song that way is just a little bit less than the price of getting the same song on CD. Meanwhile, satellite radio is about the price of one CD for a whole month of access to about 100 channels. Big difference in prices there...
I will never pay money to listen to the radio. Granted, it may be commercial free now, but how long do you think that will last? Not long. Cable TV used to be like that until there was a massive enough audience to justify advertising expenses. Right now, the primary reason why there is no advertizing on sattilite radio is due to the lack of audience to advertize to.
I will never pay money to watch TV, or listen to the radio. I could really give a crap less if the signal is clearer, and there are more channels to choose from. If I can't pick up TV free over the air, or radio, I will just start watching more movies, and listen to my CD's. I won't pay for garbage when I can get the same old shit for free.
How good do you think your reception will be in the mountains? You won't pick up squat. The sattilites are going to be blocked by the mountains, and you will not get any signal. If you don't belive me, biuld a brick wall in front of your DishTV feedhorn, and see how much you pick up. You either get crystal-clear reception, or none. At least wih analoque brodcasts, I can pick it up almost anywhere. There may be some static, but not total loss of signal. The same goes with HDTV, but that is a completly different subject.
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Uhm, I could replace "Television" with radio everywhere in your post, and the logic would be just as sound. All the arguments are the same about television. We have program directors, the money is made by telling the public what it wants to watch, you can choose your own programming by going to blockbuster... and yet we still have Tivo. Why?
Also, there are a lot of products on radio, again like anything involving "talk", which you cannot buy or download legally at any price. Why wouldn't RadioTivo be great for a diehard Howard Stern fan who has to work through the entire morning and could only have a chance to listen to his hero's antics in the evening?
I'm not saying that RadioTivo wouldn't definately be a super success... I just think your counter argument is flawed.
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RumorsDaily
Actually, *I AM* blown away by XM's selection of music. I have a couple thousand CDs. And I haven't bought one in nearly two years. XM's music library consists of nearly 2 million tracks. I just can't compete with that.
The talk is great, too. But anyone who is serious about music will have their mind opened up by XM's diversity. Anything you want, anytime you want it. I cannot imagine not having XM.
Actually, Clear Channel has technically sold away its ownership in XM by virtue of a hedging transaction some months ago.
It doesn't matter; XM is is not run by CC.
DON'T DO IT!
Remember free tv? Now we are all hostage to cable companies for our tv, broadcast is a joke. Yeah, you can do it, but lets face it, few do.
Don't make our future include "remember free radio?" Boycot this stupid idea.
Yeah, no commercials, I know. Right. That'll last until quarterly profits start slipping and they can't raise rates anymore.
Iridium needed a worldwide network of satellites with decent bandwidth and lots of other features. XM uses a couple satellites, Sirius probably the same. They only cover North America and only have a limited bandwidth that they need to provide. Maybe they could even lease excess capacity on their satellites to other companies. At any rate, it's a totally different and much cheaper business model than Iridium.
With satelite radio is the same problem with multiplayer ONLY games...
If you want me to PAY for your service, give me the hardware...or if you want me to pay for the hardware, give me choice (or give me the service)...
The fact remains that XM hardware only works with XM service, therefore the hardware is useless otherwise...
If they're gonna charge for the hardware, they should provide additional functionality (like MP3/OGG) or a free alternative (like a free basic service level).
One way of essentially giving away the hardware would be to include XM or Sirius in new vehicles (buy a new Ford, get XM radio)...the major advantage here is that they could hide some of the cost in the complete sound package. The big selling point for this could be an upgraded stereo system (6-8 speaker system, mp3 CD, etc) or free service for a period of time (say 3-6 months)...
I'll bet even Circuit City would be embarassed by the shills for XM radio that pop up here like a chronic rash.
Slashdot editors notwithstanding, the amount of buzz for subscription radio--whether it comes from satellites, towers, or anywhere else--is approximately zero. The vast majority of consumers just do not perceive radio broadcasts as something worth paying for, period.
The cost of this subscription is about 1/5 the cost of extended cable television in my area. I don't even like TV, but the amount of entertainment from listening to someone else's playlist is not worth even that cost--not when I can rip and burn ~160 mp3/ogg files on a single CD-R (more songs than 16 Clearchannel stations).
Will XM play that many songs that I like or might like? Can I skip through songs to find one that fits my mood? Given a choice, would a person choose to listen to music selected by somone else, even in they have good taste, or to any music they want, any time they want it?
Lack of commercials is cited as a major selling point, but when it becomes apparent that the service will never reach a critical mass and subscriptions aren't bringing in enough cash, the commercials will come rolling in.
Sorry to be so negative, but I hate it when people, however well-meaning, try to hype some technology that is either rightfully dying or was stillborn from the start. The salesman that tried to sell me a Zip drive when they first came out because "in the future, all software will be sold on Zip discs" comes to mind...
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"Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet." --Bruce Schneier, CRYPTO-GRAM, May 15, 2001. This applies to streams too.