Post #66,845
12/5/02 9:39:56 AM
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XM versus Sirius satellite radio?
I'm doing the Google-search mambo, but I was wondering if anyone here had any experience or thoughts on the two competing satellite radio services. I know there are differences in the monthly fees and the amount of commercials on the two systems.
I'm looking for a high-quality service with few commercials that can be used mainly in the car, but also via our home stereo, so a portable box would be nice. We're mainly looking for good music channels (i.e. indy rock, blues, stuff like that), but access to world news would be a plus.
I vaguely recall reading that some were unsatisfied with the bit-depth of the channels, claiming that 64kb/s or 128kb/s wasn't enough for high fidelity or the sound quality was disappointing. Any experience? (I haven't used .MP3 stuff, so I can't make comparisons.)
Any pointers to places to get the equipment for a reasonable price would be appreciated too.
XM and Sirius are under consideration as a present for the wife. :-)
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #67,051
12/6/02 12:36:47 AM
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All that I have heard...
...is that reception is great, sound quality same...programming sucks.
Mind you...these are radio people telling me this...and they may have a vested interest...but apparently the same issues with pop radio apply to XM and other satellite services...you end up hearing the same thing over and over again.
If you like the songs they are playing over and over...thats not an issue ;-)
For me...I am a serious variety junky...and I can rarely listen to any radio station indefinitely...except for college radio...which has a playlist more like mine...alot more variety and alot less repetition (assuming its a >good< college radio station).
As a hint...my playlist for the July party was about a 5% sample of the music in my mp3 library...at its a no repeat >weekend< (62 hours)
My recomendation...by a portable mp3 player and an adapter for the car. It comes with software that can convert cd to mp3 at better compression levels (mine are ripped at 192 or 256)...you can go to 320 and there is really no loss...except in file size...
My 6 gig [link|http://www.archos.com/lang=en/products/fam_music_mp3.html?country=us|ARCHOS] player holds about 80 cds worth of music (they don't see any that small anymore...(10g and 20g only)...and I have an [link|http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/irock-review.html|iRock!] for the car (no cassette player.) I can add a con to the iRock...maybe 2...battery life (buy rechargeables...you get about 4 hours...and range ...some new cars (like mine) have the antenna built into the back window...and that creates issues...but on the whole...it works...and I have alot of music accessible to me at all times.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #67,062
12/6/02 7:58:09 AM
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Excellent.
She has quite a collection of old tapes and maybe a hundred CDs. Being able to easily take them with her in the car would be a very nice present.
Now to compare these things to each other and to the iPods and the like.
Thanks for your thoughts! I have a habit of buying into technology right before it's phased out. I would hate to extend that record into satellite radio...
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #68,008
12/10/02 11:25:52 PM
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If you can afford it,
go for the 20G iPod and car adapter.
Of course, the ultimate car MP3 player is the (no longer in production) empeg, since it runs Linux, has serial, USB, & Ethernet ports, can be expanded with a second HDD, and looks great.
I happen to have one, currently loaded with > 1000 songs.
Tony
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Post #68,011
12/10/02 11:40:34 PM
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Umm... I'd go a bit...
Farther, and say [link|http://www.littlepc.com/|One of these] would do nicely in a shock cell, with a small screen (LCD or such) and some controls... Linux woudl do nicely there....!
You suck... having one of those empeg deals .... grrr... Jealous I am, yes!
[link|mailto:curley95@attbi.com|greg] - Grand-Master Artist in IT
[link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!]
Your friendly Geheime Staatspolizei reminds:
[link|http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56742,00.html|Wi-Fi enabled device use] comes with an all inclusive
free trip to the (county)Photographer!
Overbooking, is a problem, please be prepared for "room-ies".
Why You ask? Here is the answer to your query:
SELECT * FROM politicians WHERE iq > 40 OR \\
WHERE ego < 1048575;
0 rows found
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Post #68,028
12/11/02 12:39:12 AM
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Those are cool!
Wish I had some scratch to pick up a few ;-)
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #68,148
12/11/02 1:09:35 PM
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Well, they are available on eBay, but
for much more than I paid (I bought my during the great clearance sale last year), but less than the original list price.
Yes, I did get lucky. So far have been very happy with mine.
BTW, empeg is based in the UK, got bought by SonicBlue, decided they couldn't compete in mass production against Sony, Kenwood, etc -- last I heard the design team was still with SonicBlue, working on software & designs that SonicBlue would license to others.
Tony
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Post #68,171
12/11/02 3:00:15 PM
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Damn
You could just about fit that computer into a 5 1/4 drive bay of another computer
~~~)-Steven----
"I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country..."
General George S. Patton
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Post #68,201
12/11/02 4:37:49 PM
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Uhh... Yep...
That is actually what it is design for!!!
[link|mailto:curley95@attbi.com|greg] - Grand-Master Artist in IT
[link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!]
Your friendly Geheime Staatspolizei reminds:
[link|http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56742,00.html|Wi-Fi enabled device use] comes with an all inclusive
free trip to the (county)Photographer!
Overbooking, is a problem, please be prepared for "room-ies".
Why You ask? Here is the answer to your query:
SELECT * FROM politicians WHERE iq > 40 OR \\
WHERE ego < 1048575;
0 rows found
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Post #67,098
12/6/02 10:35:27 AM
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Second on the mp3 player idea
I don't listen to radio in the car anymore. My iPod has about four days worth of music and audiobooks.
Tom Sinclair
"Everybody is someone else's weirdo."
- E. Dijkstra
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