Sirius Satellite Radio.

[randomness]

In Florida, bedfull_o_books and I had a rental car with Sirius Radio in it. I'd driven one before which had a satellite-capable radio but no subscription, so this was the first time I'd actually gotten to listen to the service.

It was nice to have so many stations to listen to, but we ended up listening to the CBC a lot. Vaguely surreal when driving around Florida, but I imagine some Canadians must do it, too.

Reception isn't so great, though. You'd expect it to go out when you go under a concrete overpass, but under some tree branches? There were times when all we were doing was driving along a tree-lined road, and the radio would cut out. Disappointing.

I'm not sure I'm ready to pay for satellite radio, if that's normal.

Comments

[midsummernd.livejournal.com]

What I don't get is why you'd pay for radio at all. If your car is MP3 enabled (and if it's not you could probably fix that), and you have an ipod, then you have your OWN radio station. Or, in my case, I use a bunch of CD's and a passenger with good taste ;)

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Mostly, we weren't listening to music. And while it's possible to download podcasts of shows from a lot of different stations, it's more of a pain than to just listen to what comes into the radio. And you get it sooner.

On the other hand, that's an argument for radio, not paid radio. Really, the only cool thing was that we had reliable access to NPR, the CBC, and the BBC.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

On second thought, it wasn't so much reliable as not dependent on being close to a particular station or town. Because, like I said, the damn trees blocked the signal. :/

[sea-bound.livejournal.com]

Yay, CBC!

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

As a Howard Stern addict I'm happily paying for two receivers (work & home) so that I can listen to Howard's show as well as several of the other shows he's set up on his channels. I only listen to the music stations occasionally. However, I do listen to the stand-up comedy channels now and then, and I don't think the iPod would be a viable replacement for that either.

When I listen to the music channels it's usually for genres that aren't well-represented in my music collection. We don't all have everything ever on mp3. Sometimes it's nice to be exposed to something you haven't already heard.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

When I listen to the music channels it's usually for genres that aren't well-represented in my music collection. We don't all have everything ever on mp3. Sometimes it's nice to be exposed to something you haven't already heard.

Agreed. I get to listen to satellite radio at the gym sometimes, and some really neat stuff comes on at random times. Like, stuff that we used to have on vinyl in the early '80s that my ex got when we broke up; stuff that was amusing if overplayed at the time, that I never got around to buying… I'd never actually buy it all, even for 99 cents each (even if all the songs were available to buy), but it's nice to hear it from time to timr.

Of course, returning to the original point, the gym has pretty good reception. Possibly because it doesn't move around much.

[woodwindy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm ready to pay for satellite radio, if that's normal.

It is typical -- the L.C.'s got Sirius in his car, and his reception reliably cuts out anywhere near anything even remotely resembling an overhead structure. He has a great deal of hope that the technology will improve in the near future. :)

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Depends on the antenna and installation quality. Done well, it can be quite reliable.

[ishaa.livejournal.com]

I got XM (the one with baseball and without Howard Stern, both desirable features).

Wikipedia sez, "XM uses fixed-location geostationary satellites in two positions, and Sirius uses three geosynchronous satellites passing over North and South America, to transmit the digital streams. The net difference is that the Sirius signal comes from a higher elevation angle in the northern part of the U.S., and even more so in Canada. (This higher angle makes Sirius' signal less likely to drop out on cities, but more likely to drop out in parking garages, gas stations, and other covered spaces.)"

And they both supposedly have various terrestrial repeaters.

Anyway, the only places I've had trouble getting a signal were in tunnels, and along the very hilliest, tree-linedest and east-west-est parts of Route 108.

The nonstop local traffic stations are key. They even call highways by their numbers, not by names you have to be a local to recognize.

As for the music stations, hey, there's something to be said for reintermediation! Listening to xL Fungus, I am learning a little more about the history of punk and how it turned into alternamainstream. And listening to XMU I learn what whiny mope rock the kids like now. With your iPod, "All you can ever learn is what you already know". ;)