Fired XM today

[bwilson4web]

After getting my iPod Touch, I soon all but stopped listening to XM:

• podcasts - provide the content missing from XM
• schedule - I no longer dance to XM's scheduling schemes
• music - I like the CDs bought over the years and now can carry around the tunes I like and leave the space fillers on the CDs
• portable - get out of the car, plug in the headphones and enjoy

Now I realize to some extent I'm self-selecting my news and tunes. This can become an intellectual ghetto but it is a risk I'm willing to take. There are 'popular' podcasts around and even internet radio. Regardless, I've pulled one plug and plugged in another.

Life can change and if I spent more time in the car with less time to load the iPod content, I might go back. But for now, iPod is the answer.

Bob Wilson

[ljbad4life]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

After getting my iPod Touch, I soon all but stopped listening to XM:

• podcasts - provide the content missing from XM
• schedule - I no longer dance to XM's scheduling schemes
• music - I like the CDs bought over the years and now can carry around the tunes I like and leave the space fillers on the CDs
• portable - get out of the car, plug in the headphones and enjoy

Now I realize to some extent I'm self-selecting my news and tunes. This can become an intellectual ghetto but it is a risk I'm willing to take. There are 'popular' podcasts around and even internet radio. Regardless, I've pulled one plug and plugged in another.

Life can change and if I spent more time in the car with less time to load the iPod content, I might go back. But for now, iPod is the answer.

Bob Wilson

xm is almost totally useless as a music medium. if you have a smartphone you can stream pandora. its basically a radio station you set up to play music that you like and music that sounds similiar to your tastes.

[TKY]

I have never subscribed to XM. I've scanned it a bit since picking up my Prius, only because it's a 90 day free trial. With options of CD and Bluetooth iPhone/iPod, and iTunes downloads of 'books on tape' I can not justify spending $9.95 to $16.95, plus $1.98 license fee, plus tax every month for XM. If I get desperate there is always AM/FM. --TK

[mgb4tim]

I've been listening to XM and haven't been impressed with the sound quality at all. I'm not an audiophile, but half the time it sounds like an old transistor radio. Might it be the hills of WV killing the signal? Maybe, but I dind't think digital signals suffered like that. I thought digital signals were either there or not. Is it analog?

I figure, once it's run out, consider the ipod interface since I have a nano already.

[eglmainz]

Since I plan on owning the car until it will not roll another inch, and I was a fan Sirius, I opted for the $500 one timelife fee membership. I figured if the car lasts 10 years, that is only $50 per year on the subscription.

That said, I love the wide range of programming, including NFL, NHL, MLB, I can get NPR, CBS, FOX, and dozens of 100% commercial free music, not to mention Howard Stern! This was too good to pass up.

FM radio stations are dying across the country. Long Live Satellite.

[NovaStu]

Originally Posted by eglmainz

Since I plan on owning the car until it will not roll another inch, and I was a fan Sirius, I opted for the $500 one timelife fee membership. I figured if the car lasts 10 years, that is only $50 per year on the subscription.

That said, I love the wide range of programming, including NFL, NHL, MLB, I can get NPR, CBS, FOX, and dozens of 100% commercial free music, not to mention Howard Stern! This was too good to pass up.

FM radio stations are dying across the country. Long Live Satellite.

Ditto! And on long drives, it's a pleasure not losing the NPR talk show you were closely listening too. Howard Stern? Definitely a guilty pleasure. Much as I discount his show, I can't help but laugh when I tune it in.

I still get a chuckle out of one of his classic bits: Calling the phone company information operator to get the number for 1-800-FLOWERS. Ranks right up there with the old TAXI TV show bit when Christopher Lloyd was sitting for his hack license.

"What does a yellow light mean?" he asked. When told "slow down", he repeated (slowly) What does a yellow llight mean?" After the third iteration, I fell on the floor laughing.

And where else can you listen to Fibber McGee and Molly?

Stu - lifetime subscriber.

[djasonw]

I give Sat radio another five years at best. There is no reason why you can't stream music from the many APPs on the iPhone (or other smart phones) via bluetooth or USB. When WiMAX (G4/G5) is deployed over the next few years I envision internet radios built into cars that will supercede Satellite. I still have XM in my car but it works and I haven't paid for it for three years after I let my subscription lapse. No idea why it still works, but I'm not complaining.

[Dan-Wolfe]

Originally Posted by mgb4tim

I've been listening to XM and haven't been impressed with the sound quality at all. I'm not an audiophile, but half the time it sounds like an old transistor radio. Might it be the hills of WV killing the signal? Maybe, but I dind't think digital signals suffered like that. I thought digital signals were either there or not. Is it analog?

I figure, once it's run out, consider the ipod interface since I have a nano already.

I agree that the XM compression algorithms leave much to be desired. When I first subscribed back in 2002, they had fewer channels and the quality was far better. Now, it's nothing to crow about.

The music channels are OK, but the lower priority channels get less bandwidth as the demand goes up. So some of the lesser channels aren't very good at all. The worst are the traffic and weather channels. They are nearly inaudible for someone with mid range hearing loss like me.

But there are other strengths in my opinion, which is why I have kept it all this time.

[ljbad4life]

Originally Posted by djasonw

I give Sat radio another five years at best. There is no reason why you can't stream music from the many APPs on the iPhone (or other smart phones) via bluetooth or USB. When WiMAX (G4/G5) is deployed over the next few years I envision internet radios built into cars that will supercede Satellite. I still have XM in my car but it works and I haven't paid for it for three years after I let my subscription lapse. No idea why it still works, but I'm not complaining.

you said it best hands down... the only reason i see xm/sirius in cars now is because xm pays for the privilege. hell I would love to get hd radio (more channels and better quality) but bmw seems to be the only company that offers it across the board.

satellite radio is dying just as fast a terrestrial radio (maybe slightly slower). I used to have xm when it first started for free and kept it until 2007 and i must say that the quality did hit a nose dive at the end. very tin can sounding at points.

[MaggieMay]

Originally Posted by bwilson4web

Now I realize to some extent I'm self-selecting my news and tunes. This can become an intellectual ghetto but it is a risk I'm willing to take. There are 'popular' podcasts around and even internet radio. Regardless, I've pulled one plug and plugged in another.


Life can change and if I spent more time in the car with less time to load the iPod content, I might go back. But for now, iPod is the answer.

Bob Wilson

Bob - you hit the nail on the head. Self-selecting news and tunes is the thing I dread most about the iPod-ing of the world. We rarely hear or consider anything that makes us a little uncomfortable or that we don't already agree with. Dems won't listen to Limbaugh and Reps won't listen to NPR so we all just get more polarized. We listen to the music we know and don't venture off to learn about or discover artists or composers we don't know. Sigh. What a boring bunch we've become.