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AOL and XM Joining Forces for Online Radio

Posted by samzenpus on from the refresh-my-station dept.

Josh writes "BetaNews is reporting that AOL and XM are joining forces to make available 20 XM music channels plus 130 of its own available to anyone on the internet for free starting this summer. AOL members will have free broadband access to 70 XM channels, although apparently there are plans for a $5/month option for non-subscribers. The deal means AOL Music specials will make it onto XM's channels, and XM promos will be heard across AOL Music's properties."

7 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah, free... by jspayne · · Score: 3, Insightful
    AOL members will have free broadband access to 70 XM channels, although apparently there are plans for a $5/month option for none subscribers.

    Free, if you are paying for AOL.

    Sirius already has free access to all of its music stations - if you have a subscription to Sirius.

    Jeff

    1. Re:Yeah, free... by isa-kuruption · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So does XM, http://listen.xmradio.com/. I'm listening right now.

      The real advantage to this, of course, is that XM increases it's potential customer base. Customers who will use the XM via AOL option will fall in love with a couple channels and end up getting units and paying the $12.99/mo. Of course, I'm all for this... I'm a shareholder (tm).

  2. When will satellite radio become profitable? by bfline · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Listen to the XM CEO on NPR.org

    XM Satellite Radio has added more than a half million subscribers in the last 3 months and shares of XM have quintupled over the last 2 years. Questions discussed in the npr broadcast: Can XM continue its meteoric growth? When will satellite radio become profitable? Is there room for both XM and rival Sirius?

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  3. What a great idea! by jaakko · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would gladly pay a monthly fee for hearing music that I can't choose, and maybe advertisements every now and then! It's like radio, but it costs money and bandwidth!

    1. Re:What a great idea! by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      music that I can't choose

      That should read: 'don't have to choose'

      That's the whole point if these services are run right: you get to enjoy good music without wading through thousands of titles and deciding what should be played. It's like going to a good restaurant, and telling the chef you trust to just fix you a really nice dinner. Some unexpected pieces are part of the experience, and just like the chef (who costs you more than the food would at the grocery store), you're buying someone's time and expertise - and trusting them to get it at least mostly right most of the time.

      Places like RadioIO have been doing a pretty good job at this for a while now. It's worth the cost of a six pack of Guiness to have someone else spend all month digging up music for me to hear.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    2. Re:What a great idea! by cowscows · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. When TV over the internet becomes a reality, I don't want to have to find 30 different channels that I like and send each of them $1/month to subscribe. I'd rather buy a package deal, where I just pay one bill, where someone else will keep track of whether a particular channel is having financial or technical difficulties, etc. It only sucks with current cable TV because we're stuck with huge monopoly companies that are basically free to treat us poorly.

      If the industry doesn't get too swamped by legislation and unfair competition, it'd be feasible for there to be hundreds of these different companies offering different packages. Competition will force them to offer smaller and more focused packages, so I can find what I like, and maybe get some new stuff that's similar, and that I might not have discovered on my own.

      While the internet and micropayments could create an economy without the middle men skimming some of the money, I'd be pretty happy with an economy consisting of a wider range of middle men, forcing a lot more competition between them. They would be less distributors and more aggregators/organizers. We're going to need that if we want the internet's vast info stores to be useful. Note the success of, oh....say, Google?

      --

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  4. Re:Howard Stern and $500 million reasons by Anita+Coney · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Sirius deal with Stern is going to go down in history as a huge failure. Offensive humor only works because it breaks rules. Thus, Stern is only successful because people get shocked at what he does. They'll comment such as, "Can you believe what Stern got away with this morning?!"

    After a few years of Stern having no limits, people are going to get bored and stop listening.

    --
    If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.