Slashdot Mirror
XM Radio Pulls PC Hardware
Didion Sprague writes "News.com is reporting that XM has decided to "quietly discontinue" the XMPCR -- a tiny USB satellite radio receiver for XM radio. Slashdot readers may remember last week's story about TimeTrax -- homebrewed software that allows XMPCR users to automatically record and tag each song. Now, XMPCR receivers are going for almost $400 on ebay. The RIAA, it should be noted, claims that they weren't "behind the discontinuation of the PCR"."
If enough people over a period of time asked if they could hook it up to their computer and decided not to buy when they say no, maybe they would rethink their decision.
But here's the part that gets me... from the Product Information Page http://www.xmradio.com/xmpcr...
"XM PCR Developer Communities:
The XM PCR revolution is in full effect. Across the XM Nation, we're excited to see independent developers creating fantastic new versions of the XM PCR software for a wide range of platforms including Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. Windows: XtreMe PCR
Macintosh OS X: MacXM
Unix: XMPCR perl scripts
Linux: xmd-xmfe
Did we miss a developer? Let us know if you're developing any PCR software."
Heh. Looks like they missed TimeTrax.
Who else thinks that the seller of that ebay item *may* have had something to do with this post?
I always assumed this was why DJ's talked over the intro to tunes, to mess up anyone recording, lord knows they could save their breath because who cares what DJ's have to say when your tune starts to play (you actually want them to shut the fsck up!)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Can you really call it "going for almost $400" if nobody has actually bid on the item? Sounds more like "profiteers are trying get ridiculous prices like $400"
I'm canceling my XM account.
And um... It had nothing to do with this, or any other screw-ups with XM programming.
I don't get what the fuss is all about... So, it let you download songs? Who's in it's right mind is gonna pay 400$ for a crappy radio that let me download songs? Hello? P2P? If you want to get (illegally) free songs, at least do it for FREE? :)
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
How much will it cost me to have my ebay link posted on the front page? Sure, you can find just about any sucker to buy a product if you show it to enough people; while it may take time, eventually you'll find either a person with too much money, or a person who lacks the ability to comprehend the value of money.
It's "going" for $400 right now, yet there isn't a single bid.
An effective signature identifies a particular user amongst a base of thousands.
Isn't this kinda pointless, customers are paying for this service, it's like hooking up a vcr or tivo to your cable/satellite box and recording your shows (except the software tags the songs for you) I would think this would be a good thing for their service, that is, unless the RIAA asked them too (yea, yea I read the article)
The RIAA, it should be noted, claims that they weren't "behind the discontinuation of the PCR"
Well, maybe not directly, but from XM's perpective, the possible threat of the RIAA coming to get them sure did.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Should have read:
Item listing before posting on slashdot.
Starting bid: US $379.99
Number of bids: 0
Hits: under 150
receivers are going for almost $400 on ebay - wouldn't that only be true if there were any bids?
Boxing Equipment Reviews
The RIAA, it should be noted, claims that they weren't "behind the discontinuation of the PCR"."
Er, you mean, like they were in front of it !?
XMPCR? Couldn't they have come up with a catchier name like DRMXM2PCUSBABCDEFG.
First of all, XM are complete pieces of shit for doing this. The XMPCR was the only reason I even bought into satellite radio service in the first place. I use the XM-PCR on my Car PC and listen to it for hours every day.
It's worth noting, though, that the XMPCR is a pretty simple device. It would be incredibly easy to build a DIY one out of any XM radio. Here's why:
XM sells a receiver module to radio manufacturers. Essentially the satellite part of the radio hardware is made by XM and is the same on all units. This module exposes a serial interface (9600 baud TTL level) for control and it outputs digital audio (I forget what format). It's powered on 5V (or 3.3V -- i forget)
Anyway, all the XMPCR has in it is a simple power supply circuit, a USB/Serial converter, a DAC and an antenna jack. All you would have to do to make your own is take the tuner module out of an existing radio and wire it up the same way. You could even use the same USB/Serial converter to make it 100% identical to the regular XMPCR. The serial number (used for activation and whatnot) can be queried out of the module with a command (or taken off the donor radio's label of course).
well, i mean, since i've been recording music off of FM RADIO FOR 15+ YEARS, i guess the RIAA will get rid* of regular radios too.
* they won't do anything
vodka, straight up, thank you!
Didn't Willie Nelson do a series of commercials for XM a while back about how it allowed him to listen to music freely whenever and wherever he wanted?
Here's a major setback to that freedom. What would Willie think?
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
IMHO the RIAA made XM discontinue the XMPCR ASAP because it didn't have any DRM, IIRC. Now everything's AOK because it's DOA, too bad though, if you want XM'S XMPCR USB thing you SOL.
is that even worth it? i mean, songs ripped from xm for 400 bones. come on now... use streamripper if you wanna do that
i wonder how long it'll take somebody,
/end rant
who has the hardware from xm..
to reverse engineer a better one. and sell the prototype to a competitor or something.
so that we can once again, continue to be free of restrictions from morons such as the *AA, and now
most notably the XM-radio service.
This could be an opportunity for sirius to get into the game and become actual competition. Sometimes its amazing how a niche product can create a halo over an entire product line.
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
"In other news, /. editors buy 100,000 XMPCR receivers, publishes story their now worth $400 each and sells them on ebay, retiring as millionaires and outsources /. to India."
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
It looks like they pulled the hardware because of the presumed potential for piracy and they might not have had any legal remedies against. However, if the INDUCE Act had been in force, there would have been a law they could have used to outlaw the software. See, Hatch's Hit List #30 - XM Radio to MP3.
I was finally going to jump on and pay the monthly fee and the whole bit. This was the first device that was really going to work in my whole digital audio lifestyle. I wrote them a letter via the contact page off their site. I know it will not do much, but maybe if everyone does it, we can get it back. Heck even if it had DRM protection or something, I would have still been happy. FairPlay would have worked. :) Oh wait thats been hacked. hmmmm
More than likely, they'll announce that existing subscribers will be able to listen to XM via Windows Media Player/Real Player/etc., as Sirius does. Right now, you need another piece of hardware, and another XM subscription.
With my Sirius username/password, I can listen to the music channels on my home PC, and the actual receiver is in my pickup. No comedy or sports, but no extra fee, either. My wife can use it simultaneously, as well.
No, I don't work for Sirius. Honest. I like both XM and Sirius - just speculating on reason ATM.
Now if only I could pick stocks that quintupled in value in 5 days....
Just because the price is set at $400 doesn't mean they are going for that price. They will most likely not sell for such high of a price. In fact, not a single bid has been placed on the given auction as of yet. So while the seller may be asking for $400, if no one is willing to pay that, he might as well sell it for a billion dollars.
blog & fiction: jd87
http://www.xm-radio-satellite.com/index.asp?PageAc tion=VIEWPROD&ProdID=268
$59.99, not 600 bucks like on fleBay
Nothing for you to see here, Please move along.
The canceling of the PCR is more likely related to the rumored inclusion of a USB port on the soon to be released Skyfi 2. They're not going to shout from the rooftops that they're discontinuing it any more than they advertised the demise of the Roady in favor of the Roady 2. There is no conspiracy here.
if there selling for $400 on ebay i find a way to turn 20 cents worth of cable into $400!
http://www.DaveNet.biz/
consider your options
Insert sig here (slashdot) Insert cig here (Lewinsky)
ahh, got it.
XM Personal Computer Recorder
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Think about it. So-called "time shifting" is (for the moment) legal. They never minded people taping things off the radio. They're mad as hell about people not paying for their music - but radio airplay makes money for them through compulsory fees, not to mention publicity (at least in theory, IANA broadcaster...)
Enter Sirius / XM; the industry still gets money and still gets publicity (perhaps more than before; with all the niche stations and lack of commercials & inane banter, I've been tempted to subscribe...) And more people are willing to PAY FOR MUSIC because of this service - just not the $18 or so they want 'em to pay.
So if the RIAA is behind the move to get rid of the XMPCR, what do they expect? That a lot of the people who subscribe will continue to pay for XM, AND pay for a copy of the CD, AND pay another couple of bucks for a "legal" version for their portable player once it becomes illegal or impossible to rip it yourself ... And of course piracy is a perfect excuse^H^H^H^Hplanation for why XM will lose subscribers from this.
That might be any PC. If anyone were to invent an algorithm that can do an "analog checksum" on a sound file (assuming it hasn't been invented already), then all of this functionality would be available to anybody with a computer and a sound card.
Software could continuously record the audio source, cross reference checksums against an online database akin to the freedb CD database, and catalog and save whatever is new. Hook it to an FM radio, Music Choice on digital cable, Muzak, XM, whatever, and you could start accumulating your very own digital music library.
Several posts have already shown that one did sell on Buy it now for $399
Jay | http://oldos.org
It's a good thing big business loves us and protects us squashing innovation at every turn
The RIAA's goal is to make money. They keep wasting their time going after individuals who might be making digital recordings off "their" music. They should act like Microsoft does to piracy:
If it spreads the music and generates popularity, it's all good.
The RIAA, well just a bunch of companies, is going to keep making money. They should accept the fact people want to make music listening easier. As I type this, I'm listening to an album I bought but ripped to my hard drive because it's easier to manage music on my computer. It's completely legitimate and legal.
I understand their panic that they'll suddenly lose their revenue stream, but people want ease and they're willing to pay for it.
Nobody is going to start copying their music of XM radio when a slightly more expensive but massively easier alternative exists. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...they should have created iTunes.
You can use the tape recorder in your portable to tape music off of the airwaves. I don't see Sony rushing to rip those suckers out. What's the difference here?
What Would Willie Do?
Willie would stop paying the bill. He would also forget to pay his income taxes. Oh wait...
Damn. I was really hoping these would stick around. It would have been a great addition to my aspiring Car PC project. Time-shifting talk radio over XM would have been neat.
As far as I was concerned, devices like this were one the major reasons to subscribe to XM instead of Sirius.
I am MuchTall
If the XM broadcasts weren't in a proprietary encoding, we might be able to make our own players for their data format. Is it even possible to tune in their dedicated frequency signals on a 3rd party radio, controllable by a PC? The asymmetry between the dollars they paid for their right of way through public (and private) airspace, while standing on the publicly funded US satellite program, and the actual public benefit from their operations, seems extreme.
--
make install -not war
encourages censorship of legimate thought and ideas.
Now that thats gone how many people will revert to LimeWire or other P2P applications? The RIAA just did a stupid thing... But hell, there always doing stupid things.
Eat My Bad Karma...
With Sirius, you get INCLUDED with your service streaming audio of all their programming to your PC. It's a simple matter to time-shift this music with .wav drivers.
Best Buy can have you arrested
Screw this XMPCR crap. I want that little silver car that the XM office geek drives into his high-rise office building. Who needs a chic, cheap computer-based XM receiver when you can friggin' drive your cool little car right up to your cubicle?
Did I mention that NO ONE from this guy's office bitched about him driving that little car through the hall and cutting them off at the elevator?
What about the hot chick in the left of the elevator that's eyeing his little silver car? Schwing! With the XMPCR, chicks'll just give you looks like, "That's gadget geek from the mail room or accounting, right? So sad -- look how he cradles his laptop and that weird mouse." No -- she'd be asking for a lift down to cubicle area 37 on the 11th floor -- chauffeur style.
And damn -- talk about being able to take a break. You don't have to walk the three blocks at 12:30pm for your half hour lunch/nap in the car just to listen to the XM radio and justify the cost of the service. And remember -- it'd be THAT radio you'd be carrying those three blocks along with a laptop if you had the XMPCR. Hell no! With the silver XM car, you'd just walk out of your cubicle, open up the cooler in the trunk, grab your ham sandwich and chips, and lay down in the back seat.
Hell -- if your boss DOES bitch about you blocking the aisles betweens cubes 45 and 46, you can just "accidentally" back over him and drag his body under your cubicle desk before anyone notices. The XM radio in the car can be turned up to drown out his dying scream. And, if he's still alive, you can beat him over the head with that XM jukebox that they show in the commercial -- you know you'd have one if you had the cool XM car!
If you had that piddly XMPCR and your boss bitched about the music, what would you do? Strangle him with the USB cord? Hell no. He may be your lame ass boss, but he does get to the company gym for the executives while you ride on the shitty subway home with your XMPCR that gets looks from thieves on the train. What exercise have you had while he's been at the gym, eh? He's take that USB cord and strangle YOUR ass!
Yeah -- screw that overpriced XMPCR -- I want the silver XM car!
IronChefMorimoto
I have one (XMPCR), and I don't intend on selling it.
On a side note, I also work at and attend Purdue University. One of the dining courts is getting Sirius satellite radio. It's going to be pretty nice. They didn't even install an AM/FM tuner when they built the building.
Why doesn't anyone make a usb/serial -> DIN adapter for receivers? It can't be that hard, and would allow one to use any receiver on their computers.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
Before: 52 50 51 E8 C4 36 04 00 66 3D 02 00
After: 52 50 51 B8 01 00 0B C0 66 3D 02 00
Gee, I guess my interest in XM just got reduced. The shows which I like are on the air when I have to be moving around and can't sit by a radio, so I was going to listen to them through an MP3 player.
Come on now. The RIAA and MPAA sure, but what's the AAA ever done to you? They've always helped me out if my car battery died or if I had a flat tire!
They may be able to quiet XM for now, but the same automated recording and tagging can be done with the new "HD Radio" standards that are getting pushed out the door. A closed-loop business like satellite radio is one thing, but broadcasters and radio manufacturers tend to be two different people when it comes to FM.
Of course, I give it a week before the RIAA strong-arms broadcasters to essentially break the tagging features, but then you'll have some unhappy hardware manufacturers...
I mean, that's great that Ryan Morris, owner of XMfan.com and one of those selling PCRs on eBay, says they're discontinued. But, why would XM possibly do that?
There's obviously a demand now. They haven't taken the site down. I'm not sold on the idea that this is the end of the product line. Maybe there's something similar coming out, maybe they just need to manufacture some more.
TimeTrax certainly was not the first (or at the least, not the only) software to offer XM to MP3 ripping with the PCR.
Just duplicate the PC boards in the XMPCR and sell them complete without the XM Module. Once all the cars with built-in XM radios start hitting the junkyards, you'll see the price of used car radios (with their XM module inside) plummet.
And there's only 12 or so big fat easy-to-solder pins on the module.
--Rob
Buy a DVB card for your computer. Download some audio ripping software for the satellite card http://audiorip.dvbnetwork.com/
If you want some video decoding then download software for descrambling http://audiorip.dvbnetwork.com/.
Point your satellite dish at 110, 119 or 91 degress west. You can watch video and audio.
YOu can also record audio digitally from the satellite. The dish network satellite also carries the Sirius channels. THe audiorip software will name tag the songs and cut them too. It will also put them in folders. And you can also record multiple radio channels at the same time.
All this does is piss the hacker/engineer off and make them try even harder.
For example, I can see someone taking one of their cheap receivers, disassembling it, decoding the display hardware and feeding that into a serial port. That was just one idea that took zero effort to think up!
If their competitors encourage the PC-satellite radio integration, they will hurt.
Buy a DVB card for your computer. Download some audio ripping software for the satellite card http://audiorip.dvbnetwork.com/
If you want some video decoding then download software for descrambling http://audiorip.dvbnetwork.com/.
Point your satellite dish at 110, 119 or 91 degress west. You can watch video and audio.
YOu can also record audio digitally from the satellite. The dish network satellite also carries the Sirius channels. THe audiorip software will name tag the songs and cut them too. It will also put them in folders. And you can also record multiple radio channels at the same time.
Netpliance and the iOpener
The original hack required someone to fabricate a hard-drive bracket and cable, plus solder a 40-pin IDE header to the board. Then they tried to stop it and the real fun began.
Netpliance locked out the BIOS. So people started sharing old BIOS images, then somebody had to open up their unit, pull the flash, reflash it in a programmer, then reassemble.
Netpliance then started epoxying the BIOS into the socket. So then people wrote a QNX flash program.
Netpliance then started sending the Cease and Desist letters. Somebody wrote a webpage with an embedded QNX flash applet. No screwdriver required... just point it's built in web-browser at a URL.
--Rob
...so it's available to everyone who doesn't scroll down to read everything.
. html
Has everyone forgotten the other two members of the triumvirate for finding things geek?
(eBay, PriceWatch, Froogle).
As I note in a later message, there are completed eBay auctions in the previous five days or so via Buy It Now! for $29.99, $29.99, $40. That's less than what everyone's discussing.
PriceWatch has nothing listed - just remember it for future use.
Froogle, which everyone seems to overlook, seems to have an interesting outlook on XMPCR.
Just remember:
________________________________________
My Trunk Monkey can beat up your Trunk Monkey.
http://www.suburbanautogroup.com/ford/trunkmonkey
Oooohhhh so what are you saying?? The RIAA REALLY is behind this??
John Kerry is a Joke!
I'm surprise that people didnt get those FM USB radio and digitize/MP3 the song
If that ebay guy had his starting bid a little (actually much) lower, he'd have easily surpassed his buy now price.
It makes me physically sick to see his starting bid so close to his buynow. (Okay, i'm weird)
They've been having a little crisis as to whether or not they have it in stock. Last night it was yes, then it was no. Now they have they have 10, but you can't order them online. *shrugs*
XM is 60% owned by ClearChannel anyway. Why would you want to give your money to them?
Buy a Sirius tuner and suck it up. Sirius plays better music too.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
i read about the timetrax software on boingboing.net 3 weeks ago. i immediately bought an XM PCR from pcconnection.com for $40 (plus shipping). i had been thinking about XM for quite a while, and the only thing holding me back was paying $100+ for just another way to listen to music... but something i can hook up to my PC, and occasionally record stuff from (such as.. the stand up - sit down show on the comedy channel, which i had downloaded some episodes of off of usenet before instead), and which i can take anywhere as long as i take my laptop along, instead of having something tethered to my car without buying all sorts of extra equiptment... this thing seemed really cool when i first heard about it, and after 3 weeks, i continue to think so.
i'll bet, in the last few weeks, these things have been selling like hot cakes. and XM must have thought... "people seem to like this. LET"S GET RID OF IT!"
personally, i still download music, i still buy CDs, and i think i'll continue my XM subscription indefinitely, but this seems like a real boneheaded move to me...
"(Satellite) radio stations are in a tough spot between the recording industry, from which they license music, and subscribers, who want maximum flexibility in exchange for their monthly fees."
I'd be more than willing to pay higher subscription fees for a company that would willingly go to bat against the RIAA instead of caving like this. I suspect I'm not the only one, either.
...for not seeing this coming when that last story was posted. If I had put down 250 and bought 5, I'd i have a cool $1300+ profit for a few hours work... 'Course it wouldn't even come close to making up for the other hundreds of hours wasted on slashdot...
Are the satellite radio services any better?
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
The RIAA, it should be noted, claims that they weren't "behind the discontinuation of the PCR".
Bet they are gutted. They could have played with more law suits and everything. Think of all the missed lawyer fees!
But I want timeshifting. I'm going to be installing a PC in there for navigation and audio. (It's getting so cheap now...) However the radio annoys the hell out of me, if I can have timeshifting it will be worth it.
When I go to do this I'm going to install whatever is easiest. If I can't get something that will work intelligently with my PC, then I'll just stick with mp3s I guess.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Now, XMPCR receivers are going for almost $400 on ebay.
Don't buy one on Ebay.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
""If the RIAA wants to make music that nobody can listen to, it's their right."
It certainly seems that way, but in actuality it's their privilege granted to them by Congress. Whether or not the RIAA has Congress in their back pocket is a different matter, but ultimately it's Congress that calls the shots on all copyright matters."
There's not a "seems". There's an "is" You might want to make a note of scrambled satellite signals which has been going on for over a decade. And copy-right law is comfortable with that as long as it doesn't violate "fair use" laws (as defined by congress. Not wannabe slashdot lawyers)
"All this does is piss the hacker/engineer off and make them try even harder."
Is this the same hacker/engineer whose jobs are being used as fertilizer to grow overseas jobs? The very same who's part of the decimated middle class. "The few. The proud. The out of work geek."
I guess you guys never heard of picking your battles.
"For example, I can see someone taking one of their cheap receivers, disassembling it, decoding the display hardware and feeding that into a serial port. That was just one idea that took zero effort to think up! "
It's nice to know that's all it takes to impliment.
"If their competitors encourage the PC-satellite radio integration, they will hurt."
White Knights for sale!
Fucking morons!!!!
This is product has HUGE potential for users.
Did you know while CNN on it's best day pulls in 2.4 million watchers, Rush Limbaugh PULLS IN OVER 10 MILLION LISTENERS DAILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Radio still rules in the USA. Why? Because you can listen to the radio when your doing other things. Working out, driving, riding the bus working, programming, whatever. Radio = multitask.
More and more people carry PDAs. Good pdas have USB. More and more people have Ipods, they could record shows on ipods. More and more people have a computer at work and a cable modem. It's childs play to stream sound to yourself at work given enough easy to use software.
It's also more active, too. You think when your being talked to, but not when your watching TV!! You do nothing but watch TV when your watching TV.
FUCKING MORONS!!!!! THIS PRODUCT COULD OF MADE THEM BILLIONS!!!!
But now they are pulling the plug because they can't fucking control it enough.
Man these guys are fucking idiots. They deserve to get screwed over by a competator, just because they are techophobe, control freaks from hell.
What is your fucking desire to control other people overriding your desire to make PROFITS?
Unfortunately, Willie Nelson spends a significant amount of time here at his home on Maui. Guess what, XM Radio is not available in Hawaii... So much for freedoms. :)
fillwithcrap@gmail.com
Might get modded down for this, but I need to know...
How exactly does a company pulling a product line equate to rights online? You don't have any more right to demand a product from XM than you do to demand Ford to stop making trucks. And what, exactly, does connecting a radio to a computer have to do with rights online?
Everyone's been assuming that this is in response to TimeTrax. People seem to be forgetting that this has been available for some time (along with other, similar software). Also note that the XMPCR was on super-duper clearance in some places ($15 at XMFan.com a few weeks back, though w/out antenna).
The general buzz on the XM message boards is that XM Radio was planning to discontinue the XMPCR for some time, and it just became evident (clearance sales, retail channels drying up, etc.) right about the same time as the software concerns hit the radar.
I mean, really -- could a big company like XM really decide to pull a piece of hardware from the market on only a day's notice? (the TimeTrax software and initial rumors of XMPCR being pulled happened on the same day). There's also been talk of a USB port on new cradles (which may or may not have been recently nixed, depending on your paranoia settings).
And anyway, the XMPCR was never a big seller for them. Only available from online merchants, it was originally a cheap way for someone to get XM (since they didn't need to sell any controls or displays). Now, the prices have come down (my SkiFi with cradle cost $200, a Roady2 with free home cradle is $100), so they don't need the bottom-end as much any longer.
So, yes, it's possible there was some RIAA pressure, and it's possible XM decided on their own to avoid the RIAA, but if so, that was probably only the last straw -- I would not be surprised if they'd made this decision 6 months ago.
Look yall, this has the stench of one big publicity grab. Dig it:
XM gets the publicity from the time trax thing. Obviously DiaRIAA is pissed and throws in its two cents. But Publicity good.
Because of Time Trax, the PCR starts selling like hotcakes...stock begins to run out, and the story starts to drop off the radar.
XM announces that they are discontinuing the PCR. Huge new, people get worried, MORE PUBLICITY!!!! DiaRIAA is happy and excited (though claiming nothing to do with this of course). Stocks of the PCR thing run completely out, demand skyrockets
2-6 months from now, XM releases new "safe from piracy" (but not really because such a thing doesn't exist) version of the PCR. MORE PUBLICITY!!!! Music lovers are happy because they can use their PCs. Geeks are happy because they can still hack it. DiaRIAA is happy because its "safe from piracy".
This is a win/win move by XM. They make a band of lawyers happy, look progressive, and get tons of publicity.
I have a feeling that the reason it was really discontinued was that it just wasn't selling very well. Most people don't need to stream satellite radio to their computer rather then their stereo. Most people are just going to stream audio off their internet if they are at their computer. Sirius, unlike XM also offers a service that allows streaming to a computer over the internet of their streams. My theory is XM is probably planning on launching a similar service.
[Something witty and intelligent should have appeared here.]
{Traicovn}
If you are talking about the CD/satellite radio bus, every company has their own standard. Alpine, Clairon, Pioneer, Kenwood, Sony, Becker, Denon, Panasonic, Audiovox, Delphi, Visteon, they all use their own signalling and connectors, not to mention the in-car busses such as MOST and J1850. Unless you sign up for a developer agreement with them, you don't get the specs. They probably won't like you connecting it to your computer, especially with the XM news. This whole endeavour would be pricey.
That being said, Soundgate specializes in reverse engineering these protocols and building adapters for them. Unfortunatly they usually go from one standard to another, installing an aftermarket CD changer in your Volkswagon Beetle, for instance.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Why won't someone rain some reality on the RIAA before we're all forced to have DRM controls implanted on our auditory nerves. Oooh, there's a market niche for M$ to investigate....
Pull the product from the market, only to the after-market drive the price up. Then BAMM, it's re-introduced with the newer after-market price, which will no doubtedly be higher than the initial introductory price.
P.S. I want my DreamCast BroadBand Adapter!!!
XM came and went and I never spent a dime on it.
While they may not have been *directly* involved with the product being killed, i bet you that the fear of lawsuits played into this..
...
Cant have those evil general purpose PC's receive media content.
Don't be surprised if the MPAA goes after TV cards eventually and 'politely suggests' they either pull them or get some sort of DRM installed
---- Booth was a patriot ----
And with MythTv I am hoping that I can grab the music (that much is trivial) and somehow get the text descriptions that come up with the song.
This has been available for quite a while so I don't understand all the fuss overthe leagal speculations. I bet it was a simple "these things are not selling like hotcakes and the support team costs us a bundle" rpoblem.
Pretty sloppy reporting. XM's PC interface still available. xmradio.com/xmpcr/ I bought a couple yesterday.
I can say from experience that no one in radio gives a damn about who might be recording their broadcasts. When you take into account FM distortion, and tape distortion, your copy is going to sound like crap anyway. Also, you have to sit there and do it; they know that most people are too lazy to do that.
It's really just about throwing in more ads, more self promotion, and more FCC required station IDs. They spend hours teaching you to do that, as a DJ, and they consider you to be really GOOD at it when you can talk all the way up to the first word of the song. How much does that suck?
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Bottom line is I tried to get one of these about in january. No one stocked them. I scoured the web and again no one had them. I called XM themselves and they gave me 3 vendors who didnt even have them in catalog of items to order.
They probably pulled the line cause it wasnt selling well. They didnt market it well. Unfortunatly if theres no marketing for a product it dies.
Oh well, now I have an XM portable radio sitting on top of my computer and it works fine for my need.
I bought a Psion Wavefinder for 40 UKP a couple of years ago (about 70 USD at the exchange rate then). Most streams are 128kbps mp2s, which for all intents and purposes sound like mp3s to your average listener. You can record the streams using free software directly to an mp2 file, which you can play in Winamp et al. Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) in Europe also carries additional information with the raw stream, including artist and track title. DAB is free and broadcast via regular antennas, so you can switch your DAB radio on indoors and enjoy. There are around 20-30 decent stations to listen to.
n dex.php/t10492.html). The low bitrate means that a lot of the higher frequencies are severely cut, and the stereo imaging is poor. The clarity of a clean FM broadcast is far superior. I felt I was misled by sales talk that claimed "CD quality". It is not even close to cassette tape quality.
I now live in the USA. I recently bought an XM tuner for my car, 150 USD plus 50 USD for the antenna, plus 10 USD per month for subscription. I was initially disappointed with the sound quality, and after doing some research, found nearly all channels to be less than 64kbps in a format similar to AAC (called CT-aacPlus - http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/lofiversion/i
Anyway, back to my point. If you record an XM stream, it looks like it will be saved as an mp3. This means that the original stream has been re-encoded, losing quality. Re-encoding a 64kbps stream is not pretty, for anyone who has tried it.
XM has more choice and variety, but is expensive and of questionable quality. Yes, none of the music stations carry ads, but neither do the BBC channels on DAB in the UK, which form the bulk of the channel suite. Also, there is no radio licence in the UK, so it is completely free.
Here is an interesting note on the XM case, from someone at the Berkman Center
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/2004/08/31#a805/
It should be possible to get a computer with suitably fat uplink in an area with coverage, then stream the data to Maui. I did something similar within a city, when I wanted to listen to a radio from an office without a receiver, and had a computer at home with a FM card. No reason why the same approach shouldn't work over longer distances, at least with suitable stream buffering.
If there's an objection to time-shifting, might it be the widespread file sharing of Opie and Anthony episodes when they were on the air in New York? They're going to charge $2 for the channel O&A are going to be on...
Has anyone noticed that the OpenXM project has vanished from SourceForge? Did XM or the RIAA send SourceForge a DMCA notice?
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