Sirius and XM debut new lineups
Sirius and XM have buried the hatchet and merged their content, to the likely displeasure of many. XM closes 15 stations while simultaneously adding 22 new selections to the lineup, and Sirius pretty much broke even, trading 11 stations for 10 new ones. As has always been the case, the sports fans fare the best. Reception is reportedly better, too, though we're sure the lossy-codec lack of fidelity still makes it all virtually unlistenable to anyone that pays attention. If you don't care that cymbal crashes on SatRad sound like a pair of metal trash cans being hurled down a fire escape, you'll likely be pleased with the shuffling; though we hope they've left our beloved Soulsville alone.
[Source: Kicking Tires]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
CBR 9:12AM (11/14/2008)
Howard Stern for all!
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Artie Lange 11:05AM (11/14/2008)
His show has really gone down hill. Its pretty much the same thing everyday:
1. Talk about how awesome his horse-faced wife is
2. Take a call from Eric the Midget
3. Interview a D list celebrity or porn-whore
4. Take planted calls that talk about how great HowardTV is
5. Rush through the news
6. Repeat until Friday or the next vacation, whichever comes first
Randy 11:16PM (11/16/2008)
@Artie Lange
The only thing that would make your post even MORE accurate is if you posted it three years ago! :)
xcrunk 9:24AM (11/14/2008)
Yay, from two dying networks down to one.
XM Sirius, how about this, you open everything up for one FLAT RATE....say $5.99 a month? Till then my 30GB iPod loaded with all my tunes and podcasts will suffice.
I have AMEX in hand, ready to enroll.
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Sam 9:27AM (11/14/2008)
There's *still* no actual punk station. I cancelled my subscription when they cut Fungus from XM.
The Faction 52 crap *is not* a replacement.
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VW-Guy 12:53PM (11/14/2008)
I hear ya Sam! Here in Canada I lost my Punk channel on Sirius back in September and they replaced it with a 24/7 AC/DC channel. I want my Punk back damnit! Faction won't do it. Will probably not renew after my multi-year contract comes up soon.
Rob 9:40PM (11/14/2008)
Same here, I did not renew after XM removed Fungus (punk) and replaced it with the crappy AC/DC station. It was the whole reason I had the subscription.
MadGriz 7:03AM (11/17/2008)
Thank you. I WANT MY FUNGUS!
AZMike 9:33AM (11/14/2008)
I don't know why you guys keep trashing satellite radio; it's just endless. perhaps you don't get out on the road and actually drive long distances, like coast-to-coast every two weeks or so. I do that.
I fail to understand the lack of "sound quality" you talk about; there is absolutely no difference at all between satellite and old style radio, except satelite lacks the static and limited range. I really enjoy the fact that it is commercial-free, and I can have the same station on anywhere, with absolutely crystal clarity, unlike old style, commercial-laden radio.
I now have it in three of my vehicles, and wouldn't consider buying a new vehicle without it. it's worth every cent.
HD radio will enjoy the same success as AM stereo did. i'm sure there aren't too many signing up to get HD's alleged crystal clarity for all the endless commercials, unlike satellite.
AZMike
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Dan Roth 10:03AM (11/14/2008)
Mike - the programming on Satellite Radio is fine - lots of variety. The sound quality *PALES* in comparison to terrestrial FM broadcast, and the reason is that SatRad cranks the compression up so that it can fit so many stations into its available bandwidth.
That's not saying that FM sounds great - but it's a *lot* better, even if it's smashed to bits with Optimods gone mad.
Brian 10:33AM (11/14/2008)
Dan, how can you say the sound quality is as good as FM?? That's an insane statement. I was one of the first subscribers to XM. In fact my customer number bears that out, as I was 658.
XM is lightyears better than FM radio in terms of audio quality, but only if you get an in vehicle unit, and not an FM modulator.
If you get an FM modulator, of course it's going to be worse sound quality. Now that the two companies have merged, most cars come with pre-installed units, and these pre-installed units are way better than any FM channel.
Dan Roth 11:28AM (11/14/2008)
Brian, I wholeheartedly disagree. FM radio, while suffering from ham-handed dynamic range compression with multiband units, and largely uses lossy codecs like mp3 to store music files on servers, does not sound anywhere near as annoyingly bad as the super-reduced bitrate artifacts I have heard on *EVERY* XM or Sirius system in media vehicles (not modulators, mind you).
Many may not care, but in a parallel life, I'm a recording engineer/mixer, so I pay attention to that stuff, and SatRad is like taking a cheese grater to my ears - it's got great content that is done in by nasty data rates.
Shall we talk about "digital high definiton" television next? ;)
mark 12:10PM (11/14/2008)
I have to agree with the sound quality. I have had XM since about summer '02 and certain channels have certainly degraded. The majority of my listening was on XMU and Fred, both have been butchered by the new "improved" line up, but that's beside the point. If you listen to weather channels and news channel the sample rate and/or bit depth are obviously dropped. Notice the metallic sound from the dropped sample rate and bit depth. If you listen carefully on some (not sure if all) music channels, you can hear similar clipping. Maybe this does not happen on the more popular ones, but it's pretty apparent to me on some. It is more noticeable in my car than in my office, probably because the tweeters are closer to my ears. My guess is that as they added channels, the overall bandwidth had to stay the same, and they dropped sample rates for certain channels, to maintain the overall data stream max. Make sense? No doubt it is worse than terrestrial stations as far as I am concerned. This is not an issue of whether the FM transmitter or hard wiring is used. I've tried both to be sure.
name 12:35PM (11/14/2008)
While I agree XM/Sirus has a good variety of stations, it's lack of audio quality turns me off every time. My dad has it in his house and in his cars and loves it. In my opinion it's ok for talk shows and sports, but unacceptable for music.
The worst part is that satelite radio is technically capable of broadcasting a much higher quality (approaching CD quality) signal, but the record companies don't want music of that quality flying over the air.
Taylor 3:37PM (11/14/2008)
I can chime in on audio quality - I was actually able to correctly determine just from being a listener that different stations get different bitrates. Talk and comedy get low bitrates, music gets slightly better than that. I remember when they first came out with satellite radio though, they said it was CD quality, which it definetely is NOT.
I certainly wish it was higher fidelity.
That said, i still love my satellite radio (but miss Sirius... the channels are still different... "Octane" on sirius is way better that "Octane" on XM, which just got rebranded from Squizz, but features the same content and DJ's as the original XM Squizz, which paled in comparison to Sirus's Octane. :-(
-Taylor
albert 10:16PM (11/21/2008)
the sound quality on fm does not even begin to compare to satellite. I have to be fair though, if you do not have a direct connection to your stereo you can not appreciate the crystal clear sound that satellite delivers. If you can not have a direct connection I recommend you use an fm direct adaptor and this should improve your sound
iamhoff 7:07PM (11/14/2008)
@Dan:
Really? FM sounds better than Sat-rad? Do ya have wax buildup in your ears? FM sound sucks ass. They chop the extreme low and high ends of the spectrum, and boost the output in the lower middle (75-100 Hz). Sat-rad isn't CD quality, but it's much closer to CD than FM is. And frankly, it sounds pretty damn good in the Boston Acoustics system in my Jeep. FM just doesn't cut it. Sound quality, commercials, or more importantly for those of us who actually drive around, signal strength.
Martin Gaida 9:40AM (11/14/2008)
Anyone know what is happening with Sirius and XM in Canada?
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CBR 11:05AM (11/14/2008)
From what I understand they are remaining as two seperate companies.
The combined SiriusXM company in the states is only a minority owner of XM Canada (20% i think). Add to that the "Canadian Content" rule, and it just makes for a CRTC caused mess.
Ted 9:49AM (11/14/2008)
As as XM subscriber, I'm definitely pleased with new lineup of rock stations...much better than before.
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