XM Radio

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

so.... XM Radio...

ANy of you use it?
Because I've  been slugging, and several of these guys have XM radio. It's really cool. I keep hearing really cool music that I haven't heard in ages. With 120 stations, I'm sure to find a few that match my interest (heck, the classic rock stations are doing pretty good for it so far, and I know there are regae, modern rock, classical, and news stations that'd work for me).

So I think the service is great.

It's just, i have this resistence to paying $13/mo for my radio. I guess it'd be worth it. FM radio is so disappointing that I'll only listen to it if I have no other choice. AccuRadio is getting old really fast, and I'd use it for at least 8 hours a day at work, so I'd certainly get money out of it.

The other thing is that the minimum you have to pay to get into this gig is $150 for equipment (there are receivers for $100, but they need an adapter to a stereo that costs $50). That'd also be easier if they had a deal like cell phones where you can commit to 2 years and get a free receiver. Besides, the one I covet it actually $350.

Maybe I should just wait till they strike a deal with Apple and we get an iPod with 80GB storage and a portable XM receiver combined. Then, if I needed the $13 that month, I can just listen to my electronic music.

How cool would that be?

/me writes a letter to Steve Jobs.

edit: oo! and throw in a PDA for good measure. All it'd need would be a telephone to be the ultimate geek toy (though I'd think it'd be too big to be a practical phone)

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

I got it for Astrid so she can listen at work, and we use it at the wine store too...

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

How's she like it?

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

good...
She has an older stereo with it...
they now have a walkman like device for it...

I like it at work... a nice stream of music, innocuous Station ID's and good programming...

Today there are 4 irish stations

My favorite
Irish Hooligans... Irish Punk and hard rock
And
Celtic classics...
Just got finished w/ the clancy brothers singing rocky road to dubnlin.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Yeah, the one I want is a walkman that will plut into any powered speakers. Expensive piece of electronics, but that might be why I wanty.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

What's slugging?

So, this has no commercials?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Slugging is waiting around at one of the major bus stops and waiting for someone driving alone to come by and announce he's going to the same general location and is willing to give you a ride.
Slug drivers do this so they can use the HOV lanes, which makes a HUGE difference in travel time if you live further south than Arlington: at least 15 minutes, depending on the time/traffic/destination, sometimes as much as an hour. The local transportation departments have encouraged this, since it gets cars off the road and doesn't cost them as much as subsidizing expansions to the bus/train routes, so many places, like the Pentagon, have signs up for even more generalized areas

So I'll go wait at the sign that says "Springfield/Burke" on my way home and wait for someone to announce they're going all the way to Rolling Valley (there are 2 other stops that don't go that far, and a third that goes a slightly different direction that are all considered Springfield/Burke) and just wait for someone to show up.

Anyway, yeah, XM relies on subscriber fees to pay their costs. They don't do advertising, and there's no DJ that I want to punch in the face doing a stupid morning show. The more I think about it, the more $13/mo is SOOOO worth it. I just need to get the equipment cost budgeted.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

and they also do have news shows and talk radio if your so inclined...
plus stuff like the National Geographic channel, and even a movie soundtrack channel... Over a hundred and fifty channels I think...
Franks place is good, (sinatra like stuff but all of it original) the Jazz stations are excellent. Classical Music stations are also good as are the hits of the 80's, progressive rock, and so on.

also it doesnt take much to set it up to hijack the audio content and play it back later as an MP3...

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The new receivers even have tivo-like capability of storing a certain amount of programming for later playback

[Fellfrosch]

I think Jeffe has used up his ellipsis allotment for the year...

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

yeah...
I know I over use them...
and use them wrongly too...

[fuzzyoctopus]

XM radio is definitely something I"ve looked into as well.  We need a  new stereo for our car at some point and I'm kind of like, "well, as long as we're putting out the money ANYWAY..."

But I'm far more interested in slugging.  And kind of annoyed.  If *I* tried that everyone woudl tell me how I"m going to get kidnapped and killed.  Eric, being a decently size guy can probably slug with impunity.

[JP Dogberry]

Given what happened to his Knee, I'd hardly say impunity.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Yes, but that was an escalator attack.  had nothing to do with hitchhiking.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

viscious attacks from wild, rabid escalators have nothing to do with hitchhiking..

anyway, EVERYONE slugs in this area. It's safe because it's institutionalized. Everyone waits their turn and calls out destinations when they're at the front so only one person has to walk the whole way.  If you came out here, Fuzzy, you could slug no problem.