Bernie Lomax

Who knows anything about XM radio? Can you also listen to your local staions FM and AM?

jschmidt

XM is a new subscription-based band that is satellite delivered and originates from here in DC. Think of it as DirecTV for radio.

You'll need a new receiver. As far as I know, all the ones that are being sold also include AM/FM band receivers.

S TWO K

I think its pretty cool stuff.....Also a good company IMO to buy stock in. They secured a pretty big deal with GM to have their digital systems installed on higher end cars.

I would pay $10 a month to have digital radio.....

Swurvydel

by defination XM is not going to pick up AM/FM is going to pick up XM satalite stations...you could probably get a hybrid radio which will have XM and AM/FM which would be awesome.

XM is definately going to be amazing if marketed correctly. who wouldn't want that much music made available to them...my sister owns stock in a company creating XM radio. i think she made a good investment...but that remains to be seen.

Schatten

There are a lot of competing technologies in this realm and I'm quite familiar with them since a few of my good friends have patents on another product which would be competing in a "similiar" but more efficient way - which can do so much more than just satellite radio. Satellite radio with XM isn't all its cracked up to be. Its not going from the satellite to your car by any means, its actually going down to a repeater and then the repeater to you. Think of it more along the lines of cell phones, their availability and the costs to maintain the infrastructure that makes it all work.

The two reasons that people will buy into this is because 1) name: it sounds cool, AM, FM, XM, and you gotta have it to be hip. The second reason is because 2) satellite, something which most people think it just beams down and presto - its working like magic no matter where you are. The average consumer will be spared the details of this complex system.

This isn't going to be another Cue Cat product, but it will be very difficult - even with a car manufacturer backing them up - to keep themselves above water.

TrojanHorse

That is not quite correct. The repeaters are being used in heavily congested areas like Manhattan where large buildings block LOS to the satellites. Out in the burbs you will get the signal direct from the satellite.

The stock is having a tough go of it. I have been following it for a long time since I launched the Satellites for them.

DaveZ

Sirius is suppossed to be a direct competitor to XM offering a similar type service. They are having trouble getting their service launced on time (XM has already rolled out in a coupe of localities and should be nationawide by the end of the year). Both services are having stock trouble and have been recently downgraded by the analysts (but what hasn't lately?).

I've heard the argument - "Are people really going to pay a monthly fee for radio?". Usually the counter-point is "they do for cable TV". It'll be interesting to watch, though I like the concept a lot, especially since the local radio stations in Richmond SUCK.

txst

I have been looking into this as well. Living in the boonies of East Texas, the radio REALLY sucks. The downside to XM is that you need a separate antenna to receive XM. The Sony antenna is very ugly (loos like a shark fin) and is supposed to be mounted to the roof of the car for best reception. I did see another type of antenna in the latest Crutchfield catalog that look more like a mobile phone antenna. The $10 subscription fee would be well worth it for me.

josh3io

even just for a few good electronica/techno/trance stations I would pay $10/month.

lehighwiz

will the sattelite radio stations have commercials? if i pay for the service, can i assume it will be like the music channels of DTV? commercial free? just wondering.

Lehighwiz