uSirius StarPlayr - Sirius XM on iPhone

[JonHimself]

If Howard Stern didn't require an outrageous contract for constantly taking vacation (he never works on Fridays and constantly takes off for weeks at a time), things might be better for Sirius XM and this bankruptcy scare might never have happened.

I believe you to be an O&A fan, whereas I am a Howard Stern fan. I live in Canada so I've never heard O&A and have no opinion of them and basically missed the radio war that the two have had (are having?). I don't mean to stoke those flames so please don't think that I'm saying this as a blind Howard devotee or as an attack on O&A. I think that having a crew of talk guys (Howard, Bubba - who I dislike, Ron & Fez, O&A, Jason Ellis, whoever else hosts talk shows) is a good thing for the company... IF they bring in listeners. It's my understanding that Howard is responsible for bringing in enough listeners to offset his (shows) contract, I suppose I could be wrong, but I would imagine that if he left, a lot of subscribers would also be lost. (As I'm sure is the case with any personality that has a BIG following).

I think your problem (and our problem, as subscribers to a company that I assume we both want to succeed) should be directed at deals with Oprah or other individuals who were signed just as a name that don't really provide content, or perhaps even the deals signed with NFL, MLB, etc that were signed at a higher value than they should have been because each company was competing to get the exlusive rights... if there was only one company the deals they signed would likely have been less. As much as it's easy to point to 500 million spent on one show, I think that you can make the argument that that contract isn't what's caused this bankruptcy/financial struggle.

 

[Zman3001]

I believe you to be an O&A fan, whereas I am a Howard Stern fan. I live in Canada so I've never heard O&A and have no opinion of them and basically missed the radio war that the two have had (are having?). I don't mean to stoke those flames so please don't think that I'm saying this as a blind Howard devotee or as an attack on O&A. I think that having a crew of talk guys (Howard, Bubba - who I dislike, Ron & Fez, O&A, Jason Ellis, whoever else hosts talk shows) is a good thing for the company... IF they bring in listeners. It's my understanding that Howard is responsible for bringing in enough listeners to offset his (shows) contract, I suppose I could be wrong, but I would imagine that if he left, a lot of subscribers would also be lost. (As I'm sure is the case with any personality that has a BIG following).

I think your problem (and our problem, as subscribers to a company that I assume we both want to succeed) should be directed at deals with Oprah or other individuals who were signed just as a name that don't really provide content, or perhaps even the deals signed with NFL, MLB, etc that were signed at a higher value than they should have been because each company was competing to get the exlusive rights... if there was only one company the deals they signed would likely have been less. As much as it's easy to point to 500 million spent on one show, I think that you can make the argument that that contract isn't what's caused this bankruptcy/financial struggle.

I think he should have to really earn that big contract, as in work Fridays, and take less vacation. Otherwise, his contract should be renegotiated to reflect the amount of vacation time he takes to save the company some money. He did leave a lot of his fans in the dark back in terrestrial, and now that O&A took his terrestrial spot as a simulcast for their XM show, they picked up a lot of his former fans who did not feel like paying for sat rad.

As for the sports, I love listening to baseball game and hockey games through XM. I'm not sure if I would listen to football games on the radio as i'm usually at home to watch them. Basketball is just out of the question for me. But yes, a part of the reason I am an XM subscriber is for NHL and MLB. The rest is for commercial free and interruption free music as well as O&A. (The radio war stemmed from the terrestrial days of both shows, as Howard had a problem with O&A mentioning him on the air. They worked for the same company, but Mel Karmazin basically only took Howards side. It was pretty immature on Howards part).

 

[DEAN616]

Not sure if this has been asked but are we going to be able to multitask with this app. Meaning like the iPod can we still hear the audio after we back out of the app and go into something like safari or mail or the home screen etc.

 

[Wintrmte]

Any updates on the release??

 

[bbotte]

Not sure if this has been asked but are we going to be able to multitask with this app. Meaning like the iPod can we still hear the audio after we back out of the app and go into something like safari or mail or the home screen etc.

Good question, I hope so.

 

[Rob Mclovin]

Good question, I hope so.

No, its just like any other app, wont be able to run in the background.

 

[marty084]

I think he should have to really earn that big contract, as in work Fridays, and take less vacation. Otherwise, his contract should be renegotiated to reflect the amount of vacation time he takes to save the company some money. He did leave a lot of his fans in the dark back in terrestrial, and now that O&A took his terrestrial spot as a simulcast for their XM show, they picked up a lot of his former fans who did not feel like paying for sat rad.

As for the sports, I love listening to baseball game and hockey games through XM. I'm not sure if I would listen to football games on the radio as i'm usually at home to watch them. Basketball is just out of the question for me. But yes, a part of the reason I am an XM subscriber is for NHL and MLB. The rest is for commercial free and interruption free music as well as O&A. (The radio war stemmed from the terrestrial days of both shows, as Howard had a problem with O&A mentioning him on the air. They worked for the same company, but Mel Karmazin basically only took Howards side. It was pretty immature on Howards part).

I’m not sure your reasoning behind Sterns contract. A little over 2 years ago Stern negotiated a contract that included his Vacation days and his Mon-Thurs schedule. It’s not like he signed a contract and decided not to work these days. I work Mon-Fri; I don’t work for free on the weekends because it would be better for my company to have free employment. Also when Howard signed, Sirius had 200,000 subscribers and was dead in the water waiting to be bought by XM, within the 1st year of his Sirius life he paid for his entire 5 year deal with new subscribers. And in the process SAVED Sirius from bankruptcy and being bought by XM. If XM could turn back the clock they would have paid Howard more (As they tried REALLY hard to acquire his services) and would have shut the door on Sirius once and for all. The fact that there was even a merger and a 8 Million subscriber increase in 2 short years shows the effect Howard has had on this type of medium. Also a big portion of his contract was stock in the company that has plummeted 95% since, so I’m sure he feels he’s taken a huge pay cut that is undeserved as it is.

 

[xgman]

It's incredible how long apple takes to approve these apps.

 

[joesegal76]

I think that it is evident that Apple will not be approving this app any time soon for one reason or another. If you have been watching the app store there have been numerous new applications that have been place into the app store only to have updates, sometimes multiple, come out for the app 2-3 times that week. Not sure why they would be so hesitant to release it, but I am fully convinced that if this was a different kind of application it would have been approved already, something is not right here.

I have to agree with you... I would have to assume that SiriusXM has to endorse a product like this for it to be approved, I can't see them allowing a third party to make 12.99 a pop without any affiliation with the actual company. As far as I know, every other SiriusXM "player" introduced out there has been made available for free and without any authorizations required, but this is different. Apple looks at different angles before putting things through to the public, and I'm sure they have looked at licensing from Sirius so they do not get sued.

 

[JonHimself]

I have to agree with you... I would have to assume that SiriusXM has to endorse a product like this for it to be approved, I can't see them allowing a third party to make 12.99 a pop without any affiliation with the actual company. As far as I know, every other SiriusXM "player" introduced out there has been made available for free and without any authorizations required, but this is different. Apple looks at different angles before putting things through to the public, and I'm sure they have looked at licensing from Sirius so they do not get sued.

I've got to agree. There's got to be some kind of technicality that would create problems... and if SiriusXM were truly concerned, they could adapt their web-site to be iPhone friendly and make this app almost insignificant (or even if they were to make their own app).

 

[volntitan]

Any word from you "insiders"?

 

[bitslap47]

Any word from you "insiders"?

Still rolling along in the approval process

 

[MrSoprano]

Damn stop posting in this thread unless it's out already. Everytime I see this thread at the top I get my hopes up that it's out.

Anyway, I don't expect this app to be released until after we have to start paying for Sirius/XM Online service. Apple is probably considering all the complaints they would get once people can't use this app unless they pay an extra monthly fee......

 

[volntitan]

I already am paying an extra $2.99 a month for Internet premium service. Will monthly fee go up?

 

[p8ntballguy]

I've got to agree. There's got to be some kind of technicality that would create problems... and if SiriusXM were truly concerned, they could adapt their web-site to be iPhone friendly and make this app almost insignificant (or even if they were to make their own app).

If i remember correctly, sirius is getting a cut, and is the reason the price is so high. It could take up to the 29th to come out and still be considered in the normal release/review period. 2-4 weeks.

 

[MaxPower49]

I already am paying an extra $2.99 a month for Internet premium service. Will monthly fee go up?

no, i don't think so

 

[verks]

no, i don't think so

The fee is the same but people who get it for free now as it's been included as part of the regular service have to pay now if they choose to keep it. They are upgrading the stream to 128 bit and eliminating the lower bit stream and forcing you to pay. This begins March 1 I believe.

 

[Goodeye]

March 11th.

If you log into sirius's own player online they put a pop up that gives this date.

 

[pieomy]

The fee is the same but people who get it for free now as it's been included as part of the regular service have to pay now if they choose to keep it. They are upgrading the stream to 128 bit and eliminating the lower bit stream and forcing you to pay. This begins March 1 I believe.

Really, theyre forcing me to pay, last time I checked no one put there hand in my pocket for money but me....lol, gotta love when people throw at the "force you to buy' or 'make you pay', no on has a gun to your head!

 

[Goodeye]

I think he meant it as they are forcing you to now pay for internet if you want to still use it.

Alot of us singed up as this was a HUGE plus that the online listening was free. Allowed alot of people like myself to listen while at work and at home etc.

And for alot of people is a BIG plus in the fact they are paying for radio when they could get it free use ipods etc..... But that's another debate for another time.

 

[Trackmonkey]

Latest status

http://www.nicemac.com/

 

[MaxPower49]

That sucks, but I had a feeling that might happen. Since Sirius is going to 128k streams for all music stations, do you think AT&T thought this would be too much traffic for the 3G networks?

As fans, we are committed to continuing to work with all parties involved as necessary in any capacity required to see this product to market. It is our goal, as it has always been, to release this application at as low of a price point as possible, if not free of charge.

I wonder what this means? Did Apple have an issue with the price they wanted to charge for the app?


Maybe they'll release it for jailbroken ipods... Sounds like they are going to keep fighting though.

 

[DotComCTO]

Yeah. The news from the Nicemac/Geekstoolbox/uSirius team is incredibly upsetting - especially given that the team ran tests of the 128K stream over EDGE with no issue.

I'm hoping they will tell the community-at-large what we can do to help move this forward.



--DotComCTO

 

[MM07]

I think they'll have to wait to see how everything shakes out after March 11. Not having free online listening sucks and this app relying on that was important.

Being a Beta tester of this app I am disappointed. It works great and I have a first gen iPhone.

Now we'll just have to wait.

 

[FearlessFreep]

Sadly, this app will never be approved.