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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."
I subscribe to XM, and have a recurring problem. 200 channels and still nothing good to listen too. Satellite radio will never surpass a case of CDs and a CD player, and will always be a niche market.
I recently received an XM radio. I used to be unimpressed with these services but the breadth of radio stations is actually quite good. With C-NET and Headline news I can keep up on events quite easily. The quality is phenomenal and it has become a cool way to find out about a lot of music I wouldn't otherwise be exposed to.
I have not had any experience with SIRIUS yet. Can anyone here attest to it's quality?
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troll blacklist. Please mo
I am sure that someone like Sirius or Delphi could pound out a deal with Shoutcast or live365 so that certain stations like SomaFM: Groove Salad and the real popular ones could be broadcast over satelite. I am also sure that if anyone does this that their subscription rates would top their competitors by about a month after they introduced this. Furthermore, it could really ignite a grassroots movement for internet broadcasters to try to become Satelite broadcasters. The entire market would improve.
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
For those wanting to know this is their website. And these are the channels they carry.
XM is only 9.95 a month (after hardware investment) and so far I have heard my favorite band, XTC, more than I ever did on commercial radio. Listening to Dead Kennedys right now.
Of course if you don't want to listen to Sat radio then head to the Future of Rock and Roll at WOXY.COM. 97X - BAM! The Future of Rock and Roll (As seen in Rainman!). They stream over the 'net and are playing such delicious artists right now like the New Pornographers, Beulah and the Twilight Singers. Find THAT on your local alterna-pop, cock-rock rotating channel owned by the Borg (read: Clear Channel).
Sadly Clear Channel DOES have a stake in XM.
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
I've had Sirius since this past march and I have to say that I'm a big fan of the content, but not as big a fan of the sound quality. The Sound quality on the music stations shows quite a bit of obvious compression artifacting. Also, the techo stations seem to have an obscene amount of bass boast present.
/month :-)
All in all though, I've been rather happy with it and I'll gladly continue to fork over the 12.95
-Chris
--an unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys--
I was talking about this the other day. Satellite Radio is not something that most people need, unless you're in a part of the country without much solid radio coverage. What most people need, and would find far more useful, is RadioTivo. A product which could record your favorite shows when they're on and let you play them back at your discretion.
A friend was recently telling me about a show on NPR which plays bad cover songs... now that sounds great! However, I'm really not in the car often enough to chance onto finding it, so I'll probably never hear it. But with RadioTivo, I could tell it to seek and record those programs which interest me and skip the trash. Just imagine being able to listen to your favorite morning disk jockey at any time during the day, and with no commercials! You could have RadioTivo record a few days of your favorite station (not a problem because the amount of space required to record broadcast radio on your RadioTivo is minimal) and skip not only commercials, but those songs you don't like. In fact, we could have our high tech researches program RadioTivo to understand when one song ends and the next begins and add a Skip to the next song button. RadioTivo is the answer.
Am I the only person who's thought of this? I've never heard anyone mention it before. Too bad I don't have the patience or the capital to make this happen. Oh well, I'll send Tivo an email and the sue them when they come up with the idea on their own.
I hearby copyright the concept of RadioTivo (although clearly not the name, someone else holds the copyright to that.)
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RumorsDaily
Just setup a radio with WiFi access
Imagine that, a wireless radio. Wow!
I ran a benchmark on my quantum computer, now I can't find it anywhere!
Anyone who does a fair bit of travelling in a car can tell you that talk radio is a much better companion than music after about 3 hours. Previously I had a head unit that could play mp3-cds and I would routinely fill a disc withb audiobooks or clips from my favorite radio program (Howard Stern) which proved to be an invaluable trip companion. I thought the lack of mp3-cd capability would be awful for me, but XM is filling the gap nicely. There's lots to chose from -- ESPN for Sports, CNN and Fox News for headlines, and E! and Discovery radio for other special interest programming. The other night I had to drive around the block a few times as the Jesse Ventura E! True Hollywood Story finished. So, if you are looking for XM for music, you will be pleasently surprised but not blown away. For talk radio, it really is tough to beat, especially when you don't have to worry about losing signals as you move around.
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Take it sleazy,
-The Shockmaster
Yes, but it's 72 satellites for iridium versus 3 for Sirius and 2 for XM. That's a heck of a lot less infrastructure to launch and maintain. And, as you can see from the subscription numbers, there is demand for these products.
When you multiply 1.2 million * $10 / month * 12 months/year, you get $144 million in a year. For certain, it's more money than SCO brought in last year.
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs