NiceMac explains the situation for Sirius XM App

[JonHimself]

Hey, I came across this article on Orbitcast, didn't see it referenced in the other thread, sorry if it has been.

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/nicemac-spills-the-beans-on-the-iphone-situation.html

Turns out Sirius XM killed it (as we though/hoped wasn't true). I'm still on the fence with this, the article makes great points about NiceMac went ahead without Sirius XM's blessing and that they really aren't allowed to distribute Sirius XM's property (their service) without the company's approval.

On that note, the article also makes a great point that unless Sirius XM's app is awesome, it's probably a bad decision to not just let a great developer make the app.

I'm mostly disappointed at losing the Starplayr app on my mac because that was infinitely better than using Sirius' website.

Overall a pretty unfortunate situation for almost everyone involved.

 

[verks]

Well, not like it's better but you can try 2 things.

1. My Sirius Studio v1.6 (Google it)
2. Yahoo Widgets has a nice widget that resembles the Stiletto and works very well.

The Yahoo one does not time out every hour.

 

[JonHimself]

Well, not like it's better but you can try 2 things.

1. My Sirius Studio v1.6 (Google it)
2. Yahoo Widgets has a nice widget that resembles the Stiletto and works very well.

The Yahoo one does not time out every hour.

Thanks I'll check those out. I'm also going to try Pulsar, which Rogue Amoeba makes but it isn't free.

 

[MaxPower49]

You would think it would have made more sense for Sirius XM to just buy them out. Instead they are going to spend the money to develop their own application... which will take about 3 more months and in all likelihood will not be as good as StarPlayr. Sirius probably could have gotten it cheap too since NiceMac was painted into a corner.

Between this and the $3/month increase for online listening I'm not sure how much longer I am going to keep my subscription. Pandora/Slacker/Last.fm are all better for music. Talk radio is the only thing they have going for them. If I could find some decent talk shows somewhere else, I'd cancel for sure.

 

[JonHimself]

You would think it would have made more sense for Sirius XM to just buy them out. Instead they are going to spend the money to develop their own application... which will take about 3 more months and in all likelihood will not be as good as StarPlayr. Sirius probably could have gotten it cheap too since NiceMac was painted into a corner.

Between this and the $3/month increase for online listening I'm not sure how much longer I am going to keep my subscription. Pandora/Slacker/Last.fm are all better for music. Talk radio is the only thing they have going for them. If I could find some decent talk shows somewhere else, I'd cancel for sure.

From the article it seems like Sirius XM might have been upset that NiceMac just went ahead with the development without any real contact. Maybe it was more spite than anything, which would be disappointing. The article makes a great argument for both sides. If Sirius XM would have just bought them they would have an excellent player and it would be available already, instead of the delay and potential for a lower quality player.

You're right about the talk radio, the personalities and exclusives (play-by-play for sports for example) they have are what will allow them to succeed. The music is almost a bonus when you compare it to Last.FM, Pandora, etc (at least in the US, I think in Canada we only have Last.FM) so as long as the music is decent and appeals to enough people, if they're paying for Sirius XM they'll likely stick with their music channels rather than looking elsewhere.

 

[iSaga]

I really hope Sirius takes a big hit from this, they come off as whiney little brats in my eyes and I hope in many others as well. I don't know much about the NiceMac team but they seem like regular folks who developed a kick ass product and were on the verge of finally getting a payday out of all their hard work.

This all could have and should have been avoided , does Sirius not realize that this app would have boosted their company immensely and for a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy just last month I can't believe they were willing to sacrifice that to what sounds like prove a point.

F them!

 

[StarPlayrX]

There is a Mac Catalyst version of StarPlayrX on MacUpdate.com. There is also and iOS/iPadOS version at the AppStore.

X stands for 10 as StarPlayrX came back a decade later. It it is not marketed at all and does not have the hype that StarPlayr, "Don't be a slacker, be a star player." once had.

Only one original member remains associated with NiceMac and that's me. StarPlayrX was written entirely from scratch. It is open source including its two libraries CameoKit and GTCola from the same developer, myself.

There doesn't been many users interested in its source code. It's been open sourced, to make it harder to kill.

I haven't been in touch with the other three members of NiceMac. We all went our separate ways after the departure in 2009. It was like holding a rock band together and in the end we split up, with no reunion in sight.

 

[StarPlayrX]

From the article it seems like Sirius XM might have been upset that NiceMac just went ahead with the development without any real contact. Maybe it was more spite than anything, which would be disappointing. The article makes a great argument for both sides. If Sirius XM would have just bought them they would have an excellent player and it would be available already, instead of the delay and potential for a lower quality player.

You're right about the talk radio, the personalities and exclusives (play-by-play for sports for example) they have are what will allow them to succeed. The music is almost a bonus when you compare it to Last.FM, Pandora, etc (at least in the US, I think in Canada we only have Last.FM) so as long as the music is decent and appeals to enough people, if they're paying for Sirius XM they'll likely stick with their music channels rather than looking elsewhere.

We were under NDA with Sirius XM. We officially met with Sirius XM in New York City. A few months later, the company stopped communicating with us. They decided to go with another vendor. We decided to produce a third party product. In the end, XM put on the brakes and did all they could to stop us starting with little reindeer games, to more drastic and threatening measures. It was enough to scare off the other three members. I ran the Mac version of Starplayr under NiceMac for 3 more years and then closed up shop when the donations for the Mac version dried up.

 

[StarPlayrX]

Thanks I'll check those out. I'm also going to try Pulsar, which Rogue Amoeba makes but it isn't free.

Pulsar dropped out when SiriusXM kept changing their API.

 

[AZhappyjack]

There is a Mac Catalyst version of StarPlayrX on MacUpdate.com. There is also and iOS/iPadOS version at the AppStore.

X stands for 10 as StarPlayrX came back a decade later. It it is not marketed at all and does not have the hype that StarPlayr, "Don't be a slacker, be a star player." once had.

Only one original member remains associated with NiceMac and that's me. StarPlayrX was written entirely from scratch. It is open source including its two libraries CameoKit and GTCola from the same developer, myself.

There doesn't been many users interested in its source code. It's been open sourced, to make it harder to kill.

I haven't been in touch with the other three members of NiceMac. We all went our separate ways after the departure in 2009. It was like holding a rock band together and in the end we split up, with no reunion in sight.

You are aware that the latest (previous) post in this thread was ALMOST THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, right? Pretty certain that the OP has given up and moved on by now...