Slashdot Mirror
XM Radio Plans Online Music Service
Grump writes "Diving into the already crowded online music business, XM Radio Online, will launch sometime in early October and operate commercial-free, just as its satellite programming does. XM will charge $7.99 per month for unlimited listening and offer a discount rate of $3.99 to subscribers of its existing radio services."
XM's "add streaming of our music online" for $3.99 sounds like a pretty cool deal when taken alone, but their main competitor Sirius actually includes that feature for free with purchase of the main subscription. They'll even offer a 3-day trial of the streaming service for non-subscribers in the hopes of convinving people to sign up based on that. Of course, Sirius charges $3 a month more than XM for their base subscription.
All Sirius Sat Radio subsribers can listen to all their audio streams online for free (as in beer) for the past several months, how can XM possible claim this type of service is 'new and special' and charge for it???
John Smith of Nowhere, PA is reportedly not planning an online music store. We have yet to receive official confirmation that Mr. Smith, a 72 year-old retired janitor at Nowhere Middle School who is a local hero after bowling a 300 game back in '86, is indeed without plans for opening an online music store at any point within the next 6-12 months. Neighbor and long time friend Bob Jones was quoted as saying, "Nope. Y'uns gotta believe it... he ain't never thought of it a'once."
We'll have more on this breaking story as it develops.
>I use FM radio and don't have any complaints
Are you in some bizarro world where FM doesn't run 20-25 minutes of commericials per hour?
TODO: Something witty here...
The key question for me is whether it is compatible with non-IE browsers. I would love to sign up for Rhapsody, but they are IE only.
I'm paying $3.95/mo. for a VIP membership at Live365.com. Sure, I paid for 12 months in advance to get that rate, but you still only pay $5.95/mo. on a month to month basis. No adds, no pop-ups, good audio quality (for streaming audio), and with 10K+ streams available, no boredom. It's one of the few things keeping me sane during the workday.
I'll bet the RIAA will be looking at this extra-crispy close . . . after that whole XMPCR deal turned into an MP3 factory program.
For a while some of the music stations had commercials, then early this year they switched to a plan where the MUSIC stations have no ads. Sure, Sirius was doing that first, but what do I care? I was just glad XM copied that idea.
From the CNET article I couldn't tell if they will be streaming their current broadcasts or what.
Again, Sirius has been doing that, but they ALREADY charge a few dollars more a month than XM.
Will I pay the extra $4 a month for internet streaming? I don't know.
I currently have a Delphi unit that I can dock in my car or office. Two problems: 1) I have a "home" docking kit at work and it is a pain in the neck (and back and legs and shoulders) to crawl under my desk to unplug the power cord then wrap up the antenna cord, etc to move it. I'll probably just get the boombox eventually for home use. 2) My office is mostly below ground so my reception can be spotty. I'm actually receiving a bounced terrestrial signal, so it is pretty weak. I usually get in pretty early and I get perfect reception until everyone else shows up and start firing up monitors, etc. Long about 9-10 am I have to wiggle and fiddle with the antenna to keep the signal. I actually have a pretty good mental map of the EM fields in my office now... I'm like a riverboat pilot navigating through the rocks.
As for which service plays the best music... that totally depends on what music you think is good. We all have our opinions about what is good music, so that really boils down to a personal decision. I personally like the clasic country (a big "salute" to Nrray, Kilroy and Catfish -- the Hank's Place guys *might* remember me as ShiftKicker from the whole episode where Tigger went off the deep end...), jazz and international stations on XM, but find the rock stations lacking a little. I have listened to the freeby Sirius streams on the net and pretty well found it to be the opposite. I didn't care for their country selections, but really liked their eclectic rock station... If you like hip hop, rap or urban (other than Motown and occassional funk) I can't help you. Not my bag...
On the non-musical side of things, I really, really like several of the XM stations. Particularly XMPR (the new XM Public Radio -- guilt free, since I pay monthly... and I'm really happy that Bob Edwards will be debuting there next month), Radio Classics, Sonic Theatre and CNN. Good stuff. I have a long, ugly commute and I find that radio drama is just the ticket for taking the edge off.
I know I'm one of probably three /.ers that like country music, but I have to give credit to a few shows on XM that are outstanding. One is Chartistry. They compile a show of top hits all built around a different theme each time. Their Johnny Cash show was amazing. Another show I love is Bill Anderson Visits With The Legends. Bill is a great singer/songwriter himself and a former DJ who is really good at getting legendary performers to open up and tell great stories. They play songs they are discussing. Just great! Nrray does a really good morning show. Never thought someone from New Jersey would have a great country show, but he does. He also does a couple other cool shows like Outlaw America. A couple weeks ago he played all Dwight Yoakam and it rocked.
One last thing... Hank's Place is nuts... in a good way. They basically roleplay (to use a word /.ers will identify with...) on air that Hank's Place is a Texas honkey tonk that never closes. Lots of people call in and go along with the conceit. Occassionally they have "story arcs" that last from day to day. One listener who goes by "Tigger" threatened to shoot down the warplane of another listener and then everyone chose up sides! This lasted for two or three days and was a hoot.
OK, if that doesn't give you an idea what XM is like, then I'm sorry I wasn't long winded enough!