Have you used Creative drivers before? They suck. Their Live! series of sound cards causes all kinds of havoc with win2k systems at the time they were released.
Sure, but these radio shows are not subscription based and have not promised users advertisment free content. Maybe subscription without advertisement will actually be a viable business model.
I would be nice (and certainly possible), but I just can't forsee the respective companies resisting the lure of advertising to bolster their profits. Even if it is only a small increase. I look at subscription TV, radio, even magazines, and they all are chock full of ads. People just put up with it, because there isn't really a choice. It's one thing to use ads to bring down the cost of subscription, but it's another to use them to add to already sizable profits. If the corporate America has taught us anything, it's that nothing matters except profits and CEO's making over 10 million annually.
Wow, that was a depressing and pessimistic post. Can you tell that I don't agree with the current situation with corporate greed?;)
Again, I can't speak for all markets, but in my local area most radio advertisements either are for local businesses, or are supplemental to a national advertising campaign. Local businesses are not going to spend a significant amount of money advertising on a satellite radio. Listen to some of the syndicated radio shows that have nationwide coverage (Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh, Nascar, NFL, etc..). They get some cheesey advertisements. I don't think these shows are raking in what I would call "Big Bucks".
I think what you're saying is true, but in the end, all that matters is that the advertisements *are there*, right? I mean, I don't care at all who they are actually *for*, just that they interrupt the primary reason I'm listening to the radio.
First, the major reason many people subscribe to satellite radio is the low number of advertisements. Personally I'm a Sirius subscriber and I chose the brand specifically due to the lack of commercials vs. XM. I will drop the service if commercials are introduced.
How is that different than when cable TV first came about? People bought it because of lack of commercials. The commercials slowly became more prevelant until ALL the basic channels had them. Exactly the same scenario.
Second, radio advertising is not generally thought to be as effective as print and television advertising. Our college marketing classes taught that radio is best as a supplement to an advertising campaign. It will be difficult for satellite radio to get big bucks from the advertisers.
Take a spin through the dial once and compare how often you hit music as opposed to a commercial. Why will it be any more difficult to get money from advertisers in satellite radio compared to regular radio? I can't see a single reason that it will be different in any way, shape, or form. Any station that has more listeners will have more commercials at a proportionate expense to the advertiser.
Now try it on IE6 SP1 with MYIE2 w/o doing any custom tweaks. Let me spare you the effort--I just did. The notepads pop up. This comes back to my main criticism; If you have to go through the options with a fine comb, just to get a secure browser, then it's as good as broken, because hardly anyone touches the default options. Most people don't even change their home page for God's sake.
The MYIE2 interface is clearly designed for people that thing that more buttons = a better product. I couldn't even get it to open a regular page in the same window, which is normal browsing! Everything was forced to open in a tab--completely defeating the purpose of having tabs. Arg. I could go on and on about the other awful HIG choices, but there doesn't seem to be a point as it's simply way too complex for any normal user.
As least with the gecko engine you'd have a non-broken (security wise) browser out of the box, but then what's the point of installing myie2 if you are going to use gecko? might as well use firebird since it's open source, worked on by MANY professional developers (not 2 or 3 like myie2, possibly even 1?), and has interface guidelines that even your mom or little brother could understand.
The point is that you've had to jump through hoops to secure your IE. With Mozilla Firebird, I had to do absolutely nothing. Which do you think Joe User should be using, knowing that they aren't going to have the faintest clue of how to set IE up to be "safe"?
b) There already is a version of IE that doesn't suck. It's called MyIE2. Supports tabbed browsing, popup blocking, a muli-search bar, gestures, disabling flash, and more. It's free, just Google for it. See the thing is, Internet Explorer, like so much of Microsoft's software, is composed of two parts. Part one is the engine that does all the work. That is availabel as a COM control and is able to be (and is indeed) called by many other programs, MS and third party. The second part is the little EXE that ties it all together with a UI to run. MyIE2 uses the same engine, but with a different and more powerful UI. No source needed.
A wrapper for IE solves absolutely none of the security problems--just like wrapping some cellophane around the Titanic doesn't keep water from getting in.
Of course clearchannel has also done such wonderful things as syncronize their commercials on the stations they own. Now you can't even change the station to escape commercials.
Still think they aren't the worst thing to happen to radio?
Check out clearchannel websites sometime. They are a carbon copy. They swap logos and consider it different. It's terrible.
Personally, I tolerate the 2-3 breaks per hour of a few minutes each for the difference in price. I also liked the equipment choices that XM had at the time I bought mine.
You realize that XM is owned by ClearChannel (as you've no doubt seen in this discussion) and the amount of commercials is only going to go up. If you understand ClearChannel, you understand that that's what they do--commercials.
Enjoy it while you can, because it's going to be just like cable. At first, few or no commercials and eventually it will be just like radio is today, only you'll be paying a subscription. Ain't that nice!
Here's a suggestion for Real: Make a better player, and you'll gain market share the old-fashioned way. Through customers who WANT to use your software, not just because it's there.
If that was true then there would be no more IE users by about this time next year. They would have all switched to Mozilla Firebird or Opera.
You mean like a requirement of a portable player that seamlessly syncs with your software player? No "file browsing" or playlist making required? Seems that iHP offers nothing of the sort. This is like owning a PDA and each time you want to sync, manually moving each appointment/contact/etc over to the device.
Other than that, it does look like a nice device, and definitely worth a look if you don't care about automatic syncing and iTunes. I would definitely check it out before purchasing either.
Sounds like you hired people from a school where CS is taught as part of the Letters & Science college instead of the Engineering college (where it should be, IMO)...
I got mine from a school that did it the latter way, and I can tell you, we learned about hardware (down to the circuit level), software, and everything in between!
They could be moved to another state or country, sent to school, and go about their life. They would still be "missing", and could still be in danger.
So in order for your example to work these would need to be installed in every school in the nation or it won't prevent that situation in the least. It's an all-or-nothing kind of solution.
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Have you used Creative drivers before? They suck. Their Live! series of sound cards causes all kinds of havoc with win2k systems at the time they were released.
Sure, but these radio shows are not subscription based and have not promised users advertisment free content. Maybe subscription without advertisement will actually be a viable business model.
;)
I would be nice (and certainly possible), but I just can't forsee the respective companies resisting the lure of advertising to bolster their profits. Even if it is only a small increase. I look at subscription TV, radio, even magazines, and they all are chock full of ads. People just put up with it, because there isn't really a choice. It's one thing to use ads to bring down the cost of subscription, but it's another to use them to add to already sizable profits. If the corporate America has taught us anything, it's that nothing matters except profits and CEO's making over 10 million annually.
Wow, that was a depressing and pessimistic post. Can you tell that I don't agree with the current situation with corporate greed?
What an ironic post, considering your sig.
Again, I can't speak for all markets, but in my local area most radio advertisements either are for local businesses, or are supplemental to a national advertising campaign. Local businesses are not going to spend a significant amount of money advertising on a satellite radio. Listen to some of the syndicated radio shows that have nationwide coverage (Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh, Nascar, NFL, etc..). They get some cheesey advertisements. I don't think these shows are raking in what I would call "Big Bucks".
I think what you're saying is true, but in the end, all that matters is that the advertisements *are there*, right? I mean, I don't care at all who they are actually *for*, just that they interrupt the primary reason I'm listening to the radio.
First, the major reason many people subscribe to satellite radio is the low number of advertisements. Personally I'm a Sirius subscriber and I chose the brand specifically due to the lack of commercials vs. XM. I will drop the service if commercials are introduced.
How is that different than when cable TV first came about? People bought it because of lack of commercials. The commercials slowly became more prevelant until ALL the basic channels had them. Exactly the same scenario.
Second, radio advertising is not generally thought to be as effective as print and television advertising. Our college marketing classes taught that radio is best as a supplement to an advertising campaign. It will be difficult for satellite radio to get big bucks from the advertisers.
Take a spin through the dial once and compare how often you hit music as opposed to a commercial. Why will it be any more difficult to get money from advertisers in satellite radio compared to regular radio? I can't see a single reason that it will be different in any way, shape, or form. Any station that has more listeners will have more commercials at a proportionate expense to the advertiser.
Now try it on IE6 SP1 with MYIE2 w/o doing any custom tweaks. Let me spare you the effort--I just did. The notepads pop up. This comes back to my main criticism; If you have to go through the options with a fine comb, just to get a secure browser, then it's as good as broken, because hardly anyone touches the default options. Most people don't even change their home page for God's sake.
The MYIE2 interface is clearly designed for people that thing that more buttons = a better product. I couldn't even get it to open a regular page in the same window, which is normal browsing! Everything was forced to open in a tab--completely defeating the purpose of having tabs. Arg. I could go on and on about the other awful HIG choices, but there doesn't seem to be a point as it's simply way too complex for any normal user.
As least with the gecko engine you'd have a non-broken (security wise) browser out of the box, but then what's the point of installing myie2 if you are going to use gecko? might as well use firebird since it's open source, worked on by MANY professional developers (not 2 or 3 like myie2, possibly even 1?), and has interface guidelines that even your mom or little brother could understand.
here you go
The point is that you've had to jump through hoops to secure your IE. With Mozilla Firebird, I had to do absolutely nothing. Which do you think Joe User should be using, knowing that they aren't going to have the faintest clue of how to set IE up to be "safe"?
Ah ha. I *knew* you'd say the URL display was fixed, but as we know, IE has more than just a single problem...
ActiveX disabling is already there in the normal IE.
b) There already is a version of IE that doesn't suck. It's called MyIE2. Supports tabbed browsing, popup blocking, a muli-search bar, gestures, disabling flash, and more. It's free, just Google for it. See the thing is, Internet Explorer, like so much of Microsoft's software, is composed of two parts. Part one is the engine that does all the work. That is availabel as a COM control and is able to be (and is indeed) called by many other programs, MS and third party. The second part is the little EXE that ties it all together with a UI to run. MyIE2 uses the same engine, but with a different and more powerful UI. No source needed.
A wrapper for IE solves absolutely none of the security problems--just like wrapping some cellophane around the Titanic doesn't keep water from getting in.
Apparently you've never used windows. I'm using it right now and CD-ROMs definitely cause windows to slow down/lock up for some time.
But it doesn't include a Season Pass feature or suggest similar shows, correct?
The Season Pass is the feature I like most about Tivo.
Heh, you got me there. :)
Wow, that's very informative. I see I am definitely not missing out on anything by listening to CDs...sheesh.
I'm going to have to test this in my area. I'm sure you're right, but now I'm interested in hearing it myself as well.
Newsflash.....most music stations synchronize their breaks and clocks.
How would that be true unless the same Company X owns all 3 stations I switch between?
Thunderbird has threading. And as an added bonus it's free!
I looked at the screenshots and it looks identical to the way messages are sorted in Thunderbird with threading turned on.
Of course clearchannel has also done such wonderful things as syncronize their commercials on the stations they own. Now you can't even change the station to escape commercials.
Still think they aren't the worst thing to happen to radio?
Check out clearchannel websites sometime. They are a carbon copy. They swap logos and consider it different. It's terrible.
Personally, I tolerate the 2-3 breaks per hour of a few minutes each for the difference in price. I also liked the equipment choices that XM had at the time I bought mine.
You realize that XM is owned by ClearChannel (as you've no doubt seen in this discussion) and the amount of commercials is only going to go up. If you understand ClearChannel, you understand that that's what they do--commercials.
Enjoy it while you can, because it's going to be just like cable. At first, few or no commercials and eventually it will be just like radio is today, only you'll be paying a subscription. Ain't that nice!
Here's a suggestion for Real: Make a better player, and you'll gain market share the old-fashioned way. Through customers who WANT to use your software, not just because it's there.
If that was true then there would be no more IE users by about this time next year. They would have all switched to Mozilla Firebird or Opera.
You mean like a requirement of a portable player that seamlessly syncs with your software player? No "file browsing" or playlist making required? Seems that iHP offers nothing of the sort. This is like owning a PDA and each time you want to sync, manually moving each appointment/contact/etc over to the device.
Other than that, it does look like a nice device, and definitely worth a look if you don't care about automatic syncing and iTunes. I would definitely check it out before purchasing either.
So you buy a mp3 player that holds days worth of music and then choose to listen to the radio. Go figure.
Why is this handy? Do you normally unplug your regular computer from the network?
Depends how far along he is in his Scientology studies at the time. If he's OT7, shouldn't the magic alien Xenu come to his rescue?
So I guess having an aggressive, war-prone, president is worth more to you than losing the personal freedoms that America has always stood for.
Geez, I hope there's not many others out there with that kind of thinking. A recipe for 1984, indeed.
Sounds like you hired people from a school where CS is taught as part of the Letters & Science college instead of the Engineering college (where it should be, IMO)...
I got mine from a school that did it the latter way, and I can tell you, we learned about hardware (down to the circuit level), software, and everything in between!
They could be moved to another state or country, sent to school, and go about their life. They would still be "missing", and could still be in danger.
So in order for your example to work these would need to be installed in every school in the nation or it won't prevent that situation in the least. It's an all-or-nothing kind of solution.