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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 1720
Location: Houston
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 Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject: Is XM or Sirius worth purchasing? |
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Both companies recently released their quarterlies and both are still losing money. One of XM's board members departed the company warning of a possible crisis on the horizon. Most analysts point out the problem with these satellite companies is their customer acquisition costs, yet the sound quality delivered is decent at best and should also warrant attention within the financial community.
Gary Krakow writes,
| Quote: | At their best they sound good. At their worst they sound horrible — like a MP3 song file processed to take up very little hard drive space. There are a number of technical reasons for current satellite radio sound quality; I won’t bore you with most of them. In a nutshell, each satellite service sends out one signal which then has to be un-squeezed/sorted out into a hundred or so channels by the receiver. Not all channels are created equally. Some channels are allowed to sound better than others.
At their best, music channels on a satellite radio system offer about half the bandwidth of a local FM radio station signal. There just isn’t enough room for numerous higher fidelity feeds. That means, at its best, satellite radio barely approaches terrestrial radio sound quality. I won’t discuss satellite music stations which utilize less bandwidth than the better sounding ones. And forget about all-talk feeds. When you get a chance, try to listen at the same time to something like "Car Talk" on both FM and satellite. Switch back and forth and compare what you hear. One sounds like its being channeled through a car muffler.
As for those who say they're fine favoring content over sound quality: Shame on you! Content is important but so is the overall quality of the listening experience.
But if you do feel that way, I'm assuming you're just as uncritical of quality when it comes to your television viewing. I hope you’re not thinking of buying a large-screen HDTV or renting monthly digital cable services. You can get the gist and enjoy TV programming by watching on a $99 TV that you buy in Costco or Sam’s Club. You could use regular, analog cable services. That way you can still enjoy the show without having to worry about the problems/costs of high quality TV viewing. It’s the programming that counts, right? Not the way it looks!
THAT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG. It's both. If you like your satellite radio service you should be complaining about the sound quality. Tell them you deserve better for your monthly fee.
Same for you if you prefer AM/FM radio. Tell the behemoths how you feel about their endless commercials. Let them know you’ll switch to satellite radio if they don’t do something about it. |
Could not agree more Mr. Krakow and for the moment XM radio provides enough talk content to keep me satisfied on long road trips, yet the lack of hi-fidelity sound quality is unfortunate. The fact that Sirius and XM do not even approach the level of terrestrial FM sound quality, which is inferior to CD quality is possibly instructive to the poor performance of the music industry itself. CD sound quality is not even close to the hi-fi sound of reel to reel of the 60's and many would argue the quality of vinyl in the 70's. Would be nice if the entertainment industry began looking at the method of delivery of their product to the consumer in terms of quality as opposed to unit cost. Whether it is the cost per customer acquired in satellite radio or the cost of product delivered to the customer in the music industry, they might be surprised at the number of new customers acquired if the product is of a substantially better quality than what we are currently given.
If you own either Sirius or XM radio and are hearing challenged tune into the weather channel then one of the main talk channels to hear the issue clearly.
_________________
"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy |
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rparrott21
Master Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 760
Location: Mckinney, Texas
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| Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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| My wife has Sirius, she likes it..I don't like to it..it sound great on in her car. |
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Doc Farmer
LCDR
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 442
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:31 am Post subject: |
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I've got XM and I love it. I saved money by buying ahead for 5 years, though (makes the monthly rate a LOT cheaper). Great reception, CD quality sound, Fox News and Fox News Talk, plus some uncensored comedy. There's also a great lineup of music channels (I'm partial to classical, m'self) but they've got a Sinatra channel, a whole series of decade channels (from the 40s on upward).
I wouldn't touch Sirius with a ten foot pole (or two five foot armenians) since they've got Howeird Stern.
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FreeFall
LCDR
Joined: 13 Aug 2004
Posts: 421
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| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Doc, has Bob Dylan started his show yet on XM? He is supposed to play music he likes on his show. |
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Doc Farmer
LCDR
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 442
Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
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| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:58 am Post subject: |
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| FreeFall wrote: | | Doc, has Bob Dylan started his show yet on XM? He is supposed to play music he likes on his show. |
I think that show starts next month.
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