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Im thinking about getting XM Radio for my car. I only know one person with it, but he says its the best thing he ever got for his. "Its to your car what TiVO is to your TV" I think were his exact words.
Does anyone have it? Any more opinions? Thanks.
Newer cars come equipped with receivers. It's revolutionary to radio in the same sense that TiVO was revolutionary to television. You can get the little car adapter for your vehicle and tune into a ton of different stations. I think they're all uncensored. I'm sure in a few years, once it gains popularity, the government will regulate it, too. But it's nice to not have commercials. You're basically paying to hear "fuck" and not hear ads.Quote:
Originally Posted by diffusionx
Well, Id be getting it for the music channels. How are those?
I dont care about O&A... actually, in fact I hate them.
Sounds like Cable TV when it first hit. No commercials, no regulation. We saw how long that lasted.
They're already charging extra for "premium" channels like the one O&A are on.
I love it, but I still wind up listening to CDs anyway. They have some really good stations though and are really well seperated into genres.
I think the music stations are pretty straightforward and play whatever genre you pick. I doubt the selection is gigantic, but I've heard you can go a few days before you hear a song twice. I think it would be helpful if they had a feature like MSN's music store where it'll say the station sounds like a local station you know.
someone I knew had it and said that everyday at the same time it was the same songs... but this was a little while ago.
I'm going to get it eventually. My radio is XM ready but I still need to drop like 200 to get it (O&A are a big deciding factor for me).
Sirius has so much more music it's not funny.
I have not logged that many hours myself listening to XM or Sirius radio, so my word is not doctrine. But everything I have heard from friends or read has lead me to believe that XM is far superior for music. Sirius has the better news and tons of sports channels, but XM has a wider selection of music. Maybe im wrong. Personally, I enjoyed listening to the comedy channel when I drove a car w/ XM radio. Makes long trips fucking breeze by.
I just have a feeling that I wouldn't like what they wanted to play for me, so I'll stick to not paying, and just listening to my CDs.
The general consesis is what Mman has said. Sirius has more sports, NPR and the music is more Hit focused.
XM Has a much, much deeper playlist. To the point where it bothers some people who only like hearing what they know.
I have XM and am very happy with it. I have a Sky-Fi I take from my Truck and into work every day. At Home I have the now discontinued XMPCR hooked up to my Home Theater PC.
Most of the channels on XM that need to be uncensored are uncensored, the teeny bopper channels are the MTV/VH-1 channels are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joust Williams
Based on what exactly? They have roughly the same ammount of channels.
Thats what people say about Sirius. XM is a bit more diverse.Quote:
Originally Posted by TobalRox
XM Actually DROPPED comericals on the few music channels that had them. The only thing they are left on are some of the talk channels, and about 2-3 minutes a hour on the comedy channels.Quote:
Originally Posted by K3V
check out www.xmfan.com for a pretty good user community.
also www.siriusbackstage.com for sirius.
I suppose it's more along the lines of "the % of good music is higher on Sirius than XM", at least, IMO.
One thing I never understood about XM is do you get local channels on XM? Like can I listen to my favorite local radio station anywhere? My favorite radio station, 100.9 KRZQ only comes in reception in Reno, NV, and I live about 30 miles away from there. If I got XM, would I be able to listen to it?
No. XM is something totally seperate from regular FM broadcasts. I think that some FM stations might broadcast out on XM, but those are probably larger ones (not Reno) but im not even sure on that one.
It's a private broadcast network, and there's already a free alternative, so there's no reason the government should (or legally can) step in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike
XM Radio is amazing. Definitely worth the cost if you listen to radio and music as much as I do.
The comedy channel is the greatest channel ever.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mman
That premium channel will be premium for about 2-3 months before it becomes like every other channel, imo.
XM is great stuff.
Cable is not regulated by the government... that's the channels decisions.
XM is great; we have 3 of them (2 car, one portable). There's lots of variety, and I agree, the comedy channel is great, but I wish it would play longer segments of the better comedians. We also have Sirius, which is in the vehicle that I drive the most. Both stations have pretty wide playlists, definitely larger than over the air stuff, but you will hear repeated songs. We got our first radio a few months after it came out, and the quality of the receivers, as well as the price, have both drastically improved. The first antennae was like a 4" tall shark fin, but now, they are miniscule; barely noticeable.
I got it for Opie and Anthony. When they come on the air in Oct. I'll let you know if it is worth it.
I used to listen to O&A back when they were on WAAF in Boston... I even have one the "Demented World" CD. But I just somehow think that now that I'm not 13 anymore that I wouldn't enjoy this as much. So the thought of PAYING just to listen to a couple of guys seems strange. But hey, all the more power to you all for doing so.
On my car radio there is a button to switch to XM. So you can switch from each band whenever you want.Quote:
Originally Posted by iidx Nick
I await your impressions. Have they said where they are broadcasting from?Quote:
Originally Posted by Master
I've been very happy with XM. I moved to the DC area, and it's nice to have a huge range of things to listen to while sitting on the Beltway. I listen to a lot of the non-music stations like Sonic Theatre and ESPN, which are a good complement to the regular stations. I do wish they had the sports stations like Sirrius, but they're getting College sports, and that's good enough for me.
With all the communting I do now, it's easily worth the 10 bucks a month to have a nice variety of things to listen to.
I really hope XM follows through on sports and starts to cover all 11 football conferences, and highlight games from the couple dozen basketball conferences.
I would go Sirius just for the NFL Radio channel which I heard was incredible, in that the non-game stuff is actually guite informing on how the game is played. But XM's deal with O and A is rather tempting.
Got one yesterday, and I love it so far. I keep finding myself on Cinemagic and 80's and 90's, and of course XM Comedy.
Ron and Fez are starting on XM Monday, too. Should be good.
Channel 202 for Opie and Anthony. It's not for everyone, but there's only one way to find out. Ron and Fez will be on that channel too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
Nice, the local boys I used to listened to got fucked on Monday, but they've been talking about XM for a little bit, and Opie and Anthony's Golden Ticket deal, so hopefully they'll land there.
I used to listen to XM at work, but some dingleberry customer broke the display unit, so it's now just a display model, and not something that functions.
Big O and Dukes?Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
Them's the ones.
I'ma give Sonic Theatre a whirl on my commute home tonight.
Sonic Theater is a cool concept, but it's pretty hit or miss quality wise. Some of the stuff is just like having someone read you internet fan-fics. I usually listen to Old-Time Radio for my radio drama fix.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chux
O&A said Big O and Dukes are on the maybe list.
O and D need to be on the fuck yes list.
Just when I was thinking about following hockey again...
Woot.
-------------------------------
XM SATELLITE RADIO AND NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE ANNOUNCE LONG-TERM AGREEMENT
XM To Begin Broadcasting NHL Games In October 2005
NHL Chooses XM As Its Exclusive Satellite Radio Network Starting in 2007
Washington D.C., September 12, 2005 -- XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), the nation's leading satellite radio service with more than 4.4 million subscribers, and the National Hockey League (NHL) today announced a 10-year, $100-million agreement that makes XM the exclusive satellite radio network of the NHL beginning with the 2007-2008 season.
XM will begin broadcasting NHL games with the launch of the new 2005-2006 season and will become the League's exclusive satellite radio broadcast partner in 2007.
In addition to providing live play-by-play coverage of more than 1,000 games per season, XM will create a dedicated NHL radio channel featuring original programming that will focus on all aspects of the sport. NHL games and the NHL channel will be available in Canada through XM's partner, Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), which is funding a portion of the agreement. CSR has been awarded a license to distribute satellite radio in Canada, as recently approved by the Federal Cabinet.
"We are thrilled about the National Hockey League's decision to partner with XM Satellite Radio," said Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM Satellite Radio. "The clear winners of this partnership are the millions of hockey fans here in the U.S. and in Canada who are incredibly passionate about their favorite NHL team, and who will now be able to follow them regardless of where they call home."
"We're delighted to have XM as our newest satellite radio partner," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. "At this exciting time in the League's history, a new partnership with XM allows us to offer hockey fans unprecedented NHL coverage on the nation's largest satellite radio service."
XM's comprehensive coverage of the NHL will include games from every team, as well as the NHL All-Star Game, the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Final. XM will start its NHL schedule with sweeping coverage of Opening Night on October 5, 2005.
Panero continued, "XM and its Canadian partner CSR are excited to participate in the resurgence of this great sport."
_________________
Nice score for XM since they are expanding into Canada in the coming year. And they didn't pay insane Sirius style money to get it.
Awesome. Unexpected benefit of sticking with XM, which I planned to do anyway at this point. This is good news.
F.Y.I the only premium channel is the playboy channel, xm202 is not premium anymore.
playboy is no more as of sept 1. There are no premiums on XM.Quote:
Originally Posted by innova
Wait, there's playboy radio?
not any more
Sad times?
Nope. it sucked.
Oh, then good times.
Wasn't it just Playboys "Love Lines"? Some stupid call in show that's also on PBTV.
Yup, that's the oneQuote:
Originally Posted by Rumpy
Horrible.
My mom has XM radio.
Smart woman.Quote:
Originally Posted by Josh
Anyone hear Patrice O'neals show last night? I completely forgot it was going to be on.
XM Plant.
O&A Party Rock
i <3 XMSR. Tell 'em Fred.
The Helix kicks ass
By Christmas they should be at a great price.
Wow, that Helix is awesome. That's something that I could see myself getting if I got a portable player, if I got anything. It's also amazing (but not necessarily surprising) to see how antennae technology has evolved over the past 5 years or so. Our first one was a Sony shark fin.
I got to play with one at CES. Its as good as you think it is. Smaller than a treo, built like a tank, nice screen, cool OS.
Can't wait till the price drops a bit and I am all over one.
p.s. Happy Birthday Jimmy!
Laslo was on O & A Today and brought in a review of Sirius's top of the line portable unit *cough*.
Laughs a plenty on that one. Love how it has to be powered by your car to recieve a signal.
But more importantly he announced a one-off return of the Lazlow Show, April 8th on XM 202. C'mon XM bigwigs - lets give him a show!
playboy radio is now on sirius.
Big loss there.
Good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinobi128
Really, it sucked. HARD.
Come to think of it, O and A have shit on their show that would fit on PB theme wise. Having a PB channel would be redundant.
Ya.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wildkat
My employer had it playing in his car. I'm not a subscriber. The first problem I heard was the fact that there were guys hosting some morning show.
I'd like to point out that this is not because XM was outbid. They had long since cancelled the channel because it sucked and it was a waste of bandwidth. Sirius did not "steal" the channel, they picked up XM's sloppy seconds.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shinobi128
Truth. I think it's kind of silly to make him do a pilot like that. The man knows how to do a show.Quote:
Originally Posted by sphere79
A friend told me he heard that if you call XM and tell them you want to cancel your subscription, they will offer you a reduced rate. His mom has XM and he's gonna have her try it. I dunno if there's any truth to this.
DC area? Then you live right by the XM studios my friend. I live in the Annapolis area and work in Georgetown. I had a buddy that graduated with me that was an Engineer on the Sonic Theatre station. I was nearly hired by XM, but at the time the company was in it's infancy, and the board decided to put a moratorium on new hires until their subscriber base increased, against the channel program directors wishes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Masaka
I heard the same thing, they will offer to lower your sub to $3 a month.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saint of Killers
Similar things can be done with Netflix and Blockbuster Online.
After having my first extended listening period with XM since about 2 weeks ago, it's time for me to cancel. I can't stand the new direction that Ethel has been taken in (read: Clear Channel FM w/o commercials). Top Tracks and Big Tracks are incredibly repetitive, not to the level of Ethel, but close. Squizz is still in the same rut it's been in since about a year ago. XMU seems like it's getting even more out there, to where I might recognize a band that comes up about 1 out of 10 or 20 times. Lucy has sucked ever since they started putting Fred content on it. Not to mention the horrible sound quality...
Yeah, I'm done.
come to the dark side (or the dog side)Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlep
I've never liked XM because I felt they were too repetative. They play it constantly at work (various stations) and I feel like I'm listening to a CD because it's the same shit over and over. 20 on 20 is probably the worst offender (for obvious reasons though).
XM really wasn't all that repetitive until about the past year or so. I could go days without hearing the same song. Then I started hearing the same song daily. Lately it's been hours between the same song.
Stormy, I'm not leaving one problem for another. I'll probably start looking at iPods...I dunno. This shit sucks. XM peaked at the Live 8 stuff, and it's been downhill ever since.
All I listen to is 80's 90's Fred, Ethel, Lucy, Cinemagic, upop(On Occasion) and the System. My gf listens to BPM.
I've had no issues with them.
Chux: try listening to Ethel for 3 hours straight every day now. I'll be standing by with a straight jacket.
2 free months from retentions; guess I'll see if anything changes. Not a chance in hell I'm buying a Pioneer Inno for $400 when they keep fucking with their programming philosophy, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlep
We have XM at work and Ethel and 43 (New Music, I think)are about the only stations that I leave it on (occasionally they'll drop the F-bomb and I'll get in trouble, but its better than putting up with 20 on 20). I agree in that it and pretty much all of the stations get repetitive really damn quick.
That's the thing, I listen to all of them for about 45 mintues up to work, and 45 back from work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlep
Even so, you're going to start noticing the repeats and shitty music selection (Verve - Bittersweet Symphony on right now). I was only listening in the car for 15 minutes at a time tops these past couple weeks, and I knew something was up. Looked at some XM forums and listened for an extended period, and it was confirmed: Ethel has been reformatted to the Clear Channel top 40 format.
Wasn't Ethel like the flagship station for rock fans?
Sorry to hear that (even though I am on "the other side" or whatever, the XM fanboys vs. Sirius fanboys is more irritating than Genesis vs. SNES).
I definately noticed when XM dropped the data rate on a few channels awhile back, I had just bought the Belkin boom-box (which is excellent, btw) for my Roady xt. Fast forward a week and I'm noticing slightly lower treble on a few stations. They did bring back Liquid Metal but I'm honestly pissed about them getting rid of Music Lab. I know there's alot of crap on it and it's not something you can leave on, but I'm gonna miss the very-obscure Floyd tunes and other odd things I'd find on it. On the other hand Big Tracks and Top Tracks seem well done as far as replacements for popular rock stations go, something I thought was lacking a bit.
Also, XM's customer service is famously bad, and likely responsible for thousands of people leaving the service. Once they've screwed something up on your bill, it's damn near impossible to get it corrected. I did find it helps to choose the reseller or retail option when calling, I've always been transfered to a call center within the US instead of their horrid overseas "support".
Bottom line, I'm keeping it for now. But if I notice that Deep Tracks isn't picking up the obscure Floyd tunes I may just up my Verizon service to broadband and stream internet radio over my Palm-based Zodiac PDA. Although I'd have to find a way to stream OandA on it as there's currently no Palm version of streamerp2p and no OandA on shoutcast at the moment.......
I haven't listened in quite a while, but my family still does a lot, and we all have our subs. Hearing that about Ethel really sucks, as it was my favorite station on XM. Not sure what I can say other than that, and that I'll be hooking up my SkyFi boombox again to see what else has been going on lately.
People have XM because they like the deep, varied playlists, and XM seems to be moving closer to a Sirius-style "FM without commercials" format and people aren't having it. I'll admit I haven't listened to the Sirius music channels on Dish in awhile but the repetition and "Top 40'ness" of it was obvious, maybe that's changed.Quote:
Originally Posted by stormy
Even today, if you troll sat radio forums you'll find that initial impressions of XM and Sirius music channels (i.e. I rented a car....) have people generally liking Sirius more right off the bat. It's because most are familiar with FM, and Sirius is closer to what they already know.
I think XM is making a mistake moving to a more mainstream format, but obviously they think it'll sell more subs. The good news is they seemed to have listened to some concerns about other channels, I think if enough people bitch they'll move away from their current direction. Now, where's that new THIRD sat radio startup??????
Ive heard this before and not buying it. A few stations deliberately ape FM radio (one of them is a lot like 92.3 K-Rock back when it was good) but you will find the good stuff a few dial turns away.
I don't mind catering to people who want to hear the hits, but how many channels do we need to do that? Here's a list of the current and planned hits channels (although I consider channels like Squizz pretty damn close):
50s on 5
60s on 6
70s on 7
80s on 8
90s on 9
Nashville
Highway 16
US Country
20 on 20
KISS
MIX
Flight 26
XM Hitlist
U-Pop
Top Tracks
Ethel
Big Tracks
Lucy
Suite 62
The Heat
BPM
Alegria
XM Pops
Ethel doesn't need to be a hits station; it's not like people are starved for hits. I just don't get it. It's frustrating beyond belief. So far I've emailed Hugh Panero with a cordial email, programming@xmradio with a little bit less cordial, and an email to ethel@xmradio where I outright asked if they were given to Clear Channel as part of the arbitration.
By the way, this brings XM's hits channels to at least 33% of all of their music channels (could be more, I'm sure I missed a couple).
Yeah, Sirius isn't the answer for repetitiveness, but they play a decent mix of artists. I like that they play Built to Spill, but it's always the same song (Everything's Going to Be Alright). Schlep's complaint that he might recognize 1 out of 20 bands on XMU would probably not be so on Sirius. I thought maybe he just needed a change :chunobi:Quote:
Originally Posted by sphere79
Don't get me wrong, I love hearing new songs and new bands. XMU is just so damn far off the map that it's really not listenable unless you're an indie snob, pretending to like the music just because you haven't heard of the band. XMU, starting last summer or so, was getting so much closer to the way it was when Struber programmed it. Recently, it's weird for the sake of weird.
Go with a Creative Zen... MUCH better than an iPod as long as you don't mind not having docking functions (Which to me are pointless). Their new Vision players play WAY more video formats than the iPod video does.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlep
Ethel has always been pretty mainstream. I haven't noticed it getting repetitive, though. I think you're exaggerating.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlep
The one that REALLY pisses me off is Unsigned though. The bands they play now are very much signed with gold albums.
Well on top of all of these channels that we're talking about 10 new channels hit on the 16th.
None of them seem to important, but I guess it's better than losing stations.Quote:
U.S. Country - XM 17 - Country Superstars of the 80s and 90s
Flight 26 - XM 26 - Modern Hits 90s & Now
XM Hitlist - XM 30 - Today's Hit Music
enLighten - XM 34 - Southern Gospel
XM Liquid Metal - XM 42 - Heavy Metal XL
Big Tracks - XM 49 - Later Classic Rock
The Heat - XM 68 - Rhythmic Hits
Escape - XM 78 - Easy Listening
XM Chill - XM 84 - Chill Music
Viva - XM 91 - Latin Pop Hits
The rumor is XM Music Lab will get the ax. Which will suck. Music Lab needs retooling, but there's some very good stuff on there.
Flight 26 doesn't need to exist, we already have a 90's station, and Ethel/Lucy plays 90's also.
agreed. The hits stations are redundant. Chill is excellent though, and very well done.
Yeah, I started listening to chill when it first came out, it's out there sometimes, but has good ambient music.
Not exaggerating; Jon Zellner himself stated to someone in an email at xm411 that it's being reformatted and now on a 5 hour rotation (more like 3). Here's an example from yesterday:Quote:
Originally Posted by Frogacuda
Morningwood - Nth Degree 3/30/2006 12:12:20PM, 2:38:29PM
Matisyahu - King Without A C 4/3/2006 11:44:36AM, 3:52:57PM
Hard-Fi - Cash Machine 4/3/2006 11:09:30AM, 2:42:03PM
Death Cab For Cu - Crooked Teeth 4/4/2006 9:14:04AM, 1:17:04PM
Rock Kills Kid - Paralyzed 4/4/2006 9:28:48AM, 1:01:41PM
Panic! At The Di - The Only Differe 4/4/2006 8:56:00AM, 1:23:38PM
Coldplay - Talk 4/4/2006 10:03:27AM, 1:31:10PM
Pearl Jam - World Wide Suici 4/4/2006 10:41:08AM, 1:54:13PM
If you want to play a game, try counting the number of times Ethel plays 'Pearl Jam-World wide suicide' and 'Weezer-Perfect Situation' in a 24 hour period.
Start e-mailing and even letter writing. XM has shown they do listen the subscribers now and then.
I want to like XM Chill, but they play some really weird shit on that channel. You'll get something good and the next song sounds about as good as whales talking to each other.
My gf has XM. The movie soundtrack channel is a very cool idea. I wish Sirius would get something like that.
I really like the Cinemagic station, even if the music sucks I'll stick around an Arnold movie just to hear him spout off something fantastic.
Orbitcast has a review of the upcoming Pioneer Inno XM2go unit. At the bottom of the review, there's a video link in case you want to see it in action.
Wildkat: come to find out, the reason they're changing the channels is because of tons of e-mails complaining about the obscurity of the music, especially on Ethel. That comes directly from Jon Zellner. Apparently the current hits channels aren't enough; they all need to be hits channels.
Just glad the knowledge came about that XM is going to start heading into Sirius/FM territory before I dropped $400 on that Inno.