Associated Press Not Impressed By MyFi

prostoalex writes "Michael Regan from the Associated Press started reviewing MyFi, a portable satellite radio receiver, by treating it as a competitor to iPod, but then admitted the two devices are quite different. For $350 and a $10-a-month subscription the buyer gets access to XM satellite radio stations and ability to record the stream to 128 MB of built-in flash. There's no way to transfer the recorded content to the computer or vice versa. The review recommends waiting for lower price and better features."

Comments

Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Dancin_Santa]

In any urban area, the number and variety of free radio stations (supported by volunteers or commercial sponsors) is staggering. There really isn't any reason to splurge on an expensive device when a twist of the dial can tune in just about any type of music that an individual would be interested in. If you can't find a station that interests you in those areas, perhaps it's time to turn the radio off altogether.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Eric Giguere]

Aren't most satellite channels commercial-free? That would seem like a good reason to me. Besides, even if there are dozens of channels in your area, there may not be any you really like.

Eric
How to make money with Vioxx

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Trillan]

Where the heck do you live that you have a decent selection of radio stations?

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[fimbulvetr]

You're area may be. But every station in the areas I've been to recently(Kansas City, Denver, Minneapolis) plays 2 crappy songs, then 4 minutes of commercials, followed by a good song, then 1 crappy song. In fact, most stations "brag" that they have 30 minute "rock blocks". Great, 30 minutes of junk followed by an equally long commercial break.
As far as I'm concerned, I'll pay $10 a month to not listen to BS.
On my trips across South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and Minnesota, I usually give AM a shot, but not with one of these:)

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Chrontius]

Really? I live in Disneyville, Florida and I can only think of one radio station (NPR excluded) that's not owned by ClearChannel.

With all the formats, there's only 3 palatable commercial stations between them. (again, NPR excluded)

Two of them are rock stations, and have irritatingly similar playlists at times. Down to those times when they're playing the same song at the same time.

Sure, there's 40 odd stations I can recieve, but if they all suck...

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Guppy06]

"There really isn't any reason to splurge on an expensive device when a twist of the dial can tune in just about any type of music that an individual would be interested in."

That's just it, though: you need to hit the turner and hope you'll find something you want to listen to. If nothing else, satellite radios will tell you when something you want to listen to is coming on and let you tune in automatically. And you also don't have to hit the dial to avoid commercials.

When was the last time you actually sat down and listened to your radio, as opposed to using it as a noise-maker while focusing on something else?

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[xs650]

Take away clear channel, infinity, right wing hate radio, religious stations, hip-hop and ethnic stations and there isn't much left. Not even in a major radio market.

In an area with 50 stations receivable a person is lucky to find one well programmed on that meets their tastes.

I have Sirius sat radio at home and there are several music channels that I like on it, it has music for just about everyone. Without commercials.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[geoffspear]

Actually, Clear Channel owns exactly 7 of the 35 radio channels in the Orlando market. But feel free to make up "facts" to fit your argument.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[CatOne]

Except radio is AWFUL... a typical playlist is 15 songs per day, repeated over and over and over. And many radio stations out here in NorCal take 4 1/2 minute commercial breaks... how annoying is that when you're working out? There's way too much blather... I never hear what I want and when I'm somewhere other than home, I can fish on the radio for 15 minutes before finding a song I like... which cuts out 30 seconds later and goes to... commercial.

With satellite, you can have 5 or 6 commercial-free stations that you like, and "in theory" get them anywhere. In concept it sounds great -- my DirecTV has digital radio stations and I listen sometimes when I'm tired of what I have on the iPod. But in practice, satellite radio reception is a bit spotty (as noted in the article).

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Chrontius]

Pardon me. They don't all sound the same because of Clear Channel marketing execs, they sound the same due to survival of the fittest, and Darwinian evolution. Unfortunately, if your tastes lie somewhere in the long tail...

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[cmacb]

Serius (sp?) is commercial free (I think) while XM is MOSTLY commercial free. When I listened to XM, they would interupt the content to advertise... XM, which seemed sort of silly.

If you are old enough, you will remember that cable TV was commercial free too back when a montly subscription was $10 (and you wondered why it had to cost so much).

It will get worse. Trust me.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[randomiam]

People need to remember that radio stations are in the business of delivering listeners to advertisers, not music to listeners.*

I gladly shelled out for Sirius service when it became available. To my mind, it seems preferable to pay my music provider directly and have them worry about my happiness rather than some advertisers.

* paraphrasing Doug Adams

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[LoadStar]

It must've been a while since you listened.

Both Sirius and XM's music streams are both completely commercial free. The talk, news, and informational channels on both services carry commercials (partially because many of the channels are simulcasts of TV audio).

XM had originally tried having some of their music channels carrying commercials, but it's been almost a year since that point.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Desert Raven]

Um, OK.

I live in one of the largest metro areas (Phoenix) and only know of one such station. Some truly awesome individual who owns a few small stations took one that was failing and turned it into his own private station.

No commercials, no DJs, just non-stop music from his own (huge) playlist, randomly chosen by an automated system. He's got a serious following, even though it's a low-power station. Funny thing is, he could care less.

But even so, it's an anomaly. He's rich enough to run it at a loss just because he wants a station he likes. And, he's got the license to run it, because he was wealthy enough to buy it, license and all in the first place. Not too many folks out there with that kind of money, influence, skills and devotion.

See also

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[sith]

In the Twin Cities, RadioK is where it's at. 770 AM, 106.5 FM in the west metro.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[grollicious]

You are absolutely right, likewise, why would I splurge on an expensive CD when I can download it for free. Sorry, that thought just popped into my head as I read this post. Granted, you don't pay a fee to listen to any AM or FM station I know of, but most are advertiser supported. I subscribe to XM because I get to listen to music, not commercials. I also get a wider variety of music than is found in ANY major radio market, even if I find myself in "fly over" country. I subscribe to satellite radio because it's a better listening experience if you don't mind paying for the premium service.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[nacturation]

If you are old enough, you will remember that cable TV was commercial free too back when a montly subscription was $10 (and you wondered why it had to cost so much).

You mean back in the days where the ad for Lucky Strikes was presented in-show by the actors themselves?

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Kiryat Malachi]

Chicago (WLUW, WNUR, a couple others that aren't coming to mind) and SE Michigan/Detroit (WXOU, WCBN, WDET) both have excellent selections of stations that play a good cross-section of everything. I'm sure NYC does too, though I've never lived there.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[hb253]

You don't live in the New York metropolitan area, do you? Free radio here has SUCKED for years. There is one classic rock station, three "urban" stations, one Zoo, one "adult" modern music station, a few Spanish stations, and a few worthless college-type stations. Oh yeah, and a "smooth jazz" station. They all repeat their own 40 song playlists on a daily basis.

I already have an XM Roady that I actually use at home (since I don't drive much anymore due to a job change). When the price comes down on MyFi (and reviews show that reception actually works) you can be sure I'll be buying one.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[dave420]

Umm... how is that insightful? People want MP3s with them. They don't want to be at the mercy of their local radio stations, clearchannel/public/whatever.

Also, if you ever go somewhere without a signal, you'll want your MP3s.

It's like suggesting people get rid of DVD players and PVRs, as they should be able to rely on TV to get all their televisual needs :)

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[kinzillah]

Sort of like the days where ads for Pepsi and iPods are inserted in-show by the actors themselves? oh wait...

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Smack]

You probably shouldn't count the salsa stations.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[drinkypoo]

You missed the most applicable objection which is that different stations tend to have overlapping commercial breaks, they usually take them every 15 minutes, when the minute hand is pointing in one of the four cardinal directions. It's usually impossible to avoid commercials by switching stations, especially at the top of the hour. This is why I have a CD changer.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[nomadic]

few worthless college-type stations

Actually, Fordham's station is relatively high-powered and (at least back when I lived in NYC) played some really interesting stuff.

If you're into classical music there are two first-rate stations, WQXR (the best) and WNYC (almost as good). If you're into oldies WCBS is widely considered the best such station in the country (unfortunately I can't stand the stuff). In general though you're right, most of it is pretty lousy.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[harrkev]

And, let me guess, every single station is owned by Clear Channel.

All your radio are belong to us.

Re:Maybe useful for Flyover-country

[Kiryat Malachi]

Actually... no. None of them are.

WLUW was owned by Loyola University, and then I think Chicago Public Radio, but I believe they gave it freedom recently.

WNUR is Northwestern University's.

WDET is a publicly supported freeform station in Detroit.

WCBN is one of the oldest freeform FM radio stations in the country. It also happens to belong to the University of Michigan.

WXOU belongs to Oakland University.

Do you notice a trend towards non-commercial educational stations here? There's a reason my radio never goes above 91.5 (local NPR affiliate) - all the good stuff really is on the left side of the FM dial.

There's also WFMU in New York, which is independent and awesome, but they're something of an exception - they operate in a vicinity where an independent station can actually afford to operate.

He dosn't get it.

[mkmoose]

As a XM user I am drooling over the features offered by this device. I owend a first generation sony PNP and now an XM Roady. This device is light years ahead of the first generation. Comparing this to a I-Pod or MP3 player confuses what the device is. It more correct to compare this to a tivo with cable.

Re:He dosn't get it.

[PMJ2kx]

So, if I understand what you're saying, it's like apples and lemons...they're both fruit, but have different tastes, as it is with the iPod vs. MyFi.

Oh, the humor!

Re:He dosn't get it.

[Triumph The Insult C]

Sirius has the bad ass mascot tho

Re:He dosn't get it.

[waynelorentz]

Is it time to update your .sig, or are you being ironic?

Re:He dosn't get it.

[jim_v2000]

I don't know people tout this as a rival to the iPod. Like the parent said, they're two different devices. Plus, my first reaction upon seeing an image of the xm device was "woah, too many buttons", compared to my reaction to seeing hte ipod, "woah, there's like one button!"

Re:He dosn't get it.

[Triumph's Nemesis]

Get back to work before I wash out your mouth with soap.

Recommendation??

[fembots]

The review recommends waiting for lower price and better features.

So when is the right time to buy if people take this kind of recommendation seriously?

Price will be lower than the lower price you saw yesterday, features will be better than the better features you thought that are already better.

Re:Recommendation??

[MBCook]

Both would be nice. But the thing is still a great deal. For the $350, you get the device, a car kit, a home kit, earphones, etc. If you take the little Delphi XM radio I have now ($99), buy the car kit ($99), the home kit ($99), the boombox so you can listen anywhere ($99), you're already over the price (those numbers may be a tad high, like $10 each).

So for the same or less, this little thing is smaller, portable, AND CAN TIMESHIFT.

As an XM radio reciever goes, this is THE DEVICE unless you only want to ever listen in your car (which, by the way, would change).

It's not cheap, but it's a good deal relative to other solutions. Plus you can use it anywhere like a walkman and it could tape Art Bell or This American Life or any other show for you to listen to later.

I'd LOVE one. I'd suggest that they offer it stand alone (no home/car kits) to lower the price, but I think we all know that would only save maybe $50 bucks because the little device is by FAR the most expensive part.

Re:Recommendation??

[gyrojoe]

The new Delphi SkyFi 2 can timeshift too, granted only up to 30 minutes.

Re:Recommendation??

[moronicidiot]

The SkyFi 2 doesn't exactly timeshift. Rather, it records a buffer of what you are currently listening to, but it gets erased once you turn it off. This is basically for if you hear a song that you like and want to hear it again, or get out of the car to run in the store or something and leave the unit turned on.

What the MyFI does is true timeshift. You can record up to 5 hours overnight or whatever and listen to it later in the day. It isn't erased when you power down, etc like the SkyFi 2's buffer.

Re:Recommendation??

[moronicidiot]

To adjust your numbers a little...

Other Receiver - $100
Other Receiver Homekit - $50
Other Receiver Carkit - $50
Other Receiver Boombox - $100

100+100+50+50=300 - Already $50 less, granted the portability might be worth $50 to you, but lets do some more math.

Since the MyFi doesn't come with speakers for portability, you will need a good set of battery powered speakers if you want to use it ala boombox. If you can even find them, I doubt you will do so for less than $50 so now we are at $400 compared to $300. Also, if you have a boombox for the SkyFi/2 then you really don't need a homekit, since it can function as one so that takes us down to $250 for it.

$400-$250=$150

The math can be twisted as needed to fit your agenda and certainly 'good deal' is a matter of perspective, but the car kit and home kits are not $100 each. The prices of them have fallen from $80/ea to $50/ea and I even picked up a couple of homekits for my SkyFi 2 for $30 from the evil Wal-Mart when they were clearancing out SkyFi 1 kits.

I agree that they should offer all of the equipment in seperate packaging, sadly due to the design I don't think that they can. From what I have read, you have to have it sitting in the home cradle to do scheduled recordings and it needs to be in a cradle to charge.

Uhh

[fredistheking]

>There's no way to transfer the recorded content to >the computer or vice versa.

Except to connect the headphone jack to your linein. Why is the analog solution usually overlooked so quickly?

Re:Uhh

[EvilSporkMan]

The analog solution works at 1x - it takes as long to transfer the content as it does to listen to it. This can easily be construed as inconvenient.

Re:Uhh

[NoseBag]

Agreed - Just record (re-digitize) the analog output onto the machine of choice. And...I doubt that it will take the hardware hackers long to figure out a flash mem transfer method. How hard can it be?

Re:Uhh

[iocat]

This continues to kill me. People will listen to tinny, compressed, MP3s all day long and then recoil in horror at the lossyness of a *gasp* analog-to-digital conversion.

Yeah, it may be a 1x process, but who is out there who will be able to do this and already doesn't already have most of their music digitally anyway. XM is awesome, but I don't usually hear tracks I've never heard before, or old tunes that I simply *must* have. I'd probably only want to grab a couple tracks here and there anyway.

Re:Uhh

[MBCook]

All the sibling replies to this are right. Analog works, but it's a hassle.

It's Analog. That means that you go from Digital->Analog in the radio (which introduces imperfections). Then it goes from Analog->Digital in the computer (which introduces imperfections). While the quality may be close, it's not the same and without knowing exactly HOW it was compressed origionally, you can't get the same quality to filesize of the origional.

It's SLOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW. I can fill my 40gig iPod with music in a few minutes. But to copy all that off though analog would take days. While it's not as bad when the thing only holds 4 hours of stuff, that's 4 hours of my life that I'm wasting (compared to the 30 seconds to a minute 128mb of stuff should take).

You lose metadata (didn't see this in siblings). When it's on the XM thing, it knows how long each song is and the title and artist (I assume, XM broadcasts this info so it should be easy to save). When I copy that 4 hours to my PC through analog, I get one 4 hour file. No song names, no track marks, no artists, NOTHING. So you either have to do it manually or try to autodetect (like with silence) which has its own flaws.

And that's not to mention things like the soundcard on my laptop (the only PC I really use) is noisy (so the analog solution would require me to buy some kind of breakout box to get decent quality) and things look even worse.

Analog can work for a handfull of songs, but more than that... it's just too hard.

Now, wouldn't it be great if you could get a license to transfer stuff off this device ONTO your iPod? If they could work that out (say make it get automatically deleted, or you can't have any more than 12 hours of content recorded max or something) that would be FANTASTIC. Think how many of these things they could sell (even if they charged an extra $1 or $2 per month to do that).

Either way, a DVR for satellite radio (DAR - Digital Audio Recorder?) is an interesting development. Let's see if other recievers start adding these kind of features.

Re:Uhh

[kureido]

For the same reason people liked high-speed dubbing for copying tapes -- capturing a lot of audio in real time sucks. It's also hassle to chop up 5 hours of music into individual tracks. Granted, you can find utilities to assist with that task with little trouble, but Joe User likely wouldn't try anything beyond Sound Recorder and Winamp.

Re:Uhh

[Chuqmystr]

A bit off the subject but you mentioning that brings to mind my experiences with my Minidisc and Mac. Not analog but definitely a 1x transfer via optical input. Basically, I cobbled together a good playlist to start and let it run as my soundtrack Du-Jour. After about three hours of that I was left to just picking songs on the fly. In the end I had my 5-hr disc O' tunes and ended up having fun with it. Kinda like when I was a kid putting together mix cassettes. The only tedious part was titling the tracks. I've not found the right wizardry for that yet. Just some freeware app that works over USB. I'll hafta take a look at the source and perhaps get into applescript a bit more. Hmmm...

Anyway, something along the same lines could apply to this bit of XM giz. If it was good enough to save and replay later then why is it not good enough to listen to as you spool it into your 'puter, perhaps whilst screwing around on /. anyway? Sometimes I wonder if we use these devices and the convenience of digital media transfers to just accrue as much shit as we can, wether or not we'll actually use it. Just my $0.02.

Re:Uhh

[Dizzle]

Could you imagine using a 1x transfer on an iPod? I mean, I can see where you're coming from with the fun part of making a mixtape, but on the other hand, I don't want to make a custom selection of music, I want to put my whole hard drive's worth of music on my iPod within hours, so I can carry it with me wherever I go.

Re:Uhh

[NightLamp]

get over it - A2D killed MiniDisc in North America.
1x analog transfer poses as much of a consumer threat as a Dual-Casette High-Speed-Dub rig posed to CD-R's. One bonus point for satellite tho...

Poor Howard Stern, how we loved ye.

Re:Uhh

[child_of_mercy]

with the tiny storage on the XM i don't think it'd be too onerous to play it out overnight onto your HD.

then wipe the internal memory and start fresh, twiddle with the music now on Your HD at your leisure at full digital speed.

Re:Uhh

[TheRaven64]

ADC and DACs are very good these days. I recall a review of a Sony CD player a few years back. It was one of the first to allow you to record radio to CD, and also let you duplicate CDs. It actually respected the copyright bit on CDs (does anyone remember that?) - you could make digital copies of original CDs, but only analogue copies of copies. The reviewer dismantled the device and provided pictures showing that the device used the same wire to do analogue and digital copies - the only difference was that it switched a DAC and an ADC into the circuit for the analogue copies. To test the competence of this, the reviewer made an analogue copy of a track, and did a bitwise comparison of the original and the copy on their computer - the two were identical.

Re:Uhh

[dave420]

because it's shit?

Generally, once I have a file in digital format, converting it to analogue and copying it real-time only to re-encode it digitally is the last thing I want to do :)

Re:Uhh

[plover]

Because re-digitizing can add some very unwanted artifacts due to "aliasing." The stream coming from the headphone jack may "seem" analog, but it's a reconstructed digital signal.

The problem is aliasing. It's the audio equivalent of the jagged edges you see on digital pictures that are blown up too large. All digital music is aliased at some level, just as all digital pictures are aliased at some resolution. The idea is to sample the original analog waveform often enough so that it doesn't distort what you hear when it's played back.

A playback device reconstructs the waveform from the samples. But at some scale, it's still a bunch of "smoothed out" stair steps. When you re-sample the waveform, if your sampling rate is out-of-sync with those stairsteps, you get a curious interference pattern based on the ratio of the original sample rate to the new sample rate. This is a very regular ratio, called a "beat frequency", and it can be very audible in the output.

To go back to the 'visible' analogy, it's like being in a moving car and looking through two chain-link fences as you travel past them -- you see a very visible and regular pattern (called a Moire pattern).

[ Side note: the reason your MP3 encoders usually offer you frequency choices of 44100 Hz and 22050 Hz is not an accident. CDs are encoded at 44100 Hz. By offering these frequencies, you are either in precise lockstep with the original, or at exactly a 2:1 ratio. Both of those cause the samples to be based exactly in sync with the original stairsteps, meaning there will be no beat frequency. So as long as your sampling rate is within 10-15 Hz of the original source, any beat frequency interference would be inaudible. ]

In the DRM world foisted upon us by the RIAA (in collusion with the congress they purchased,) my guess is they have introduced a slowly varying aliasing frequency in their line output. ( Or at least I would have if it were me designing the system ;-) What this would do is cause a fixed-rate encoder to occasionally lose sync with the input signal. Once sync is lost, the beat frequencies would become audible, then disappear again as the digitizer re-synced with the input stream. Your re-digitized music would periodically sound like crap -- just enough to make you not want to digitally record off the satellite receiver.

Could this be beaten? Of course, but not easily, and not with the average MP3 encoder available today. It puts the satellite folks at an advantage until the fine authors of Lame figure out how to defeat it.

So, that's why digitizing an analog stream isn't as desirable as it may seem. That, and the convenience factor. Most people are too lazy to want to manually chop up the audio tracks into separate songs, type in artist names, and all the other grunt work that goes along with ripping an analog source. And if there's one technical defense the RIAA can always count on, it's that of lazy customers.

hmmm...

[loid_void]

There's no way to transfer the recorded content to the computer or vice versa.

not yet, that is...

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[roche]

Sirius play more "hits" while XM has more of a diverse playlist.

I prefer XM myself.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[JPM NICK]

Plus XM has Opie and Anthony on channel 202 who may be the best talk radio show on the radio now. they are awesome and put on a great show. XM is a superior service from what i have heard. I have a friend who has sirius in his car, but i like XM better. Both put FM stations to shame

If you don't like ClearChannel you're screwed

[user9918277462]

There's really only one traditional commercial radio station left in the US, but is has tens of thousands of affiliates.

I'm a fan of non-commercial radio myself.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[solowCX]

Except in order to get Opie and Anthony you have to pay a monthly fee of $1.99 per radio in ADDITION to the monthly fee.

I have one

[Texodore]

Random notes:

Everyone keeps saying the iPOD holds more music, has better battery life. I don't seem them competing. Maybe it's just me. The limitations of satellite radio mean you have to have an antenna and specialized hardware that sucks the juice down. But you get a 2,000,000 song library.

You can record and playback, and it has an alarm. It also comes with a home and car kit. Note that buying a SkyFi2, home, and car kit will almost cost as much as the MyFi.

I have the MyFi so I can listen while I'm walking my dog. Yes, I like XM that much to want to listen to it over MP3s or something like that. One thing your MP3 collection can't do is turn you on to new music. I wouldn't have known about many new bands (or old bands for that matter) without XM. I don't know if I would know who Muse, The Faint, or Franz Ferdinand were, and I wouldn't have found out how much I like Echo and the Bunnymen and stuff like that.

I don't think it needs more storage space. The idea is to listen to radio, which is mostly live. I think the recorded feature is for programs you can't pick up when you aren't available (a timer feature will record something for you) and if you can't pick up a signal. It's basically 5 hours of music programming.

Did I mention the talk radio and the ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 games?

I like not having to cue up playlists, pick what I want to listen to, listen to new music, etc. XM seems to want to play their deeper library more than Sirius, one reason I like their service more.

I've had it for 2 days and like it. I need to play with the wearable antenna some more before I say I love it. The signal is spotty outside at times while walking around. I have no problems in my car or at the office. Speaking as someone who is upgrading from the original Sony Xm radio, this is also a huge upgrade.

Finally, to the editors, stop knocking XM an satellite radio. Half the satellite radio stories seem to denounce it somehow. The AP review doesn't really say anything bad about it. Some of you that knock satellite radio need to try it before worshiping your iPOD again.

Re:I have one

[iocat]

And MLB! In 2005 XM will have every major league baseball game broadcast. Oh, and, though mentioning it will reveal me to the blue state elites as a red state knuckle-dragger, it's got a 24 hour NACAR channel which is awesome. I just wish it covered all American motorsports, like champ car, Indy, and ALMS.

Re:I have one

[MBCook]

Finally, to the editors, stop knocking XM an satellite radio. Half the satellite radio stories seem to denounce it somehow. The AP review doesn't really say anything bad about it. Some of you that knock satellite radio need to try it before worshiping your iPOD again.

Thanks for saying that (I've noticed too and I don't get why), and thanks for the review (of sorts). Can I ask where you got yours? Did a local store have it early (they are supposed to be available in "early December"), or were you in on some beta test or what? I'd love to get my hands on one of these things.

Re:I have one

[Texodore]

I ordered from Crutchfield. I'm not a big fan of Crutchfield, but they and Circuit City got them before anyone else and it was a crap shoot to see who got them first. Circuit City did. Oh well. Same price everywhere.

Best Buy has them sometimes now as well. They're at least on the Best Buy website. If you order on-line they'll ship soon. Check local stock as well - many Circuit City stores have had them in stock, not in stock, in stock, and not in stock again.

Re:I have one

[dretay]

Everyone keeps saying the iPOD holds more music, has better battery life. I don't seem them competing. Maybe it's just me. The limitations of satellite radio mean you have to have an antenna and specialized hardware that sucks the juice down. But you get a 2,000,000 song library... I like not having to cue up playlists

I have to take exception here. First, the iPod has a spinning harddrive to power, has to decode mucic files, and then has to store them in ram. All of these actions also require power. Furthermore, you do not get a 2,000,000 song library in the true sense. You get a kind of serial library where you can choose among a few stations that play a particular type of music you are looking for. That is the definition of a playlist. Imho the radio is worse than a playlist because you can not skip a song that you do not like or pause a song that you do like to take a phone call. Also (and I could be wrong on this one) many of the XM stations have commercials, and only a few are commercial free.

Did I mention the talk radio and the ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 games?

And iPod does not? Last I checked iPod has brick, parachute, solitaire, and you can download text games on from the internet.

Finally, to the editors, stop knocking XM an satellite radio. Half the satellite radio stories seem to denounce it somehow. The AP review doesn't really say anything bad about it. Some of you that knock satellite radio need to try it before worshiping your iPOD again.

You just contradicted yourself in the same paragraph. Also, its ok to admit that Apple made a good product. I like Slackeware more than BSD. Just because I think Slackware is a better product does not mean that I "worship" it!

Re:I have one

[Texodore]

All XM music channels are commercial free. The talk ones have commercials, but it's kind of weird. It would take me too long to explain all the public service stuff they play instead of commercials most of the time.

With the MyFi you can skip songs in the sections you have recorded.

ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 are COLLEGE conferences. XM plays college basketball and football games.

Apple did make a good product. I don't knock it. Just making fun of the owners of said product.

Re:I have one

[beerits]

Did I mention the talk radio and the ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 games?

And iPod does not? Last I checked iPod has brick, parachute, solitaire, and you can download text games on from the internet.

The ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 are American collegiate athletic conferences, not video games.

Re:I have one

[ajna]

Did I mention the talk radio and the ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 games?

And iPod does not? Last I checked iPod has brick, parachute, solitaire, and you can download text games on from the internet.

Um, brick, parachute, and solitaire are games, but they are not of the same variety as ACC/Big 10/Pac-10 games. Hint: the ACC, Big 10, and Pac 10 are college sports conferences, and the poster was referring to sports games such as football and basketball, of which you listen to broadcasts. They aren't games that you play with a clickwheel, unless you are so fabulously powerful and rich that you control the athletes.

Re:I have one

[Minna Kirai]

Oh, and, though mentioning it will reveal me to the blue state elites as a red state knuckle-dragger, it's got a 24 hour NACAR channel which is awesome.

Nope. Mentioning NACAR brands you as a carpetbagging eastern-liberal candidate desperate to attract some rural votes to lose less badly in the 2002 elections.

Re:I have one

[dave420]

Let me get this right - you're saying a particular file format, MP3, can't expose you to new music? Are you mad? That's like saying a book can't expose you to a new author. Madness.

Yes, you have a 2,000,000 song library. You can't choose what you listen to when you listen to it, so it's no good for a party soundtrack (unlike an iPod, where you can queue up a party mix before the party starts).

Just because you can't figure out a way to get MP3s from artists you know nothing about on your PC, don't condemn the file format. I've written scripts to rip MP3s off internet radio streams. It opens my eyes to new music fine, thanks.

As for not worrying about choosing your playlist, you can do that with your MP3 player, too. Again, just because YOU don't know how to do it, don't suggest it's an inherent failing of the format. As I mentioned before, my script downloads MP3s. It's constantly ripping tracks, which I can put on my ipod in seconds. All I have to do is turn on my iPod and hit "play", and it plays me all my brand-new, unheard MP3s, similar to a radio station, except I can pause/fast forward/rewind through the entire collection and not worry about signal strength.

I'm not knocking XM radio. I'm simply saying that the shortcomings you claim exist in MP3s and their players simply don't exist.

Shit, it's worth it to ensure no Phil Collins music goes anywhere near my ears :)

Re:I have one

[hb253]

I doubt it's a knowledge issue. I like the surprise factor involved in being exposed to new music without having to work for it by hunting down MP3's. I think this is what the original poster meant. It's a plus that the MyFi holds the promise of doing this on a mobile platform.

I'll take a stab...

[msimm]

Because its a senseless limitation. Digital > Analog > Digital from a digital device? Its also needlessly lossy, but I think inconvenience is probably the main one.

Re:I'll take a stab...

[spectre_240sx]

Yup, you're way better just dubbing straight to a cassette tape actually.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[Triumph The Insult C]

O&A the best? best at coming up with unoriginal shit maybe =)

Stern's show, OTOH, will be included in the monthly fee, along with being able to listen to a stream over the net ... another additional fee w/XM

I have XM now, but am planning on getting new stuff for xmas (by way of selling my xmpcr for a highly marked up price)

also, sirius has 3 satellites vs xm's 2. both use repeaters, so same difference

AM and FM are so out of business in 5 years. i've driven to lake tahoe and denver (from phoenix), and with satellite radio, it was nice. if i didn't have it, i would have gone nuts ...

Re:Neuros did it better...

[Sottilde]

Problem: It runs on every platform. You just need to look harder. It's completely open-source, which means that tools have been written for linux and mac. NDBM and Sourne are great multi-platform tools for the Neuros.

Disagree

[Anonymous Coward]

Had Sirius, now with XM. Why? Because (a) Sirius is stuck on endless self-promotion. Why do they keep advertising their own service on their own channels? Christ, you have to already be a subscriber to listen. (b) They have a less variety of music channels than XM - compare the lists of music offerings between the two and you'll see what I mean. (c) Sirius would rather spend its money on stupid jocks than decent music - yes now we get all those NFL games. Great. In the meantime good luck finding a good punk station, ska station, whatever-your-taste-is station.

What does Sirius have going for it? NPR. But in the music genre, they are far behind XM in my opinion.

Re:Disagree

[Texodore]

I totally agree. I have XM, and I have Sirius on Dish Network. I have about 100 music stations on Dish Network, and none of them are remotely as good as the ones on XM. Listening to the alternative stations on Sirius, there's only so many Talking Heads songs I can listen to at any given time.

Re:Disagree

[Concerned Onlooker]

What does Sirius have going for it? NPR.

They may have NPR but XM has Bob Edwards. Bob Edwards rocks. NPR blew it when they let him go.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

How clueless are you, Chevy is GM. Furthermore nearly all car companies are going with XM, the only one that i can think of right away that is with Sirius is Ford.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[roche]

They have been trying to get XM ro remove the fee. Anthony made a post about it today over at wackbag.com

Sat radio is about control

[panxerox]

of a captive audiance, once again media outlets are using thier money and reach to completely control what people (at least that segment that listen to radio) hear. One source one view one world.

Opportunity for Apple?

[PapayaSF]

Combine satellite radio reception with an iPod and you'd really have something! Much cooler and more useful than the much-rumored "video iPod". Of course, there might be licensing issues with this idea as well: will satellite radio services be upset if their broadcasts are recorded and saved?

Re:Opportunity for Apple?

[beerits]

will satellite radio services be upset if their broadcasts are recorded and saved?

I would guess yes.

I don't think you do, either.

[shaneh0]

If XM sold these units to every single one of their subscribers and nobody else, this unit is a failure.

XM's real value will be growing the supplier base, and this device is designed to do that. I'd say it's competing more in the "portable music" segment then the "satellite radio delivery options" segment, although there is of course overlap there.

But yes, I do think for a lot of consumers that are considering digital music--especially those considering these devices as gift options this holiday seasion--this device would be compared to the ipod mini.

Re:I don't think you do, either.

[mkmoose]

If I buy one of these units - which I will, I'll be paying 9.99 a month for my car unit (which I will keep) and an additional 6.99 a month for this unit. A net increase of my montly fees of %70. If many existing customers do this, it will go a long way to XM's bottom line.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[JPM NICK]

even with the additional fee, it is still cheaper per month than sirius

hearing music that you had forgotten about?

[pbjones]

you spend how much to get access to music played by 90% of FM radio stations?? bah! TripleJ FM and web cast, ROX! www.triplej.net.au

Re:hearing music that you had forgotten about?

[CatOne]

How do I get that webcast from OZ when I'm in a gym in Atlanta? Schlepping the exercise bike to the elliptical trainer doesn't seem... super convenient.

Re:hearing music that you had forgotten about?

[_randy_64]

Lucky you. Check out their station lineup at XM Radio and tell me if you can really hear 90% of that on the "normal" FM radio. I live between Baltimore and Washington DC, so I have a large selection of stations from both areas to listen to - but for the most part they're crap. Not to mention endless commercials. I have a fairly short commute between home and work, but there are times when the FM stations only play one song in that period. Plus XM is exposing me to a lot of cool new music that I probably wouldn't have heard otherwise.

Satellite radio is kind of like cable tv. I mean why would I want to pay for all those cable channels, when I can pick up these two nice local channels for free?!

Re:hearing music that you had forgotten about?

[pbjones]

we had cable TV for a year, only watched about 3 pay channels in the end. Not a big fan old shows and repeats. we have 6 free to air channels here, and we are still spending more time listening to radio. i can't see it being worth the money, I don't own an mp3 player I just have more to do

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[wareadams]

Actually there are a lot more than just Ford http://sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=S irius/CachedPage&c=Gateway&cid=10668573982 86

Re:The Associated Press?

[Gentlewhisper]

For $350 and a $10-a-month subscription the buyer gets access to XM satellite radio stations and ability to record the stream to 128 MB of built-in flash. There's no way to transfer the recorded content to the computer or vice versa. The review recommends waiting for lower price and better features."

I wouldn't be impressed either.. would you?

It sounds like a TOTALLY USELESS device!

Price tag

[Anonymous Coward]

The reason for the $350 price tag is that you not only get the receiver, but the vehicle kit, home kit, rechargeable battery, headphones, antennas and more. If you compare that to the cost of the SkyFi2 ($100), home kit ($50), car kit ($50), and the boom box ($100); I think for $50 more the portability and convenience of recording up to 5 hours of programming justifies the cost.

Re:Net

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Yeah, like the internet killed TV and terrestrial radio.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[jratcliffe]

XM has exclusive arrangements with Honda and GM, while Sirius has exclusive deals with Ford and Daimler/Chrysler (including Mercedes). BMW is effectively exclusive to Sirius (albeit not contractually). Toyota's still a tossup, and it looks like Nissan will split between the two.

explaination needed

[solosaint]

can someone please tell me how xm radio knows you have a subscribtion or not, i dont see how it works since its one way wireless...

Re:explaination needed

[Anonymous Coward]

There's probably a deviceID in the XM/Sirius hardware, that is associated with your subscription (which you 99.9% probably have to sign up for in order to buy the XM/Sirius hardware...), and when you don't pay the bill or otherwise become a non-subscriber, they send a "disable [deviceID]" data packet down-stream periodically, and you can't listen until you resubscribe/pay your bill, and the devices are always listening, even when they're turned off, so you would need to probably completely unpower them to keep it from being disabled. But since you don't know when your hardware is going to get meta-zapped...

Anyways...

DirecTV and DishNetwork do this with SmartCards, but of course, there is programming knowledge and hardware out there to defeat this method, and as long as you don't plug your DirecTV/Dish Network box into the phone, then all you need to do is keep reprogramming your card when they catch on to what the non-paying customers are doing...

DirecTV got burned when for awhile it was allowing Wal-Mart to sell RCA DSS receivers w/o getting the buyer to subscribe... Now they sell the receivers w/o smartcards in them, and you get the card(s) in the mail after you subscribe.

Re:explaination needed

[Mr2001]

Satellite TV works, and that's a one way pipe too.

I assume it goes like this: The audio streams are encrypted with keys that are changed periodically. New keys are sent down from space ahead of time, encrypted to individual tuners (each has a unique ID), on a repeating schedule so everyone has a chance to get them. If you don't subscribe, you won't get the new keys. If you cancel your subscription, your tuner will keep working until it gets a "turn off now" signal, but if you manage to block that, it'll stop working anyway once they change the keys.

Re:explaination needed

[RailRide]

can someone please tell me how xm radio knows you have a subscribtion or not, i dont see how it works since its one way wireless...

Each XM unit comes with a serial number incorporated into the hardware (firmware?). You don't have to subscribe to purchase the unit, but a subscription is necessary to activate it. Until then all you can get is the preview station on Channel 1.

Once you call in (or log in at the XM website) to subscribe, you give your unit's number, and the authorization comes over the satellite signal once payment is confirmed.

I got my unit using the Opie & Anthony promotion (listeners already on their FoundryMusic mailing list prior to their satellite debut were given the oppurtunity to sign up and get the basic hardware for $50), and it supposedly came pre-activated, but I needed to resubmit the radio's code a couple of times on the XM website before the unit picked up the signal and started loading the stations into memory. After that smooth sailing.

Rather than get the boombox unit (I have the home kit), I used a workaround consisting of the automotive adapter/FM transmitter in conjunction with an AC-DC power supply with 12V automotive power output . This way I can use the transmitter in the house (it also functions as the reciever's power supply), listening with an FM-equipped MP3 player as I move about the house, as well as recording if I desire, since I have a Yepp player with FM recording, as well as an Archos Jukebox recorder that can grab the last 30 seconds of audio preceding a recording session, just in case you decide to record after the song's started.

I'd certainly get more use out of the MiFi, but I'd wait for a bit of a price drop before investing in one (you can add additional recievers to your account for an extra fee). As it is, I've used the home kit in the car using the car adapter/transmitter, and the stock indoor antenna works fine sitting on the dashboard. You only need a secure spot to sit the reciever, as it's a bit nose-heavy in the home docking station.

---PCJ

silly thought but...

[dingfelder]

Silly thought but...

How about a wifi enabled version, that tunes into internet radio stations automatically?

That is something that I would consider buying.

Please bring back the XMPCR

[Linuxathome]

Please bring back the XMPCR, so that I can actually have MyFi, my way.

Correction

[dingfelder]

After I posted that last message, I realized that someone is sure to think I meant that we should have a wifi version of the portable satellite radio receiver system, including the car kit etc.

What I was actually thinking was more along the line of a MP3 player with a wifi reciever built in, that could save internet radio tunes to flash media.

Re:Net

[Jozer99]

Just as linux has completely wiped Windows out of the desktop market.

Re:Net

[enrico_suave]

" Yeah, like the internet killed TV and terrestrial radio."

Well, not all change is instantaneous =) besides it's the FCC that'll kill TV and terrestial radio...

e.

Re:opps

[Jozer99]

Yes, but VCRs have more spinny things inside them than HDTV, which makes them infinitely better.

Re:Trying to prevent transfers, again?

[TheAwfulTruth]

How is this DRM crippled?

What spectacular Sony failure are you talking about?

This is basically an FM radio with the ability to store a few songs that you listened too over the airwaves. The recording part is only incedental to the real purpose of the device, to have a portable XM satelite receiver, plain and simple.

OK, I'll bite...

[grollicious]

I have no idea what you're talking about. Please enlighten me as to the connection between sat radio and media control of what people hear. If someone willingly pays a subscription fee to have sat radio, how can they be considered a captive audience?

Re:OK, I'll bite...

[panxerox]

Its pretty strait forward, small to medium broadcasters have no access to the media. I don't see collage or local access radio having access to XM anytime soon. Right now its not too bad because there are alternatives that people with am/fm receivers can hear but when satrad becomes mainstream access is gone.

Don't know what your missing till you try it...

[moronicidiot]

When Satellite Radio (SDARS) first hit the market, I was among those who swore up and down that I would never pay a subscription for radio service. Radio service, one of the easiest obtainable free services around, was fine the way it was.

It stayed that way until I happened to see a good deal on a receiver and decided that I would go ahead and give it a try, subscription numbers were growing (although this was still while XM was sub-1,000,000) and popularity was increasing. It was one of those things, I had no idea what I was missing until I gave it a try.

That was about 2 years ago. I am now paying about $25/month for SDARS, as I subscribe both to Sirius and XM and pay the premium fee for Opie & Anthony on XM. The commercial free music is great; the sound quality is superb and the list of choices is endless. I can drive cross-country listening only to music that I enjoy and without commercials with runtime longer than the songs. Although I rarely listened to broadcast radio opting instead for CDs, that has completely turned around and I find that I rarely listen to CDs and even listen to SDARS over watching TV or Movies a lot of the time.

If I am out of the house all day, I can get my fill of FoxNews, MSNBC, or CNN. The Right-Wing and Left-Wing channels offered by each service allow me to see each viewpoint as harshly as those contesting it feel when it comes to political issues.

You don't know what you're missing till you try it... As for the MyFI specifically, yes it would be nice but not for the price they want. You can get a receiver, car kit, and home kit all for about $100-120 after rebate or using Friends & Family promos. I would really like a MyFI, but will not be getting one until the price comes WAY down or there is a competing product with a much lower price.

Re:Don't know what your missing till you try it...

[MoneyT]

My concern, and the reason I will probably never subscribe to satalite radio, is that it will become what cable TV has become. Though I beleive cable's marketing pitch was reduced commercials rather than no commercials, but the end result is the same, cable is loaded with commercials, literaly paying to receive advertisements. Already you can see it begining, there are people comlaining about Sirius advertising their own service on the Sirius radio. How long before mini ads pop up? Just a quick mention that "You're listening to Sirius Radio, non stop music, brought to you by Amazon.com" Then come the 30 second station breaks and so on and so forth.

Worse, this stuff already does what I dispise about cable. For one there's the service and then there's the additional services and premiums. I hate that. Then there's the fact that I can't explicitly chose what stations I subscribe to. I don't want to pay for rap, hip hop, urban and country based stations. I don't listen to them, I never will, I don't want to pay for them.

And unfortunately I don't see this getting any better any time soon.

Re:Don't know what your missing till you try it...

[cr0sh]

Actually, cable "grew out" of broadcast TV - back in the 60's, in order to get TV, you had to have an antenna - a good one, stuck up on your roof. It had to be positioned "just so" - to pick up one of a variety (anywhere from 3-10, I would imagine) of channels - sometimes one position would work well for a few channels, but not all. So, you had numerous rotating methods (mechanical, electrical, manual, etc) and devices on the market (omni antennas, etc) - to make your picture as clear as possible.

Understandably, people began to get fed up with all of this. First off, the antennas looked really ugly. Secondly, depending on your area, you couldn't get good reception without having a very tall mast for your antenna (which didn't help with the asthetics), or sometimes it was simply impossible (due to location, like in a city with tall buildings) to get good reception.

Enter the model of "cable TV" - in which there was one group of antennas for all the channels in a central spot for an area (depending on how far the coax would run), and this signal was run to all the "subscribers" for use of the signal. No more unsightly antenna, no more crappy signal. You might even get more channels (better equipment on the antenna end, coupled with taller towers for the antennas, etc). It was a complete win-win, and a new market openned.

Eventually, satellite feeds were introduced, then scrambled pay-feeds (with no commercials), like HBO. Sometimes, the new feeds had less commercials. Over time, all of this changed, to what we have now - where you pay, and pay, and pay some more (that is, you pay for your HBO and still get commercials - I remember when HBO was commercial free - just minute or so gaps where the HBO logo was shown, and maybe some previews of upcoming movies).

Early adopter device

[DarthWiggle]

This thing isn't perfect. Hell, the first personal computers (as we would recognize them today) were heavy, loud, ugly, and could barely calculate a square root. I won't buy this thing, but I will step back and recognize that it's a pretty extraordinary little device: a Walkman-sized box that receives significant and complex information from satellites floating way up in space. Think about that in the context of, say, 1960 ... or 1980. GPS does, broadly, the same thing, but think about how much more limited the bandwidth requirements are for a GPS unit.

Absolutely amazing.

I am a Sirius subscriber

[WCMI92]

And here's why:

1. No commercials on music channels. EVER. Never have had them. XM had to change from commercials to non commercial BECAUSE Sirius wouldn't air commercials.

2. Lee Abrams.

Lee Abrams runs the programming at XM. He is the architect of Clear Channel's "cookie cutter" formats.

3. Cost.

XM is $9.99 a month.

But you don't get:

1. All the channels (some are premium)
2. Internet streaming access (costs you $5 a month extra)
3. No discounts offered if you pay annually OR add other receivers to your account.

Sirius is $12.95 (or $9.95 if you pay annually)

For EVERYTHING.

No wonder Sirius is the service that TALENT seems to be gravitating to. Such as Mel Karmazin. Howard Stern.

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[grollicious]

I'm not quite sure if the service was the reason Howard Stern choose to sign a contract with Sirius, but I'm fairly certain I could come up with half a billion other factors that helped his decision process...

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[Bastian]

I must agree that I have listened to both and I like the Sirius playlists much better.

But I am afraid that Sirius is in trouble, simply because for most people satellite radio == XM. I'm pretty sure this is entirely because Sirius has failed to advertise, especially in the ways that count (like getting auto dealers to offer their decks).

Lately, I have noticed that chains like Circuit City and Best Buy have been cutting back on their Sirius stock.

So how is the company doing health-wise, really?

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[LoadStar]

1. You are correct. Sirius music channels have always been 100% commercial free, while XM's haven't. But that's the past. They're now both 100% commercial free music.

2. Lee Abrams pretty much invented the use of psychographics in radio, which, in a nutshell, is when they tailor a radio station for a specific listening profile. This is EXACTLY what satellite radio specializes in, creating "niche" stations that a small number of people are interested in listening to. See this Wired article for more information. (Oh, and Abrams came most recently from ABC Radio. He might have worked at Clear Channel in the past, I can't find an answer either way. But if he did, it's been quite some time since he did.)

3. Yes, you have to pay more for the premium channels, of which there are only two - Playboy and High Voltage. And yes, you have to pay to access the streaming access. However, the streaming access gets you MORE channels than are even broadcast over the satellite, so-called "micro-niche" stations that don't have a wide enough appeal, so you're definitely getting your money worth on the streaming access.

Additionally, you are incorrect on BOTH counts on the discounts - XM does offer "family pack" discounts as well as multi-year discounts.

4. XM doesn't have Stern. That's actually a selling point... for XM. :)

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[Dward]

Just a couple of things wrong with your XM complaints.

1. There are only 2 premium channels Playboy and Opie & Anthony.

3. There ARE discounts for multi year plans AND for multiple recievers.

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[Mr2001]

But I am afraid that Sirius is in trouble, simply because for most people satellite radio == XM. I'm pretty sure this is entirely because Sirius has failed to advertise, especially in the ways that count (like getting auto dealers to offer their decks).

I agree they haven't been visible enough in the public eye, but they have started to advertise more lately. I saw a commercial for the XACT (handheld Sirius receiver) before The Incredibles this weekend, and I've seen and heard the John Madden commercials a few times. The Howard Stern deal also bought them a ton of publicity - now when I mention Sirius to friends, they say "That's where Howard Stern is going, right?" And they're not even Stern fans (nor am I).

Lately, I have noticed that chains like Circuit City and Best Buy have been cutting back on their Sirius stock.

This could be because the third generation of receivers is coming out, and they've been trying to get rid of their old 2G stock.

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[RailRide]

I'm not quite sure if the service was the reason Howard Stern choose to sign a contract with Sirius, but I'm fairly certain I could come up with half a billion other factors that helped his decision process...

Chief among them being that Opie & Anthony were already on XM when he made his announcement (coincidentally, occurring just as O&A made their debut on sat radio) , maybe?. Stern likes O&A about as much as Slashdot likes the RIAA. He at one time had prevailed upon management to forbid the two from even mentioning his name on the air (the two shows were under the same corporate umbrella).

Speculation has it that O&A were kept on their contracts for two years after being taken off the air, and paid a pile of $$$ for essentially doing nothing, just to forestall the possibility of a competitor snapping them up and putting them on AM drive directly opposite Stern.

---PCJ

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[ElStinko]

1. All the channels (some are premium) Stern is talking about making a premium channel.
3. No discounts offered if you pay annually OR add other receivers to your account. Wrong and wrong. See XM
In addition, XM has a reputation for a larger play list than Sirius.

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[ReaperEB-Moo]

not to play the XM vs Sirius angle, but

1) there are only 2 premium channels, Playboy and 202-HighVoltage (aka Opien and Anthony virus channel).

2) yes streaming may cost 5 bucks, but when you look at the numbers of people listening via streaming, and the amount of data streamed, there has to be a cost differential. Non XM subscribers may pay a little more to listen to streaming content, but thats more than rightly justified, since they dont have the montly/yearly subscription fee, but it's still less then the
normal subscription fee to listen to the streaming content. I'd like to see what happens if Stern's so called 6 million listeners start to listen to a free stream from Sirius, depending on the stream encoding, higher than 32k, usually 56k and 128K, but at 32K, 6Million (I know worst case), the data
for the initial connection and start would be 192000000K, thats a ton of bandwidth, and a ton
of expense, for free streaming. Not to mention
the server farm and load balancers needed for such a setup, would be a huge initial investment, plus
standard upkeep and maintainence costs.

3) You really need to check your facts. XM DOES
have dissounts if you pay annually, thats where they get the 9.95, and you DO get discounts when
you add additional receivers. I have 3 plus my
pre-ordered MyFi, and the additional receivers are added at 6.95 as part of the family plan or so the
call it.

Now I can't forget Sirius with their part-time stations. Look at their channel guides and see,
unless then changed it, the have a few channels,
one being a comedy channel, that gets pre-empted for some silly sporting events. Are they too cheap to have channels for these events ??

XM will now start to carry the next seasons
MLB games, adding to their existing football
coverage.

Look at the companies stocks

XM:
XMSR - $37.07 (trading up)
XMSRP.PK - $56.50
XMSRZ.OB - $2,877.3264
MXSWW.OB - $64.645

Sirius:
SIRI - $6.697

hmmpf, big difference, not to mention
the fact that there have been alot of
Sirius employees that havent received
regular pay checks, due to money issues.
I'd like to know where they got the
alledged $500,000,000 to sign Mr Stern.

I still bet, he's going nuts, to think
that he isnt the first shock jock on
Satellite radio, Opie and Anthony beat
him to the punch and started back on
Oct 4th, 2004, and are currently on their
43rd show (41 actually, if you dont count
the 2 BestOf/WorstOf shows over the thanksgiving
holiday).

Did I forget to mention, that XM has some of the
smallest receivers as well, some of those
Sirius receivers weight a ton, I looked at
adding sirius to my collection, but wasnt
impressed. In fact XM has recently came out
with a sweet component receiver from Polk Audio,
that makes integration into ones home hifi setup
simple and aesthetically appealing to the eye.

Im not set in my ways, and open to interpetation,
but at the moment, its tought to find a better
cost effective solution.

I'll get off my soap box and wait for
the Sten junkies to flame away !!!

Re:I am a Sirius subscriber

[Reignking]

Not to mention the fact that Sirius is in New York...there's no way that Stern would leave there.

Take it with a grain of salt.

[anamexis]

October 23, 2001, regarding the iPod:
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

November 30, 2004, regarding MyFi:
There's no way to transfer the recorded content to the computer or vice versa.

I'll wait on this one.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[Mr2001]

Sirius seems to have better sound quality, IMO. Even my mom (an XM subscriber) commented on how my satellite radio got better "reception" than hers.

Sirius beats XM for political talk: they have an uncut Air America stream, and their own Sirius Left (with my pals The Young Turks), as well as two conservative talk streams. XM has one conservative and one liberal stream, and their "America Left" is just Air America with some shows replaced by non-AAR shows.

They have some big names behind their shows, including Eminem and Tony Hawk. DJ Liquid Todd has a weekly show on Alt Nation and helped put together the electronic streams Boombox and Chill. I'm sure XM has some of these too.

It'll be hacked soon

[zelphior]

I'm just waiting for the price to come down a bit, and someone to come up with a hacked way to transfer music from the built in memory to a computer. Then I can download all the music I want off of my MyFi radio.

iPod -- A Solution

[Pavan_Gupta]

I can't say any more. allofmp3.com will provide you a cheap source of music, and then you can program days and days of music so you can workout till your heart explodes.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[killbill!]

You're mistaking Saab and Volvo. Volvo is owned by Ford, Saab by GM.
GM also owns Daewoo and Saturn, and has shares in Isuzu and Subaru. You're right on the other brands, though.

(not counting Holden, which is only available in Autralia, Opel in continental Europe and Vauxhall in the British Isles).

Bollocks to all subscription models !

[TractorBarry]

Ah...

Here we go again, yet another attempt by companies to switch us all over to subscription models for everything. Every day another little scheme springs up until the day comes where everyone just expects "pay per play" to be the way things are.

"Softly, softly said the spider to the fly"

I for one have no interest, and will never buy, any entertainment device that either forces me to pay a subscription to continue to use it or, if it's capable of recording, dictates to me how I may make personal use of said recordings.

And yes that includes the iPod and it's ilk.

Re:Bollocks to all subscription models !

[h4nd-3y3]

So you don't have cable TV? Sat radio is a similar model, but as it *should* be - you pay for the service, and so they *don't* run advertisements for additional revenue.

XM Radio in Australia?

[xf]

Anybody know if this is possible, even with modified equipment?

I know the service is sold only to those in the US; however, news articles I read seem to indicate that it could be picked up (at least, at some point) from Perth:

http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/press_relea se_2001_05_08.html

I'm in Adelaide, FYI.

Re:Neuros did it better...

[dave420]

Why is it every single person who uses .ogg files has to tell every single person, every chance they get? No-one's impressed. In fact, most people probably feel sorry for you not being able to play them on any real hardware, like iPods, etc. without re-encoding.

XM + Apple = Sure Winner

[Hummercash]

I've been saying this for a while now... if XM were to team up with Apple, it would be an unbeatable combination. An iPod w/ XM receiver built in, streaming XM via iTunes (instead of the popup flash/wmp solution they have now), the ability to "Buy this song now!" via iTMS while you're listening to it on the streaming station. Hell, even if you're on the go and hear a song you like on your iPod/XM device, have a "Buy this song next time the iPod is docked" option.

But no, they went with Dell, and decided to put out their own device (which I'm still going to buy). Oh well, maybe next time.


.//chris

The real problem is this:

[Chillas]

I went to the grocery store yesterday. I was dying for an orange. So I grabbed an apple, bought it and took it home. Well, let me tell you, that apple tasted nothing like an orange! Nothing at all! So, I would have to suggest no one buy apples until the orange flavor improves.

Re:NYC has 43 stations (a quick google search)

[Lawrence_Bird]

living in the NY Metro area I can say that NY radio is amongst the worst in the country and I have travelled by car thru 45 of the lower 48. The only redeeming stations are on AM - WFAN and the news channels.

XM Radio Time Shifting.

[myhrd]

Check out www.timetraxtech.com

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[RU_on_weed]

I looked and looked and I went with sirius because they carry way more sports NFL , NHL(when it comes back) college stuff etc etc .

Not to mention , the playlists .. lets face it the majority of musicians ..not all, have like maybe 10 good songs the others not so good . Deepest playlists for me is not a selling feature but yet XM uses that as their selling feature and I don't want to have to listen to crap while finally getting to a song. XM has MLB ...whoppee!! I am huge baseball fan but the last thing I would do , is listen to a game on the radio. Hockey , Football ...way different more action. Maybe XM will start broadcasting golf tournaments.

Anyway to each is own. XM Sirius choose what makes you happy, not based on playlists or user subscriptions.

Re:Neuros did it better...

[PDA_Monkey]

The Neuros can broadcast any compatible digital audio file (WAV, MP3, WMA, OGG) over the FM band.

Not sure what you mean by "real hardware" and how the Neuros is somehow excluded from that. It is, in fact, a real physical device and if you doubt that, I could really do some serious damage to you by using it as a blunt weapon. I doubt your precious iPod could be as versatile.

Re:SIRIUS IS WAAAY BETTER

[Reignking]

I just read that Sirius has also bought the rights to the NCAA tournament this March, and the English Premier League for 3 years http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=42059

I live near NYC

[Andy Dodd]

Even in a major metropolitan area, the selection of FM stations can't come even close to comparing to XM.

I have a Roady (The Roady2 is $120 or so, same price I paid for my original Roady 9 months or so ago), and I LOVE it.

Activation

[Andy Dodd]

When you subscribe, you give them your Radio ID. (Basically a serial number for your radio.)

They then have the satellites periodically broadcast an "Activate radio ID xyz123" inside their data stream for a few hours/days. The radio is then activated.

When your sub runs out, they begin periodically broadcasting "Deactivate radio ID xyz123" messages for for at least a few months.

I've heard that a few people have been able to get free service by activating for a month, then cancelling and leaving the radio off for 5-6 months. Apparently the deactivation signals for any given radio are only sent for a few months. But it's a gamble - XM could send a deactivation signal again at any time.

Barely if at all

[Andy Dodd]

A highly directional antenna pointed close to the horizon might be able to pull it off.

It definately won't work in your car.

Try www.worldspace.com - WorldSpace and XM used to be the same company (or one owned the other), now they are independent companies, although some of XM's programming is still done by WorldSpace. (For example, XM 82 - The System is a WorldSpace channel that XM carries.)

Re:Can anyone explain this picture?

[Xatrak]

umm...its porn?