jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's what got me to cancel a little over a year ago. They have dozens of stations for rock, hip hop, rap, talk, sports, yet they had only two stations playing classical music. They had only two, and they eliminated one. I would have to pay for the Premium package to get that station.

I signed up again at a low price and found a couple of jazz stations, 40's, 50's, and something else. When December rolled around, they eliminated one of the two jazz stations I listened to and put holiday music there. They couldn't eliminate one hip hop station for a month?

Reading about XM online, it seems that they have gotten beyond their financial problems of years ago, and now they make lots of money. Despite this, they have not added value, as others - like Netflix - have. Prices go up, but not value. I used to be able to listen on my computer. Now they want me to pay extra for that.

I know it's only about $0.38 a day, but that still adds up to a charge of $137 on my credit card. I'm glad I have the lifetime subscription on my car radio. Of course, when I get rid of the car, I get rid of XM. I transferred the subscription once ($75), and that's all I'm allowed.

klbuild Loc: Durham, north carolina

I love them. Can listen to Fox News, fox business wherever I go

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

XM has two satellites - Rock and Roll. They broadcast radio signals across the USA, so no matter where you are, you can listen to the same station. With FM, the stations come and go as you drive long distances.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have hundreds of CD's, but I'd have to change them every forty minutes, or so. What's nice about radio is that I hear different music, not just the tunes I bought and have listened to for years. Most of my CD's are on iTunes. I hooked up an iPod to my FM broadcaster, so I can listen to it around the house. I'll have to look into Pandora.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So I would get the info from this site, right? Thanks. I'll look into it.

mlj Loc: Anderson, SC

Jerry, if you are a member of Amazon Prime, check out their free music.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This looks interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-Digital-3-5-Inch-Display-GDI-IRC6000/dp/B004YI9NTS

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks. That's only through the computer, though, right?

mlj Loc: Anderson, SC

Correct..only through your computer.

plessner Loc: North Dakota

By chance do you use dish network for your TV service? You can get the serious channels on there.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

I have never felt the need to pay for a radio service, but I share your pain in the lack of classical coverage... I have about 3 stations available - once I travel 10 miles or so! At home, or around town, there is only 1.

My biggest pet peeve is the data service, which lets you know what you are listening - I hate getting in the car, turning on in mid-piece, and trying to figure out what they are playing. When they first started broadcasting the data, I had a Jensen stereo in the car, and a Denon receiver at home. Neither of them would read the data service info. For various unrelated reasons, I have had to replace both my radios over the past couple of years. I now have a Sony receiver at home and a Pioneer in the car. Neither of *these* will receive the data either!

Now, I accept that Jensen is a bit of a niche market, but Sony and Pioneer are among the top suppliers, with Denon not too far behind. How is it that none of these will read the signals? If there is some different standard, then a large proportion of their listeners are going to be out of luck. I have written to them a bunch of times, and they say that there is no problem at the transmitter end. Last time I spoke to them, they said that there was a technical issue at their satellite transmitter (less than 10 miles from here), and they would be looking into it that week. That was months ago, but no change.

It just seems that the whole service is pointless if so many makes of equipment fail to read it... I wonder what equipment *they* listen on, come to that.

Having said that, they had a screw-up a couple of months ago, where they were broadcasting their vocal-only online station instead of the general music station, and when I contacted them after a weekend, they did not seem to have noticed... *sigh*

GreenReaper

Hey Jerry, We had XM and like you cancelled it. Our Sony Blu Ray connects to the internet and Dish. We have Pandora available along with the music channels on Dish. We put all of our CD's into iTunes and then copied them over to a thumb drive. Our Honda has an AUX input and thats where we plug in our thumb drive. The music is a random pick and gives us a variety. I can pick up Pandora in our unattached garage via our router and around our property. I like Pandora because I can set it for a random selection of music. It's been great, I hope this helps. Keep smiling:)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

No. I have cable, but I don't want to play music through the TV.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I do the same thing with a small flash drive in my Honda. Right now, it's loaded with Christmas music.

How do you pickup Pandora in the garage? What's receiving it?

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Check out the Sonos line. They have a wide variety of models that wirelessly rebroadcast on line music (in our case radio stations available for free) to their own receivers scattered about the house. The number of stations out there is huge.

In our case a main floor sound system lost it's FM receiver (after 25 years). Installed a Sonos master. Then installed a slave that plugs into the "tape" inputs on the whole house controller. We control with a small app on the iPhone. Also for iPad and Android devices.

Bose also makes a small WiFi device that you can program to hold six stations, selectable by buttons. This unit comes in three sizes and can be operated by rechargable battery for about 4 hours.