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Perhaps this should be in the tool section.
We set up an XM radio at the shop today. Talk about great radio. XM is everything it’s cracked up to be.
I can’t work without a radio. This XM is the best invention since the nail gun.
Gotta have it.
Ed.
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Ok so how does XM differ from AM or FM?? and is ther alot of XM stations??
*XM is bounced off satelites, it's a subscription service
*Over 100 channels so far. About half are commercial free. They got anything you want. Rock, pop, soul, R&B, regge, country, bluegrass, hip hop, classical, alternative, metal, etc. Even sports, news and comedy 24/7.$10 a month for the service. I'd pay $10 a week not to hear another Body Solutions commercial or the drive time guys yukking it up with toliet jokes all morning.I'm sold.www.xmradio.comEd.
*Sounds like muzak with mobility.Speakig of Body Solutions, their hq is just a couple miles away from my house in San Antonio. Gaudy exterior. There have ben a couple of articles in the local paper about the founder. What a guy. What a company. He used to be an executive for one of the National Enquirer type papers. That should be a clue.
*These recievers must be available in new cars now as I hear a local dealership advertising free subscription for a year with a new purchase.Rich
*I've seen the XM car radio's in Cruchfields for around $400.Which is still too spendy for me, but $10 a month would be worth it. I'm not sure if XM works in Alaska. Hell, we are just now getting good satelite T.V. reception.Dave
*Ed,I keep hearing the ad disclaimers like "one time setup fee" and "additional hardware required." What was the total cost to set it up? Can I use my own amp, or do I have to buy theirs? Are there line of sight issues/reception problems due to weather?-Robert
*So ed, you pay 10 bucks a month to have other folks program their music for you...guess that's better than getting a cd player and popping in music you really like...are you writing this off?
*Robert,We got a Sony XM "car" unit at Best Buy. It was $299.99 plus state sales tax. The catch was you have to buy Sony's "home" kit for another $150. What this allows you to do is plug it in the wall and run it off 110. The thing about this system is that you can take the radio and put it in the car or leave it at home. Nobody else offers this "in or out" system yet that I know of, but this is all brand new technology. The car antenna is a bit clunky, but I'm leaving it set up on the roof of our shop so who cares. I might have been able to buy a 6 volt converter at radio shack, but me and a friend were splitting the cost, so what the hey.There was a $15 charge to turn on the system and then they bill you $30 per quarter on your credit card.It runs off my cheapo Audiovox radio/casstte/CD player that I already had at the shop. You just hook up the line out RCA plugs from the XM radio into the auxillary inputs on the back of the stero (or the CD inputs or whatever you have open).We've been doing the CD thing, but I like this better. You get more choices without the cost of new CD's and no worry about dust.It works for me. They have a channel called "Deep Cuts". It gives you all the good songs off your favorite albums (you young guys might not remember those) that the radio never played. I also like the station called "Bluesville". Today they played some Mississippi John Hurt, Albert King and some Nevell Brothers. Try to get that on regular radio all day long. This morning I had on the Bluegrass station. They played everthing from the Stanley Brothers to Bela Fleck.I'm not looking back, and no, I'm not writing this off.Ed.
*> Are there line of sight issues/reception problems due to weather? They'd be the same as with satellite TV from the same orbital slot. Whether you can get it in the far north, like Alaska, depends on how close your longitude is to their orbital slot.As a true DIY, of course, I bring my clarinet.... ;-)-- J.S.
*Ed,Thanks for the details...It sounds pretty good, 'specially the program choices.
*Ed, Mississippi John Hurt, now there's an artist I wouldn't expect to catch on the radio. I still listen to him, Reverend Gary Davis, Mance Lipscomb, etc on my 40 year old lp's, but the're getting pretty scratchy. I guess I'll have to check it out. Thanks, ted
*EdIf you could sing like Blodgett, you wouldn't need a radio. Sang me a version of Waltzing Matilda once. ( well at least he CLAIMED it was Waltzing Matilda !)
*Ed, I always figured you as more of a korn/limp bizkit sort of guy........(o:
*Wedge, My taste run from A to Z. In the Korn/Limp catagory, I'd say I'm more of a Tool/Incubus kinda guy. I never cared for white boys tring to rap.....except for Beck. Ed.
*Bela Fleck, awright,but I still got his cd's, that crazy Futureman...
*Buck,I bought three Bela Fleck CD's Sunday. One is an old one called Natural Bridge. I used to have it on cassette, but lost it. Another is all classical, and I mean serious classical. Can you imagine? Bach played on the 5 string? It's interesting. The third one is just plain beautiful. If it wasn't so late, I'd go out to the truck and get you the title of the CD. I'll tell you tomorrow. I've been listening to tracks 2 and 7 alllllllll day. Unbelieveably beautiful stuff. Not like the Flecktones. That's fun, but an aquired taste.We're still grinning ear to ear at the shop with the XM.Today.....Savy Brown - Tell Mama, Steely Dan - Pearl of the Quarter and some Jethro Tull that even I have never heard before. Oh yeah, and some real Fleetwood Mac from the Peter Green era. You just can't hear that stuff on regular radio. Remember Dynamo Hum? Frank Zappa? Great Stuff.Ed.
*Ted- All those great artists you mention, and a whole lot more, the advent of cd's was practically designed for them. Such an incredible amount of reissues, as well as stuff from the 'vaults'- so much of this stuff is now available on cd it's mind boggling. Check it out on line, Ted, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly up the wazoo...........Ed- Satellite radio sounds like the real deal. Sounds similar to what's available on DMX, the cable music service. Yeah, I'm pretty sick, too, of all that crap like Joint-ritis and Dr. Joel Kaplan's Male Genital Enlargement System! -Ken
*Ed- Right on. Sounds like we're from a similar age group. I DO get tired of the usual classic rock Zepplin/AC/DC/Aerosmith/Bad Company/Journey/Etc. which is OK but a little newer than a lot of what I 'grew up' with. That sounds like an awesome mix. Yeah, Zappa. Hot Rats. Suzy Creamcheese. Reuben and the Jets. Weazels Ripped My Flesh. Actually, Zappa did a lot of very sophisticated music, some of which is included as standard Jazz repetoire, like 'Peaches En Regalia'........Bela Fleck is unbeleiveable and very versatile. I've been a banjo picker in my day, and this guy's a monster..........Sure is a ton of great music out there of all types, huh, Ed? -Ken
*Ken, thanks for the info. I'll take a look. In fact I was just talking to some tecno friends about the possibility of burning cd's from my old albums just assuming that those old blues guys or the old bluegrass stuff I have would not have been reissued on cd's. ted
*Buck,The CD title is Bela Fleck - Bluegrass Sessions: Tales From The Acoustic Planet Vol. II.Incredible stuff. It's unreal what some people can do with American roots instruments. This is not you grandpa's bluegrass.Ken,So far, XM is delivering everything I thought it would. I didn't get to work at the shop today, but when I got back this afternoon, I asked....how many commercials did you guys hear today? The answer, NONE. I play the 5 string too. It was something I heard on the XM bluegrass channel that made me go out and buy some more Bela Fleck. The man knows his intstrument.Even though I'm 48, I love new music. I have been long burned out on the over saturation of the old so called "hits" for a long time now. As far as I'm concerened, "Classic Rock" has gone head first into the ground. XM is the answer for me. When was the last time you heard anything by Ten Years After or Little Feat? Now that's classic stuff that gets NO attention. Not to mention new stuff from Dave Matthews, 311 or Foo Fighters that they don't play on regular radio.XM has the cure.Ed.