Opinion: The demise of satellite radio (1 Viewer)

[Al.Anderson]

I guess I'm in the minority, I'm still pretty happy with XM. The #1 issue for me is commercials. When I listen to radio I've been subjected to a 30 minute ride home in which I heard no music - I really, really hate that.
I'm mixed on the DJ talking. On the one hand I actualy like a little bit, say when they give some background on a song/group or offer an interesting anecdote. But when they go on and on it can quickly become irritating.
Cost could start to play in. There's a limit to the value of this, if they raise it more than a couple of bucks I'll drop it and go back to iPod/CDs. But I do like to hear things I haven't heard. I do agree that the playlists seem to be getting shorter, and that too will eventually drive me out.
Audio quality isn't too much of a concern, since I'm listening in the car.

 

[Philip Hamm]

The only exposure I've had to XM/Sirius is the fact that DirectTV now uses them for their music channels. I much preferred it 5 or so years ago, when they used a different service. The sound quality was better and they had NO DJs.

Did DirecTV ditch their original programming music channels? Dish Network kept their original channels and added a bunch of Sirius channels in addition. The Dish native channels have substantially better audio and no DJs.
I for one don't mind the DJs when I listen to Sirius. I like to know what songs I've been listening to and what is coming up. They don't talk that much.

 

[Philip Hamm]

It certainly does not look good for Sirius/XM. I for one hope something can be worked out. No matter how bad you think XM has gotten one only has to listen the FM one day to see how much of an improvement XM still is over FM.

I have no complaints about my local FM stations. They're great. I'm actually considering an HD radio!

 

[RobertR]

Did DirecTV ditch their original programming music channels? Dish Network kept their original channels and added a bunch of Sirius channels in addition. The Dish native channels have substantially better audio and no DJs.

Yes, they seem to be all gone. I liked the way they would simply play the songs, accompanied by the CD title and info on where you could buy it. No fuss, no muss. No having to listen an old Wolfman Jack show, no having to listen to awful songs because some DJ thinks it's a good idea to play "obscure" stuff, etc.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Yes, they seem to be all gone. I liked the way they would simply play the songs, accompanied by the CD title and info on where you could buy it. No fuss, no muss. No having to listen an old Wolfman Jack show, no having to listen to awful songs because some DJ thinks it's a good idea to play "obscure" stuff, etc.

Ha ha ha! Dish kept their own music stations when they tied in with Sirius (long before the merger), so I get the Dish stations and a bunch of the Sirius music stations. The Dish stations have much better sound quality but are very quiet for some reason.

 

[Mark Leiter]

I was just checking out Pandora the Internet radio site on my iPhone. I did not know this until just second ago but they now have channels based on genres. I havent listened to much yet but look at the selection of stations you get there...

Classical

Chamber, Baroque Period

Choral, baroque period

opera, Classical Period

Opera, Romantic Period

Piano Concerti

Piano Solo, Romantic Period

String Ensemble

Symphonic, Cassical Period

Symphonic, Romantic Period

Violin Features

and for Alternative....

Alternative Country

Alternative Pop/Rock

Grunge/Seattle Sound

Industrial

Post Punk

Punk/New Wave

Punk Radio

Trip Hop

That's the kind of variety that XM/Sirius can only dream about and it's free. Man oh man I can't wait for the technogly is there to have internet radio in my car, I'll drop XM like a bad habit. (If they're still around)

 

[Eric_L]

I was just about to suggest Pandora. I use my iphone to stream it into my car. I still get the cell interference - but not as bad as when I play shuffle.
I hope someday soon they create a car stereo which I can interface with the iphone without all the interference.
BTW - did you all see the news that XM/Sirius are looking at filing BK?

 

[TonyD]

bk ?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

They are close to filing for bankruptcy.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

yeah...i read that today too.

what do you expect...when they did deals with unrealistic #s as with Howard Stern ??

Hopefully it will be a restructure and all will continue. Id be lost without my XM!!

 

[Michael Harris]

From the New York Times:

[/url] XM Radio, the combined company he ran that had just been blessed by regulators.
He was planning to cut costs and expand a business that was already a fixture in the lives of millions of Americans. “Forty-three cents a day — it’s not even vending machine coffee,” he said at the time, parrying a question about whether the softening economy might hurt subscriptions.
But now Sirius XM, the satellite radio company, has problems with much bigger price tags. It has hired advisers to prepare for a possible bankruptcy filing, people involved in the process said.

Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/te...s/11radio.html

 

[Sam Posten]

So lets say they survive this bankruptcy scare. What do you feel is a 'workable' price for an 'everything' package. Right now that's like $18 a month right? Ridiculous in my opinion. I had heard that some subscribers were able to negotiate a $100 a year for everything if they let their sub lapse and talk hardball when the service called to subscribe em back. I'd bite for that price.... I have my free three months expiring in my new car and I cancelled Sirius last year after burning out on Stern and Rawdog, I've been enjoying the XM so far but I'm NOT going to pay $250 a year for it after taxes when FM and iPod work just as well for me.

 

[Mark Leiter]

I think bankruptcy is probably the best thing for Sirius/XM. At least then they will be allowed to cut loose all that over priced talk talent Sirius used to run themselves into the ground taking XM with them. I mean $100 million a year for Stern? That's just stupid. Even in his prime he wasn't worth a 1/5 of that.

 

[Al.Anderson]

I think bankruptcy is probably the best thing for Sirius/XM. At least then they will be allowed to cut loose all that over priced talk talent Sirius used to run themselves into the ground taking XM with them.

I was kind of thinking the same thing, but with the idea that if they knew they were going to go under, why not let that happen before the merger. Then XM could have picked up Sirius without having to honor that crazy contract.

 

[Bryan X]

As it is right now I'm paying $140 a year for XM

Yikes. I have had XM for 3 years now and have never paid more than $77 per year. After purchasing my vehicle, when the 3 month trial was up I just called and asked for the $77/year promotion (which I had read about on another forum). Every year when my 12 months is almost up, I call back and ask for the same deal and they give it too me without much hassle. Every year they tell me OK, but next year you'll have to pay full price. I've never had to yet.
Frankly, I find the $77 per year price just about right. If the time comes where they won't give me that deal, I'll cancel. As much as I like XM, there's a limit to what it's worth.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Bryan,
Also been getting those $77 per year deals as well.
....and, when I threatened last week to cancel my two EXTRA
radios at $6.99 a month (due to the upcoming price increase) they
gave me 5 months for $20 per radio (that's $4 a month instead of $7).
It's unbelievable how much this company is willing to bend when
you threaten to cancel.

 

[Al.Anderson]

Also been getting those $77 per year deals as well.

Interesting - thanks. I'm going to try asking for that rate when my subscription comes up in March. I'll let you know how it turns out. As much as I'm *content* with XM, the thread has convinced me that there are other options; so if I need to cancel I will.

 

[John_Kiger]

Yes, we need Sinatra-genre channels, standards, jazz, etc., but not Elvis or Springsteen, in my opinion. But that's just my own personal distaste. And David Gordman is right on about the crappiness of the available Classical music on XM. There are perhaps too many tastes to cater to. My question, do we really need 48(?) discerning rock, punk, and puke stations for the kids? Oh, such a fine line it is, to know one piece of heavy metal crap from a boring hip-hop track. And how many different kinds of country could there really ever possibly be? Well, I guess we had more than one Top 40 station in the 60s.

I listen to it for the conservative talk shows and Right-wing rants. My XM radio also holds Mp3s, so I load it up with 8GB worth of home recordings for my over-the-road enjoyment.

I disagree with Mr. Epstein on Howard Stern. I saw quite enough of that low-life (just flipping channels) on television and I'm glad he's gone. Who pays to hear filth? I don't know what Martha Stewart's radio show is like, something for the women obviously, but I've wondered how her show got thrown into the same slime pile with Howard Stern and company, something to subscribe extra for. I wouldn't.

I would like to see some more rare radio talk shows carried over to XM, like Neal Boortz (Cox radio network) and a few others like him. I enjoy Bob Handel (Handel on the Law) Sunday mornings, when he's aired. The only other place I can get this is on 850am, KOA Denver on Friday nights. In my present location, Boortz is only available through the internet stream.

I do hope the surviving satellite company succeeds, takes some cues, and gets a clue. The other thing to know about your market, besides what they seem to prefer, is which ones will likely still be paying for the service five or ten years from now. Boomers and X, right. I liked the original XM format, and I put more money than I should have, into this great little toy of mine.

 

[DavidJ]

Sirius XM Radio planning to stream to iPhone, iPod - Yahoo! Finance
I'm not really that excited about the streaming app for the iPhone, but there are some interesting financial details in the article.

 

[Dave Ringkor]

Just today we canceled our SiriusXM subscription. My wife had enjoyed Sirius for years, and really did want to keep it. But the sound quality seems to have gone downhill, and hey there's a recession on and who wants to pay for crappy-sounding music, inasmuch as they even played music anymore! All she really wanted was commercial-free, decent-sounding music. So I downloaded the Pandora App for her iPhone, and now we stream it to her car with no problems. Sounds great, no DJ's, you get to "create" your own stations that play what you like as well as introduce you to new music. And it's free! And there's no antenna or special receiver to hardwire into your car -- just plug your iPhone into the AUX in jack on your stereo and you're off.

R.I.P SiriusXM.