Satellite Radio?

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Well its pay day and I feel like blowing some coin...whats the deal with satellite radio? Is it worth it? XM or Sirius? I like the idea of Sirius because it has NPR. Tell me.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 12:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I would like to know too. All I know is you can't have anything between the dish and the satellite, so I suppose you have to listen to it near a window, like crappy portable DAB as opposed to wonderful non-portable DAB.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

i guess the antenna is weatherproof so i could run it through the window and hang it outside.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

no one owns one?

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd be interested in answers to this, too.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I had XM for about 6 months and it sucked. I was really hoping it would be a viable alternative to regular radio but it's just as strictly formatted (sure there are more formats and some cooler stations, but not that cool). It's a lot like those stations you have on most digital cable tv packages. The only thing I really listened to on it was the BBC. The other thing was the car adapter was extra and I never bought it, so I could only listen to this thing on my XM boombox in one room of my house-- not on my computer, not on my regular stereo, not at work, etc-- when I'm used to my iPod and absolute portability. I would not recommend XM to anyone. I was hoping I would be able to eventually pick up terrestrial radio from around the world (it would be cool to listen to French radio and Arab radio and Chinese radio and the best stations in the US like WFMU and KEXP, etc.) but that was never in the plans and will never happen; XM and Sirius and not interested in that. Also, beware, commercials are coming. There will be ads all over those stations soon.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

that answers my question. Fuck it. Waste of money then. Why bother when I can just put on my stupid cable stations. Which I hate.

― Chris 'The Nuts' V (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously mcd??? I thought being commercial-free was one of their big selling points, a la HBO.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

For now it is, but I wouldn't count on that lasting.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

some of the stations have commercials and some don't. I could see liking it if you were driving a lot, particularly in the west where there are fewer options, but if you've got an ipod and know how to work the internet it's probably not worth the money.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got XM in the office I work in and enjoy it. Take a careful look at the station formats and sample playlists for each service, if you're particularly drawn to a few of them it's probably worth it.

― Brian Miller (Brian Miller), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the big thing that annoys me is that they're squandering the technology with stupid ideas-- the same idiots who messed up normal radio are now messing up satellite. I hope it gets better. And maybe it is better now, I had it a year ago when this stuff was relatively new. Even the DJs are all pre-recorded. I don't know, I just think it's all so lame. I would love to hear other people's opinions, especially more positive ones.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got a friend who was bragging about the feature where you can "set" an artist. That way, if you're listening to a sports station and your favorite band comes on a different channel, XM will alert you to it so that you can punch over if you'd like.

My iPod has something similiar. It's called the Browse --> Artists feature.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah my friend has this in his car, i was moderately impressed although considerably more with the news and talk stations than with the music, which was alright but hardly mindblowing - that digital cable comparison was very very otm. they definitely know their demographic too - lots of bragging about getting tom petty to do some show, i kept joking "i never imagined radio could be this adventurous!". if they would pick up certain us stations - FMU esp - and some interesting overseas stations i could see myself considering getting it.

o the coolest thing was that for the commercial stations they do have (cnn, espn, etc) when a commercial comes on they'll instead play a psa or 'earth and sky' or something. totally took me back to afn.

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had Sirius for about four months now and so far am enjoying it. If you're measuring it by a good college/independent station (a la FMU) it will come up short but against almost anything to the right of 92 it's a walkover, especially in a mid-size radio market.

Re: in-car listening: if you're in an urban area and/or if you're limited in what frequencies you can 'broadcast' on, you'll want to get your cradle hard-wired in to your FM radio. This will eliminate the 'bed' of static from the residual FM signal (or the louder interference if you're right on top of a terrestrial FM station on your frequency), and is a relatively low-cost addition.

I also have to dangle the antenna out the window to get a signal at home.

I imagine the subscription fees will start heading northward soon -- XM just went from $10 to $13/month recently. And Sirius has to pay for Stern's new studio.

Haven't explored the talk options much, but best musical thing on Sirius is Andrew Loog Oldham's weekend show on Underground Garage.

― Jeff Wright (JeffW1858), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

XM is owned by Clear-Channel and is forcing its way into the market by brute force, of course (more and more new cars come with XM automatically). Please don't support Clear Channel's invasion of a new market created to escape their influence!!

Sirius is great. Upthread mentions of world stations are OTM, and Sirius actually does have this to a certain extent. There is one World Radio station that plays news broadcasts from a different country every hour or so. I've heard Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and Estonia so far. I don't know if it's always Eastern Bloc or what. There's also a PRI station, and two different NPRs. There are a lot of R&B stations and it's all very niche-driven (the downtempo station plays DJ Shadow at least every 4 or 5 tracks) which I kind of like, actually. Only one station for top 40, though.

My only complaint is the sound quality. I know it's supposed to be better than FM, but to me it sounds right around what a 112kbps mp3 sounds like. This may be because of the "residual FM signal" static since it is not hardwired.

Oh and since Air America is inesplicably absent from the DC area it's the only way I have of listening to it. Classic!

― Richard K (Richard K), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

um, inexplicably

― Richard K (Richard K), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

There's also car stereos that can receive shortwave radio stations

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 17 March 2005 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had a passive interest in this subject too. But I recently got a used Audi with a 10 CD stereo. I guess that'll do me for now. The trade off: I have to open the trunk to swap them out.

― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:06 (twenty-one years ago)

you can always invest in a small monkey and a monkey-tunnel running underneath the back seat to the trunk, later.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

my friend has sirius, it is kind of awesome.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Richard -- yes, the Clear Channel/XM connection ruled XM out for me also. The ironic thing, though, is that the perception is that XM has deeper playlists and is less 'hit'-oriented than Sirius. I've noticed a bit of improvement in this area on Sirius in the last two months or so.

Getting the cradle hard-wired definitely has helped the sound quality, although since it's primarily a car radio, I'm not very picky about it.

― Jeff Wright (JeffW1858), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)

i've had XM for over a year. it came factory-standard on my leased Pontiac. I like it a lot, especially on long car trips. of course, i bounce between the Air America, Old Time Radio, and PRI channels(with the alterna/indie-sampling in-between)

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I know that it's just me, but each time one of you mentions something about a PRI channel, I think that it has something to do with Mexican political propaganda.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

oh don't worry; most folks know by now that Ira Glass is a Zapatista in Disquise

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

I'm thinking of getting my boyfriend a Sirius receiver and year's subscription for his birthday. He's a huge Stern fan and even though it will be five more months before his show moves I think he'd find enough to enjoy it.

Is this consenus still positive on this? What hardware should I avoid? (I'm aiming for somewhere around a hundred dollars)

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

I've been listening to Sirius a lot at this place where I've been housesitting at. I flip stations a lot but I usually find something good on and even on the rare occasions where nothing I enjoy is playing I don't have to wait more than two minutes for something good to play.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)

Sam, if your guy has an ipod or other mp3 player, I'm sure some Stern fan will be capturing the programs and putting them out as a podcast--my guy loves Air America (which isn't available in our market) and that's what he does--just downloads it after the day's program is over and then goes and listens to it at the gym. And it's free!

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

He doesn't have an iPod. The possible gifts I've been thinking are an iPod (which would make me jealous b/c the new ones are color), one of those PSP things or a satellite receiver and year's subscription.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

Is it just me, or are the local commercial stations running a lot of anti-satellite/"Radio, you shouldn't have to pay for it" adverts lately?

I find this odd, since the two stations I listen to most are both Clear Channel-owned, as is XM Radio.

― kingfish russian bigamist (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

I don't know. .only listen to NPR/Sirius. ;) Wouldn't surprise me though.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 19:11 (twenty years ago)

92.3 KRock in New York is now called "the Free 92.3" or something. Gimme a break.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 20:51 (twenty years ago)

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