AOL and XM Joining Forces for Online Radio 167
Josh writes "BetaNews is reporting that AOL and XM are joining forces to make available 20 XM music channels plus 130 of its own available to anyone on the internet for free starting this summer. AOL members will have free broadband access to 70 XM channels, although apparently there are plans for a $5/month option for non-subscribers. The deal means AOL Music specials will make it onto XM's channels, and XM promos will be heard across AOL Music's properties."
Non US users wont be complaining (Score:1, Informative)
Speaking as someone from Australia, where we are still fairly limited by bandwidth, the great unwashed masses will LOVE IT. Seriously - most broadband down here is still limited or throttled to stupid amounts, so anything that gets them free music channels for free is going to be H0T!
Re:Yeah, free... (Score:3, Informative)
The co-branded service will be free to all Web users, with a premium counterpart that includes more stations for a small monthly fee.
Re:Siriusly. (Score:1, Informative)
Re:When will satellite radio become profitable? (Score:5, Informative)
Add me to the list of people who want to see competition.
XM Radio Online, meh (Score:5, Informative)
1. The player uses lots of Flash trickery that doesn't work well, as far as I can tell- the ticker that tells you what song you are listening to is frequently wrong.
2. The player itself is WMP, which is useless to me at home (with no Windows machines); I loathe their choice, but I'm sure they had to go with WMP due to contractual concerns from the record labels, and WMP offers strong DRM.
3. The real killer, though, is the shitty quality- the "high quality" mode is only 64kbps, and sounds like crap. I am not an audiophile, and most of my music is 128k/160k mp3's, which sound great to me. XM radio sounds great to me. XM radio online sounds terrible. So, it's pretty much worthless, IMHO.
Re:connection speed (Score:2, Informative)
they sound about like a 64k and 128k mp3, respectively
Launchcast (Score:4, Informative)
Its cheaper too. =)
Re:XM Radio Online, meh (Score:4, Informative)
Re:AOL to get XM online? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Yeah, free... (Score:3, Informative)
You can also have free access to Sirius without paying for Sirius. Just for access to Dish TV to get free access to Sirius.
TAANSTSAFL