Sorry if this is already posted somewhere...I scanned through and didn't see anything.

Seems the channel lineup on XM has changed. I noticed some of my regular channel names had changed on the way to work this morning. When I got in, I had an email announcing the new channel lineup. I haven't had a chance to read it thouroghly yet. I am happy to see Little Stevie's Underground Garage has been added, although I am scared to see which of my favorites has disappeared.

http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/lineup.xmc

 

I think roughly half of the offerings on Sirius and half of the offerings on XM disappeared. So the genres are all mostly still there (no more Disco), but the programming mentality behind the stations may have changed, depending on what you listened to.

Currently, there are now 11 music channels offered on XM that are not on Sirius, and 6 music channels offered on Sirius that are not on XM. So for anyone who was considering getting an after market XM unit because you didn't like the Sirius offerings, you don't have much of a choice now.... they're both the same for the most part.

I give it another year before they merge their "Best Of" offerings. What will ultimately happen is you'll pay $13/month for the basic service, and then an extra $4 or $5 for sports and trash talk.

 

XM Channel Listings: http://xmradio.com/pdf/channel_guide.pdf
Sirius Channel Listings: http://www.sirius.com/pdf/channelguide.pdf

 

I have xm in my truck for the navtraffic and Sirius in the Mini. I called Xm today to ask for a discounted plan since now they are basically the same. They said no. On a side note I started the mini in the garage and it said I had to call to activate. I could not pull it out because there was a truck behind me. I will have to try it later.

 

Just call them and tell them you want to cancel since you have half the selection now. They'll give you a subscription at half price. First they'll offer you $9.99 a month, then they'll offer you $77 for a year. You have to tell them you want to cancel though.

 

I have only listened to one or two channels so far. I have to say the new people on XMU at lunchtime are way more chatty than I am used to. I wonder how many of the people I used to listen to are still around and how many are gone... I really liked Tobi on XMU but I haven't heard her yet today. Not sure if she is just an afternoon person or what.

Hopefully the combination will cause some of the different channel's playlsits will expand a bit. I liked what was played on XM, but over the long term, they did tend to stick to the same stuff. A little more variety wouldn't be bad.

I hope my reciever holds up a bit longer because I am definately going to hold off on buying a new reciever until the shakeup is over.

 

Tobi is gone. Billy Zero is gone. I haven't listened yet today, but I'm guessing it's Jake Folgleness from Left Of Center. I found his on-air language offensive... not a good thing to listen to when I have my nephew in the car. Don't count on getting more variety. Sirius channels are well known for their shallow play lists.

For those keeping track at home, 36 XM music channel names were eliminated. But as you can see with XMU, the way the remaining XM channels were managed has changed as well.

 

Damn...that sucks!

Still better than terrestrial radio I suppose. So when is that Pandora reciever going on sale...I may just leave satellite radio behind once it is released.

 

I found a special code online and got it for the 77 dollars a year. If anyone wants it let me know.

 

I still can't wrap my brain around the concept of "pay radio". I guess I'm just not with it because none of those stations sound even slightly interesting to me. I'll stick to my Ipod, CD player and local sports stations thank you.

 

It's basically the same thing as pay-TV. I don't pay for TV because I don't watch much of it and I found that I was wasting about $50 a month for something I can get for free. But I do pay for satellite radio because I do listen to a lot of music. My CD collection got old pretty quick, as did the iPod. By paying the price of a six CDs or 77 iTune purchases a year, I get to listen to nearly 70 commercial free music stations whenever I want.

 

[/QUOTE]I give it another year before they merge their "Best Of" offerings. What will ultimately happen is you'll pay $13/month for the basic service, and then an extra $4 or $5 for sports and trash talk.[/QUOTE]

There is more talk on the stations I listen to. IMO, DJs do not enhance the music. They are there to slide product endorsements and promos into the mix and "back-announce". Now that our displays announce the artist, title, genre, and station "call sign", what do we need a DJ for, other than "product placement"? AND WHO "NEEDS" THAT??!! A little bit of "musicology" can be interesting. But I'll look up my favorite artists on the web if I want to know when they were born, how they broke into show biz, or their favorite foods, thank you. And, all of that is really just some sugar to help the bitter pill of advertising go down.

Even the "service" of local event announcing (upcoming concerts in the area and such) is irrelevant now that the stations are no longer "local". Other than the task of "product endorsement", DJs have become irrelevant in the satellite radio world. That's why I agree with the prediction in the quote above. Plus, here is another prediction: coming within a couple of years: advertising to XMU, and plenty of it. And, subscriptions per station and per station package. Not just for sports and talk, but for "premium" music channels (i.e., that have a play list longer than the "top 40").

 

Fred is Dead! The only XM satellite station that got New Wave and Alternative right is gone, replaced by a vapid, generic 80's hits channel called "1st Wave". They've still got the Verge, XMU, Deep Tracks, and a couple of others I frequently check out, but Fred was my "home" XM station. Looks like Sirius played it safe with their choice, but that's not what satellite radio was supposed to be about. Do we really need another "best of the 80's"? I can hear that in the supermarket!

 

Won't be long now before all of SatRad is dead. They closed at 16 cents a share yesterday. Now I'm worried!

 

1st Wave sucks for the most part. I have heard a few decent songs, but mostly it is the Pet Shop Boys and Robert Palmer/Powerstation 50 times a day. The strangest one I heard was Howard the Duck. Seriously...

I used to be able to listen to Fred, Lucy, XMU, or the Verge and pretty much like everythng they played. Now I find myself flipping channels once a song. The Verge is the only saving grace for me. I am so glad it is still around.

I need to contacat them and switch my subscription to monthly. I had been renewing 2 years at a time, but unless their playlists get any better, I don't know how much longer I will keep it.

Wasn't Pandora coming out with a portable player?

 

I hope you're wrong. In spite of my bitching, It beats AM and FM by a long way, my monthly subscription is not all that much, and I spent good sum getting the car's audio ready to use it! Good thing I like "classic rock", I guess.

One thing I have to say, though. I am not all that impressed by the traffic reporting. I drive the I-405 from Long Beach, CA to El Segundo, CA every day: a stretch of about 20 miles. Yesterday the XM traffic "guru" gave me the following information about the route: "The 405, north, is sluggish from the 605 to Getty Center Drive, and will take 90 minutes." I switched to KFI 640, and (luckily, I must admit) got a REAL report from good ol' Mike Nolan, who actually told me WHERE the problems were and gave me a clue how to actually get through faster.

 

Looks like soon you'll be able to buy a car from a bankrupt company and inside will be a satellite radio from another bankrupt company.

 

They're changing The Loft as well.
Trend seems to be more 'personalities'. Yuch.

 

I liked XM while I subscribed and as long as they were willing to do the $77/year deal I signed up although having to do the stupid "threaten to cancel" routine every year was a pain.

What killed XM for me was investing $250 in various XM hardware and a lot of work installing systems in my cars to find that the hardware was patently buggy, unreliable, and unsupported. I'm sure the built-in systems are better, but it will take some doing before I'm coming back. I'm Pandoring it at home/office and listenging to CDs and MP3s in the car. Not missing XM at all.

- Mark

 

Hey, what happened to Mark and Buck on XM MLB in the morning?
I gotta look into this.

 

There have been many layoffs and personnel changes at Sirius XM in the past couple of months. You can probably find out what happened to the folks on your favorite stations at http://xmfan.com

 

I was thinking of doing the same. I just got a refurb 30GB Creative Zen Vision M for $99/no shipping. Between Pandora and all the music I've downloaded from eMusic over the last 2 years (and yet to listen to) I should be alright for awhile.