Letter Never Sent Tell me when to go.

I have always liked listening to talk radio programs and music while I work and drive so getting satellite radio was a no brainer. Most broadcast radio sucks hard, even KUT, the local public radio affiliate, pisses me off. There was some indecision as to whether to get Sirius or XM Radio, but in the end XM Radio seemed to be the better choice for me. In many ways they are very similar. Sirius supposedly has marginally better sound quality due to the fact that they run the talk programs in lower bandwidth so they can boost the quality of the music programs. They also provide more sports radio options, which is not something I care about. The reasons I went for XM Radio are pretty simple. XM has 1 million subscribers versus Sirius with 200-300 thousand or so. Even though satellite radio is relatively new this tells me that XM is more serious about attracting subscribers. Also, an XM subscription is $9.99 a month whereas Sirius is $12.99 a month. And for the most superficial reason, I liked the SkyFi receiver better than any of the Sirius products. I can use it in my car and at home and it will connect to any powered speaker source like your computer speakers. My 5-piece computer speakers have dual input connections so I can listen to my computer and XM radio at the same time.

At home these days, I’m watching zero television. There’s just nothing on I want to see and it wastes too much time with too little benefit. While you watch television you usually have to pay attention with your eyes and ears. This makes it difficult to do much if any sustained activity. Instead I’ll just listen to the radio while I putz around the house.

There are no commercials on any of the XM music channels. Who knows if this will last, but it’s awesome. The variety is also really nice. Imagine radio stations where you can actually hear The Smiths, REM, and many other things that never make it to the radio. You can view the complete channel listing here. My favorite channels on XM are:

1. Hank’s Place (vintage country) I like old country tunes. They’re sentimental and often exquisitely morose.
2. Fred (classic and classic brit alternative) This is where you hear the Morrissey and Depeche Mode.
3. Ask! This is expert-type call-in radio where people call in for advice, etc. My favorite host is Bruce Williams, who is very wise especially when it comes to financial and legal advice.

Here’s an interesting piece of software I saw mentioned on Gizmodo. It basically converts XM radio content from your XM Satellite Radio XM PCR computer device to mp3.