It is line-of-sight. S-I-G-H-T

Site is a place to stand. Sight is what you use to see things, even satellites flying in space.

Good catch, Thumper! Thanks, and we've fixed it.

If that's the case...and accepting that the iPod/iTunes combo is the most hassle-free player/store/jukebox combo out there...wow. Goodbye MP3 players. Goodbye (online) music industry. Portable satellite radio will destroy you all in but 2 short months...or something like that.

Seriously. This isn't even competition for the iPod, seeing how the iPod has no radio components (yet). Aiming for people who don't want to hassle with learning a personal computer to get their music? That's fine -- though it's probably increasingly rare, I'm sure there's a number of people that really aren't into computers as a general rule. But they wouldn't use an MP3 player anyway. Aside from that, and Mr. Pitt's implicit assumption that this same group of people would embrace a pretty darn high-tech device, there's no HD, this is a different market we're talking about here. XM fans may well love it, since it lets them get the most out of their subscription (at least I hope the device works that way) and take their favorite stations to more places.

But what about when you just want to hear that one special song? Or any one song from your favorites that just happens to bubble to the surface?

Oh, that and if you hope to realistically compete with the MP3 player market, you should really try to do better than 5 hours of battery life on your first try. That can't be good on overall battery longevity given all the charge cycles. I don't doubt that it has much to do with quality of the satellite radio/antenna/etc. involved -- which to me once again shows how this device just isn't playing in the same market.

What does he hang out at the Best Buy on Broadway? The XM radio device is interesting, but it's the software dummy!
If the software is difficult to use, if people don't know how to record and play back, then no matter how cool the idea, it will ultimately falter.
Today, I had a discussion with two guys about gagets and both of them had cell-phones w/ cameras, and neither knew how to take and send a picture. They had a golly-gee feature, but it was worthless to them. This is the thing that analysts keep missing, people buy the iPod not just because of price, features, cool-factor, but because of ease-of-use. The shear intiutiveness—my grandmother used it!—of the iPod outranks any other feature there is.
The XM radio also has the unique problems of being specific to certain portions of the US, doesn't work as well inside some buildings, and has a subscription attached.
But, if XM came out with a receiver-system that mated to the iPod's dock connector and used the iPod as a recorder and playback device, that I would buy. I don't want two devices, and between the do-it-all, but-device and the one-trick pony, I'm picking the iPod.
The iPod will live another day.

I definitely see the appeal of a personal satellite receiver with a side-order of music-storage - while an iPod is nice in itself, it doesn't let me listen to Bloomberg news while I'm out biking.

I expect that there will be a very large degree of resistance to paying for the receiver and then paying for the service on a monthly basis. Cable TV only really took off when it became a real alternative to the big networks by offering something that wasn't available through the existing channels. XM so far seems to only offer the same music, albeit with more specialty channels, jazz, blues, rap, etc. I could see if you were a Hip-Hop fan in west Texas or wanted to hear AirAmerica in Barrow Alaska you might want the service, or if you were a long distance driver. In urban areas with a variety of stations on the dial I expect that it will be a harder sell.

Of course with Clear Channel Communications buying up every station in sight and converting them to the same bland vanilla format XM or the iPod might be the only option in the coming years.

This is the product I've been waiting for. With XM Satellite, I won't have to buy nearly as many tracks, so in the long run the monthly subscription will pay for itself with less CD purchases. Plus, I have access to talk radio. Look, I'm a musician, but I don't want to listen to music all the time. Also, having someone else doing the music programming for me is great because they can introduce me to new artists. I don't own an iPod now, nor plan to in the near future and I'm technologically savvy. I have to believe there are others like me out there. I won't say this thing is an iPod killer. But for me it fits the bill.

It's definitely cool, but 5 hours? Do they even make HDD's that small???

They've totally missed the point. The reason (OK, one of them) the iPod is doing so well is that you can pick your own music. YOU choose what to listen to, when you want to listen to it. If I want to hear Frankie Goes to Hollywood, I want to hear it right now.* I don't want to have to hop over to an all-80s station and HOPE they play it sometime today.

And the part about people not wanting to learn a computer to use an iPod...WTF? Anyone in that boat today is still trying to get the 12:00 to stop blinking on their VCR. They're NOT going to buy a portable XM player that looks as easy to use as defusing a bomb. I mean look at all the buttons on that thing!

Radio is done - broadcast or satellite - as a music delivery medium. The future is in programming your own music, and sharing playlists via friends and services like iTunes.


*Disclaimer. I don't really want to hear Frankie Goes to Hollywood right now. I don't know if I EVER want to hear it.

Quote

Billy K wrote:
*Disclaimer. I don't really want to hear Frankie Goes to Hollywood right now. I don't know if I EVER want to hear it.

Well then relax...don't do it.






I'm an idiot...yes

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geoduck wrote:
I expect that there will be a very large degree of resistance to paying for the receiver and then paying for the service on a monthly basis. Cable TV only really took off when it became a real alternative to the big networks by offering something that wasn't available through the existing channels. XM so far seems to only offer the same music, albeit with more specialty channels, jazz, blues, rap, etc. I could see if you were a Hip-Hop fan in west Texas or wanted to hear AirAmerica in Barrow Alaska you might want the service, or if you were a long distance driver. In urban areas with a variety of stations on the dial I expect that it will be a harder sell.

I'd consider this; in fact, I probably will. The key isn't just the specialization; it's also the fact that many of them have NO COMMERCIALS. That alone is something for which I'm willing to pay. There's also the fact that I can stretch my ears a bit and listen to something without having to pay to download it or buy the CD. Ten bucks a month is cheap for that. As far as cable TV: They sold the concept by talking about "narrowcasting," being able to serve smaller constituencies and not having to appeal to everyone like broadcasting. Ha! Cable TV has more crap than ever, all of it aimed at the lowest common denominator. Why? Same reason as over-the-air broadcasting: Advertising. Advertisers want the biggest possible market, so cable channels strive for that. The biggest possible market invariably leads to lowest-common-denominator decisions. Spare me.

I don't entirely get how this is supposed to be an iPod competitor. It's a highly evolved portable radio; the iPod is a highly evolved cassette Walkman.

Or, to make a sideways analogy, people don't see the TiVo and DVD player as competitors either.

Valid points that everyone brings up. However, like the iPod, the XM player will evolve = it will, eventually have a HD and will hold MP3s. When that happens, best of both worlds. At this point in the game, i'm tired of my music collection (roughly 5gigs, which is a fair amount of files...) XM can bring me, sans commercials, music that is different and appealing. And, from what i've read, you can program the device to search and record specific tracks or artists. That's pretty cool.

Currently, XM satellite radio and iPod cater to two distinct customer segment.

XM satellite customers are those who see no need to own music and like to subscribe to a streamlining radio/music service

iPod customers are those who like to own music and listen to what they like most of the time

They are not the same customer segment. It is those music download services that provide subscription service that should be worried about the XM satellite radio service.

That said, in the future, iPod and XM satellite radio could converge because from the survey done by Pitt, a lot of guys like best of both world.