Internet Killed the Satellite Radio Star

theodp writes "As Sirius XM faces bankruptcy, Slate's Farhad Manjoo reports that the company has bigger problems than just the end of cheap credit. While it has what seems like a pretty great service — the world's best radio programming for just a small monthly fee — Sirius XM has been eclipsed by something far cheaper and more convenient: the Internet. Load up Pandora or the Public Radio Tuner on your iPhone, and you've got access to a wider stream of music than you'll ever get through satellite. So forget the satellites, the special radios, and the huge customer acquisition costs, advises Manjoo, and instead focus on getting Howard Stern, Oprah, the NFL, and MLB on every Internet-connected device on the market at very low prices."

Comments

flycast.fm replaced it for me.

[Vermifax]

I can run flycast.fm on my office pc instead of my xm radio and they have also released a blackberry and iphone client.

The blackberry client works well so long as I'm not moving. If I am signal fluctuates and the music drops out.

Re:flycast.fm replaced it for me.

[plague3106]

Well, doesn't sound like a great solution then if you can't really use it while you're driving.

Also, I can't run flycast or anything like that on my office pc.. those things are not allowed. I can aim a sat. antenna out the window though. Of course my main reason to keep sat. is not really the music; it's the other programming.

Sirius music channels always sucked.. and now XMers are suffering through that. I don't listen to the music as much... even in the few cases where I like the play list better. The problem is the Sirius DJs, that don't understand their stupid babble was the second most annoying thing about FM radio. The XM DJs were less chatty, and a few were actually good. But now Liquid Metal has an annoying bitch DJ that can't shut her mouth.. and she knows nothing about metal... because she's also on two other channels at other times of the day. Sad really.

Re:Bollocks

[jellomizer]

I think what is happening is just as iPod became the unofficial name of a MP3 Payer, Kleanex became the unofficial name of tissues. Coke down south has became the unofficial name for Carbonated Soft Drinks. the iPhone is getting its reputation as a smart phone or an internet aware phone. Which is a growing market. I think the point still hold true. How many people with satellite radio or how many people with iPhones, from my experience I have seen more iPhones (even more smart phones which can do the same job) then satellite radios. A smart phone you can carry anywhere with you Satellite radio don't have much of a market as a portable unit. And normally just hooked into cars. So the iPhone (as the term of a powerful cellphone) could unseat Satellite radio

Re:Bollocks

[geoskd]

Satellite radio has its own problems but the iPhone isn't one of them.

I don't think you fully understand the importance of the iPhone. The point isn't that everyone owns an iPhone, and they will simply start using it to get internet radio, the point is that the next generation of "normal people" phones (the generic ones that people with little money get) will be of the iPhone caliber, because no one wants the crappy half jobs anymore. More importantly, these devices are rapidly going to become the main connection method to the internet for most entertainment needs. Who wants to have to lug around a specialized piece of hardware for every single application. What people really want (and apple discovered they will pay a very high price for) are single devices that do it all. If I have to carry a cell phone anyway, it is damn convenient when it is also a music device that I can integrate into whatever stereo I happen to be near. Its also pretty nice when it is a PDA I can use to keep notes and reminders, and oh yeah, I really like the fact that it is also a GPS unit, and I can use it to look up information when i am no where near a "computer". The fact is that the future of stand-alone dedicated hardware is going away, and except for a few niches (dedicated game consoles, and PCs to name a few, although I'm not sure about the latter), all of that functionality will be absorbed by your cell phone. Since I got an iPhone, I use my PC about half as much as I used to, and I haven't listened to any kind of broadcast music at all. I get it all through my phone, and that phenomenon is going to get more common, not less.

-=Geoskd

Why I dropped my Sirius subscription

[zerofoo]

Yes, I have an iPhone, and yes I run pandora on it. It works great, and I enjoy it at home and in the car.

But that wasn't why I dropped Sirius.

I had two radios, and the high-quality internet subscription. After the merger, some of my favorite stations either went away, or the playlists got cut down to 20 songs.

I called and complained, but I was greeted with "sorry about that, how would you like two months free service?" Why would I want two more months of a service that sucks?

The last straw was the sound quality problems. Octane 20 sounded like it was underwater. I guess Sirius cut back on the bandwidth reserved for some channels to make room for some of the XM offerings.

In the end, it was bad music content, and terrible sound quality that killed it for me.

I do miss Howard, but I hope that he'll go online once Sirius XM goes tits up.

-ted

Re:No Thanks!

[geoskd]

(assuming im paying lots of money for an iphone (i wouldnt i have a blackberry bold) and i have a 1 gig limit on it per month.)

All nested comments aside, maybe you should consider and iPhone. I am well beyond this mythical 1GB / month limit of which you speak, and I have not had a problem with discontinuation of service... Perhaps you chose the wrong service plan?

i leave the car to go shopping and my wife is in the car still, what will she listen to...no thanks, stupid idea.

I'm assuming that if your wife is staying in the car, that you probably aren't going to spend an hour and a half shopping. I'm going to suggest that unless you need you phone (maybe it has the list of items you wish to get), you could probably live without your phone for the ten minutes you were inside. I would also submit the question: does you wife have a phone? if yes, then is it a smart phone as well? if no, why not? valentines day was yesterday. I got my wife an iPhone, what did you get for your wife?

-=Geoskd