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Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | We did a little road trip yesterday in a friends new car. This was my first contact with "subscription" type radio.
I loved it.
Truth be told, I have listened to very, very little music in my car for many years. It just got to boring. Same predictable stuff over & over & over and the 5 minute blocks of commercial assults became unbearable.
Same thing with CDs. Painfully predictable. No surprises.
So I had about 7 hours of Sirius Channel 12, "The Bridge". Didn't loose the signal when we got out of town. No commercials... just a short station identification every hour or so. Heard some deep cuts that I would never have thought to add to a mix tape. If I didn't care for the the current tune, chances are the next one would be better. Reminded me of the good ol' days when listening to the radio was exciting.
The only way that might duplicate the experience would be to have 2,384 mp3s on a flash drive and select "random" play.
And I know channel 12 just scratches the surface.
It's a gotta have in my next truck. Or maybe I'll retro fit something.
footnote: A few weeks ago I did the TomTom GPS navigation thing for the first time. But that's for another forum. |
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August 2006
Posts: 3145
Location: Marlton, NJ | Originally posted by Slipkid:
The only way that might duplicate the experience would be to have 2,384 mp3s on a flash drive and select "random" play.
That's exactly what I do with my Ipod in the car. It drives the family crazy because almost anything can pop up. |
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May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | Brad, Welcome to the fold. I listen to Sirius non-stop. In the car, at home, at work. Have not listened to terrestrial radio in about 3 years. Go listen to 16 The Vault for lots of classic and progressive rock. 17 Classic Vinyl, tons of Who. I also like 30 Coffee House, 32 Sirius Disorder and 60 Bluegrass. Once you've listened to Sirius (or XM) you can never go back.
Dave |
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August 2007
Posts: 494
Location: Location Location Location | I love Sirius. After 2 yrs, I'm completely spoiled for terrestrial radio. No commercials on music and limited commercials on talk. I love the talk radio too. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | What Dave says is true.
I have XM in the Chevy and Sirius in the M-B.
I like XM better but they are both a reason to listen to the radio again. |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Supposedly, with the merger of the two services you should be able to "pick & choose" your programming . . .
We'llSee. |
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May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | Actually Cliff, I just read a nice interview last week with Mel Karmazan (CEO Sirius) and his counterpart at XM. You won't exactly be able to "pick and choose" after the merger. They have a 5 phased plan
1. Each service will co-broadcast a limited selection of channels from the other (about 5-6 channels) to current subscribers. The key here is that you won't actually be picking up the other guys satelite, the receivers are not capable of doing this. You'll get a "simulcast" through your own provider. This is supposed to happen in Q1 next year.
2. They will offer "free" reception of the same 5-6 channels (or actually 10-12 channels total) to past customers who have let their subscriptions lapse. Sort of a free limited resigning offer. They estimate about 1.5 million customers got "1 year free" subscriptions with new cars but never signed up after that. This is supposed to happen in Q1 next year.
3. They will introduce and market the first FULL DUAL COMPATIBLE standalone units for home or portable use sometime before next summer. They wanted to get it out for xmas this year but looks like it will not make it.
4. They will have available FULL DUAL COMPATIBLE oem units in some higher end 2010 model cars with full roll out to all oems by mid 2010.
5. The issue of what to do with the existing oem automotive subscriptions (the largest segment of their business) is still undetermined. They continue to research if there is a cost effective (ie free) upgrade or reprogrammng that could be done to existing units to make them dual compatible. They fear that if hardware replacement is necessary at owners expense, most people won't do it.
In the mean time I'm still loving SAT radio BIG TIME !!!
Dave |
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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | I wish they'd establish a ProgRock channel.
They did it on "thVault" for a full week, and it was great! They do it for an hour a night on there, but it's from 11pm-Midnight.
A dedicated Prog channel'd be cool.
Instead, create an all AC/DC channel . . .
d'we REALLY f@ckin' NEED that?!?!?!
I'd consider upgrading my radio to a dual-reception model . . .
My radio's from '04, and it doesn't give all of the song data on the screen.
Can be QUITE "annoying" sometimes . . . |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by cliff:
Instead, create an all AC/DC channel . . .
d'we REALLY f@ckin' NEED that?!?!?! All Quiet Riot? All Twisted Sister? |
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May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | Yeah, the hour a day is cool - (lucky for me it's at 8pm.
But basically you play Remember The Future (Nektar) and Midnight Mushrumps (Gryphon), and it's time to call it a night ...
Dave |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | The AC/DC thing is because they are going out on tour.
They did the same with The Who the last time they made the rounds.
It's only temporary.
Hey.. it could be worse. Think about what it would be like if Celine (hey, look at my crotch) Dion was out on tour.
In the 7 hours I did sense a slight pattern.
3 Harry Nilson songs
3 Joanie Mitchell
3 Dylan
3 Linda Ronstat /Rhonstate /Rohnstat /whatever.
Only one Beatle tune tho. Michelle. Man.. did you ever pay attention to Paul's bass lines in that one??? |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | The last thing they need is Howard F@cking Stern-Spoo. |
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September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I believe Stern has his own dedicated station... :mad:
They need one for Doctor Demento! :D
Whatever happened to him? He was Great! |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | He has his own channel on Sirus, Spoo-head that is. I don't know where Dr Demento is, he was good.
I've got the XM presets on Bluegrass, Cross country, blues and watercolors. They are all good till they get toooo into what they do. (I suspect the rock stations are the same, I mean there's only so much Skinnerd you can take). Then I switch. Sirius is the same. I know their blues can't go for an hour with out playing John Lee Hooka, just like XM can't go an hour with out playing Buddy Guy.
In any case It's better than regular radio. I've heard some new people there and that's a good thing. Adrien Young, Hayes Carll, Alison Brown and others. I listen to what I like but I want the radio to expand me in that direction too. Just listening to what I already know, well I might just as well stick to the cds. |
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December 2006
Posts: 6995
Location: Jet City | In the Bay Area, we had Dennis Erectus. He was a DJ on KOME, a rock and roll station in San Jose, CA.
He had the KOME for breakfast show with tag lines like "Don't touch that dial, it's got KOME all over it", or "Go to sleep listening to (call letters) K-O-M-E, and wake up with KOME in your ear.
He was eventually taken off the air by the FCC due to "decency violations"
KOME was also famous for their bumper stickers, I still have many collected and saved somewhere.
Those were the golden days of radio for me. I don't have Sirius or XM, nor do I do much listening to radio these days. I'd rather put 6000 songs on random |
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August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | I'm a fan of Underground Garage on Sirius. And as weird as this sounds, I like listening to the French rock station too. |
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May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | They have added two cool Canadian stations. One is most acoustic S/S stuff and the other is Canook Alt Rock. Good stuff. Dave |
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March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | We've got XM in the wife's Caddy and Sirius in my F-150: I absolutely love them both...I have basically the same presets as Dave listed in his post but I also like the sports channels (for the weekend long drives) and keeping up with Steelers Football on Sunday's...the XM is an old Roady that survived the Explorer wreck...I haven't listened to regular radio since 2003...haven't missed it either!
(I've got John Boy and Billy's Big Show on CD's if I need an FM fix...) |
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November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I'm a "Lifetime" Sirius Member and have subscribed since it was first available, I think 7 or 8 years now... Worth every friggin' penny of the 350.00 I laid down for the Lifetime Membership.
I haven't tired of it one iota since day 1.
(I do miss "The CoffeeHouse") |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 4996
Location: Phoenix AZ | Originally posted by Jeff W.:
I do miss "The CoffeeHouse" Huh? It's on channel 30. |
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Rock & Roll Radio ... Revisted and Revived
