XM Online FREE for 3 days! (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

surprised no one else has mentioned this yet.
go here

http://xmradio.com/xstream/index.jsp

and get 3 days to sample xm service.

 

[TonyD]

well if no one else has checked this out i have.

right now it's "poco- picking up the pieces" on deep tracks.

oh, now van morrison, listen to the lion.

one of the "dj's" is a guy who i used to hear when i was alot younger on fm radio in philly, earl bailey.
a pleasant surprise to hear his voice.

i looked buut couldnt find any info on other voices for xm channels.

i think i may get this as a christmas gift.

i may go to sirius just to hear howard next year.

 

[TheLongshot]

Go to the channel page, and on the left hand side, it has "XM Personalities", with a list of the people on the channel.

Jason

 

[Ronald Epstein]

There is nothing Howard Stern can top that
Opie and Anthony are accomplishing on XM radio
right now.

O&A are about as brash and uncensored as Howard
Stern will ever be.

The guys have recently been entertaining live
sex shows. I can't believe the stuff I am hearing --
and certainly the same stuff Howard wishes he was
doing right now.

 

[TonyD]

i understand your point ron but.

a few years ago when o and p were simulcast here in philly i tried to listen to them. i've even listened the last few days, i still havent heard them say or do anything funny.

i still remeber the first show howard simulcast here in philly.
it was like nothing i ever heard before and it had me laughing out loud.

he has changed dramatically since then and i hope he can get back what he had before all the restrictions when he goes to sirius.

 

[TheLongshot]

Ron,

When it comes to radio personalities, everyone has their own tastes. Stern fans know what they like, and know what they are getting. Personally, I think his act is getting pretty tired, but that's just me.

Course, I don't listen to the radio for them. It is all about the music for me.

Jason

 

[WillG]

The best thing about XM's 3 day free trial is that you can keep getting the free trials be using different e.mail addreses. I'm not going to subscribe unless they offer the "High Voltage" (Opie and Anthony) channel to "High Voltage" subscribers on a permanent basis.

 

[Michael Young]

I too have been listening non stop to O&A online.

I've never heard an O&A show till a week+ ago, since then I can't miss a minute of their 4hour daily show. Do yourself a favor and use the 3day trial, heck you could listen to all the shows on all week just on the weekend repeats.

 

[KyleC]

Yep I used to listen to O&A when on in Philly. I recently found out that they were on XM and my wife even said maybe we should get it lol. She hates stern but loves O&A. The only reason I might go with Sirius over XM is that Sirius has the NFL games.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Nothing but actually bringing in huge quantities of subscribers.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Michael,

That is why I and others are urging people
considering Sirius to listen to Opie and Anthony
first.

I really think anyone that goes to Sirius based
solely oh Stern is going to be disappointed. The
music is so much better on XM and O&A are far more
talented than the self-proclaimed "King of all Media."

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Ron,

That's simply a matter of opinion. I have heard O&A (both over the air and on XM) and I prefer Stern. I find O&A a bit too puerile compared to Stern, and that's saying something.

You might like O&A more, but that doesn't make them better. And the same for me liking Stern. But Stern will grow the subscriber base, regardless of what you think of him.

As far as the music goes, Sirius has 10x the diversity of FM and XM is 100x as diverse. Both are a substantial improvement and the depth of XM is going to be far more than the typical mainstream listener cares about.

I've got no beef at all with XM and if it meets your needs you should be pleased with your decision and not care when Sirius becomes the market leader. Is DISH Network a bad satellite TV service compared to the market-dominanting DirecTV? Is Gamecube a bad videogame system just because Sony sells way better? Of course not! Yet I get the feeling that some XM customers are "fans" that actually "root" for Sirius to fail and will be displeased when their service isn't the most popular. I just don't get that.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

And certainly that is one person's opinion
as well that I don't particularly agree with.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

It's just a prediction, but I don't see how XM can be number one unless they change their direction. Satellite listener volume will grow 10x in the next few years, and current marketshare will quickly become moot. The current subscriber stats are early adopters (including the music hardcore) and are not the mainstream. Sirius is making 'all the right moves' lately (NFL, Eminem, Stern) to capture a majority of the mainstream listeners that will be moving to satellite radio. I'm honestly not sure what the hell XM thinks they are doing lately, but they better become proactive instead of reactive. The mainstream listening public isn't looking for the kind of playlist depth that Ron Epstein wants and XM is foolish if they think that their music platform will guarantee them a dominant position in the market.

At this moment, I predict that XM will have a minority marketshare by 2008. If at some point they get their heads out of the sand, I might change my mind.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You mean to tell me that people prefer the kind of
repetition that exists on Sirius? Each channel plays
the same few hundred songs over and over again. The
number one complaint on that service for the past year
concerns repetition and Sirius has done nothing to
address it.

Why?

I was told directly from Sirius management that
their philosophy is based on FM radio format. They
want to keep playing the same tunes over and over
again so listeners always hear something familiar.

If anyone has seen the vision of satellite radio
it is XM. They realize people want something
more than FM radio. Their playlists are large
enough where listeners are more likely to hear gems
they haven't heard in a long time instead of songs
they heard the day before and the day before that.

You claim that XM is too diverse. Perhaps you are
correct. On the other hand, Sirius is way too tight
with their playlists. They won't even meet the
criticism halfway and open the playlists further.
Part of that problem is the corporate control they
are under and the consultants they have on hand. In
the end, Sirius can't cater to what their listeners
want to hear though many have asked for expanded playlists.

We do agree on one thing, Micheal....

I believe Sirius has made some huge gambles that
will certainly bring in a huge listenership. On
the other hand, I'm not convinced Stern is going to
be as big a draw as Sirius expected and the company
is at great risk of going belly-up if they don't
meet their expectations.

 

[Joe McCabe]

I would like to make my opinion known with a banner I made...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

You act as if the typical consumer is going to try both and then make a decision. They'll go with whatever service has the exclusives they want (mostly talk/news/sports), and they'll be completely satisfied with music channels that may pale in comparison to XM, but still beat the snot out of FM (no commercials, more variety, and way more channels). And they'll not know or care about what they might be missing if they had the other service.

Mark my words. Music diversity will not determine the winner, because the truly hardcore music fans are insignificant compared the fans of talk, sports, and news.

So you see any 'pay' music channels on XM? O&A have a pay channel. Do you see any music channels or talent (even Eminem) getting the business press (CNN, Forbes, Bloomberg, etc.) that Stern and the NFL are getting with their Sirius deals? Why is it that talk and sports get all the press, and not music? Because music isn't going to drive this industry. For better or worse, that's the way it is. Just watch.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

You know what Michael? Surprisingly I agree with
much of what you have said concerning exclusive
content and how it will depicting what service
gets selected. I still don't see Sirius becoming
the dominant service based on Stern and NFL, but
time will tell.

You also forget another factor in all this....
the Internet.

Many people do research on the Internet before making
purchase decisions. That is where forums such as this
come into play.

It's my hope that people who do have an interest in
music (and many people will listen to more music than
anything else) will come here and be educated on the
differences that exist between the two services.

I will continue to let people know that Sirius has
a highly restrictive playlist compared to XM. Either
they will benefit from that information or they won't
care. Fact is, I don't want to see people make the
wrong decision about picking a service when it comes
to music. Perhaps by visiting forums like ours
prospective listeners can get a better idea of what
to expect before plopping down their hard-earned cash.

 

[TheLongshot]

Well, it will if they get sick of the repetition, like I did. I originally subscribed to Sirius, and was very happy with it, for a while. Then I kept hearing the same songs. Eventually, I started to tire of it, and listened to more of my CD collection as time went on.

I subscribed to XM about a year ago, and I still listen to it on a regular basis in my car. While I don't always like their decisions and programming, there always seems to be something that is able to catch my interest on one of the channels.

Course, I'm not exactly rooting against Sirius, since I am a shareholder, but Sirius feels pretty dumbed down to me. Considering how much music is out there that doesn't get airplay, I feel they could do much better.

Jason

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Jason, you not only make some interesting points
but you absolutely nailed the problem that I had
about Sirius from the beginning....

I understand the need for Sirius to be different
from XM. I suppose the service to be the second
to arrive on the scene needed its own separate
identity.

The problem is, Sirius became too watered down far
sooner than it should have.

Part of this reason, I suspect, is because unlike
XM radio, Sirius is more corporate controlled. Rumor
runs rampant to this day that executives have more
say in what gets played than listeners. These are
executives who come from old school AM/FM radio who
essentially have no idea what satellite radio is
all about.

Dude, when I visited Sirius I had a DJ tell me
that he/she was so happy that I was there to
make a difference because THEY were unhappy that
management was restricting what they could play.

That's the absolute truth! I was there - I heard
it for myself.

Now take XM radio....

They saw satellite radio for what it was. They
knew that the people who initially were investing in
this new technology were those looking to get away
from the FM radio mentality. XM gave its listeners
radio that sounded so far and removed from FM.

Sirius, on the other hand, entered into satellite radio
with nothing fresh on its mind. The people controlling
that service basically took a future technology and
brought it back to an AM/FM mentality. Sirius is basically
FM radio without the commercials.

Now for some this is okay. I understand that there
are those that don't want a lot of unfamiliar music.
However, I dare anyone to listen to any of the Sirius
decade channels, Elvis channel or even Best of Broadway
and not tell me that the same tunes get played day in
and day out.

What it all comes down to is taste. I just personally
feel it is important that people who visit forums
such as this are well educated about what to expect
before plucking down their money.

I am happy that all of us in this thread can
offer friendly debate and opposing opinions that will
hopefully steer someone in the right direction.