XM Radio Plans Online Music Service 199
Grump writes "Diving into the already crowded online music business, XM Radio Online, will launch sometime in early October and operate commercial-free, just as its satellite programming does. XM will charge $7.99 per month for unlimited listening and offer a discount rate of $3.99 to subscribers of its existing radio services."
kexp.org is excellent and free (Score:2, Informative)
Its called shoutcast (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Not impressed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not impressed (Score:2, Informative)
Everything else is.
Fugitaboutit! (Score:4, Informative)
I'm paying $3.95/mo. for a VIP membership at Live365.com [live365.com]. Sure, I paid for 12 months in advance to get that rate, but you still only pay $5.95/mo. on a month to month basis. No adds, no pop-ups, good audio quality (for streaming audio), and with 10K+ streams available, no boredom. It's one of the few things keeping me sane during the workday.
Re:Um, hello, Sirius is already online for FREE. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Nice attempt... but competitor's already there! (Score:5, Informative)
They do an excellent job. The free version is very nice, and the full version is $3-$4 a month. The free version has lots of programmed stations already in, and it uses your tastes and ratings to constantly build your own radio station. This isn't a shameless plug...I just really like it. The variety in the music I want to hear makes perfect background music while at work.
The downside is that it only works with IE. Boo!
In addition (Score:2, Informative)
I've heard a lot of stuff on XM that I would never hear on your average Clear Channel station.
I love my XM receiver.
As far as the Sirius fanboys saying Sirius includes it for free:
a) Sirius programming is more "mainstream" (i.e. Clear Channel-style) than XM from what I've heard
b) Above posters said the Sirius streams are crap quality
c) XM is $3-4/mo less than Sirius for the base sub.
Re:So the real question is... (Score:5, Informative)
For a while some of the music stations had commercials, then early this year they switched to a plan where the MUSIC stations have no ads. Sure, Sirius was doing that first, but what do I care? I was just glad XM copied that idea.
From the CNET article I couldn't tell if they will be streaming their current broadcasts or what.
Again, Sirius has been doing that, but they ALREADY charge a few dollars more a month than XM.
Will I pay the extra $4 a month for internet streaming? I don't know.
I currently have a Delphi unit that I can dock in my car or office. Two problems: 1) I have a "home" docking kit at work and it is a pain in the neck (and back and legs and shoulders) to crawl under my desk to unplug the power cord then wrap up the antenna cord, etc to move it. I'll probably just get the boombox eventually for home use. 2) My office is mostly below ground so my reception can be spotty. I'm actually receiving a bounced terrestrial signal, so it is pretty weak. I usually get in pretty early and I get perfect reception until everyone else shows up and start firing up monitors, etc. Long about 9-10 am I have to wiggle and fiddle with the antenna to keep the signal. I actually have a pretty good mental map of the EM fields in my office now... I'm like a riverboat pilot navigating through the rocks.
As for which service plays the best music... that totally depends on what music you think is good. We all have our opinions about what is good music, so that really boils down to a personal decision. I personally like the clasic country (a big "salute" to Nrray, Kilroy and Catfish -- the Hank's Place guys *might* remember me as ShiftKicker from the whole episode where Tigger went off the deep end...), jazz and international stations on XM, but find the rock stations lacking a little. I have listened to the freeby Sirius streams on the net and pretty well found it to be the opposite. I didn't care for their country selections, but really liked their eclectic rock station... If you like hip hop, rap or urban (other than Motown and occassional funk) I can't help you. Not my bag...
On the non-musical side of things, I really, really like several of the XM stations. Particularly XMPR (the new XM Public Radio -- guilt free, since I pay monthly... and I'm really happy that Bob Edwards will be debuting there next month), Radio Classics, Sonic Theatre and CNN. Good stuff. I have a long, ugly commute and I find that radio drama is just the ticket for taking the edge off.
I know I'm one of probably three /.ers that like country music, but I have to give credit to a few shows on XM that are outstanding. One is Chartistry. They compile a show of top hits all built around a different theme each time. Their Johnny Cash show was amazing. Another show I love is Bill Anderson Visits With The Legends. Bill is a great singer/songwriter himself and a former DJ who is really good at getting legendary performers to open up and tell great stories. They play songs they are discussing. Just great! Nrray does a really good morning show. Never thought someone from New Jersey would have a great country show, but he does. He also does a couple other cool shows like Outlaw America. A couple weeks ago he played all Dwight Yoakam and it rocked.
One last thing... Hank's Place is nuts... in a good way. They basically roleplay (to use a word /.ers will identify with...) on air that Hank's Place is a Texas honkey tonk that never closes. Lots of people call in and go along with the conceit. Occassionally they have "story arcs" that last from day to day. One listener who goes by "Tigger" threatened to shoot down the warplane of another listener and then everyone chose up sides! This lasted for two or three days and was a hoot.
OK, if that doesn't give you an idea what XM is like, then I'm sorry I wasn't long winded enough!
It is NOT commercial free, or is it? (Score:3, Informative)
Am I missing something or is the "commercial free" line complete BS? I rented an Avis car a few weeks ago that had XM satellite radio in it. It seemed like it was as bad as AM radio! I listened to the two comedy selections they had, raunchy and nice, and both were filled with ads. Many of the ads were for XM sattelite service itself, but there were other ads for the same kind of crap you would find on any station. The same was true for their political stations, both left-leaning and right-wing. The brichure int he car made the same claim, that the satellite service was "commercial free". Far from it.
Re:It is NOT commercial free, or is it? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It is NOT commercial free, or is it? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It is NOT commercial free, or is it? (Score:3, Informative)
XM is only commercial free on its music channels. All of the other channels have varying levels of commercials, depending on their source. Their comedy channels, which are mostly pre-recorded bits, have relatively few commercials; while the stations where they rebroadcast talk radio have about the average number of commercials (which makes sense, since they are just rebroadcasting a standard radio stream, and the hosts still need to take regular breathers regardless of the carrier).
The thing that's most annoying about the spot sets on XM's non-music channels is the fact that advertisers seem to be overlooking XM, so you get the same six commercials and XM promos, every break.