To Satellite Radio or Not — Part 1: XM
December 9, 2008 – 2:43 pm
Not to totally knock satellite radio, but from what I’ve experienced so far, it is just not worth it.
I recently signed up for a free XM trial online. Limited to roughly 80 channels, the trial lasts only a few days and takes place entirely online where it seems all the bugs lie unsquashed. Navigating from channel to channel is simple enough, just scroll and click the desired station. But the biggest drawback lies in the total lack of traditional control buttons. Kiss the forward-a-channel and back-a-channel buttons good bye. Volume controls? What are those? To top it off, you hear lo-fi streaming by default and must seek out the hi-fi option.
After deciding upon a channel and clicking, it took at least nine seconds to hear anything. Luckily, it only takes two or three seconds to show what is playing (either a song title or who’s talking), but still an eternity when finding something worthwhile.
Enter the commercials. Since satellite radio charges a subscription fee, why are there any ads? Although commercial free stations abound I guess this is like cable TV where ads are simply accepted.
There are a few other minor gripes. I experienced buffering. Although other internet content loaded perfectly, XM occasionally stalled.
XM programing is mediocre. Besides the few interesting speciality programs, there is no killer content to seal the deal. I like the Outlaw Country channel and XMU, the indie station, but they’re nothing a few hundred online terestrial and internet stations couldn’t replace.
Unless you live in the country where internet service is poor, drive extremly long distances, or must listen to your sporting events, an iPod hook up and a fully loaded iPod would probably serve you better. Too many free options exsist to piss money away on piss poor programming. Thousands upon thousands of free stations and podcasts are availible free online. Amazing apps like Pandora and Fstream exsist for your computer and for the iPhone. So give them a shot if you haven’t already.
In the coming days I’ll post on some of my favorite podcasts and online radio stations. So stay tuned (to the internet.)
Sphere: Related Content