I think we'll cut down from four radios to three. They keep raising the price, we'll keep cutting radios.
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XM/SIRIUS App Out
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I just heard howard talking about the app on the replay. he said it was DEFINITELY due to rights issues.. he said its a big mess, but didnt expand. I'm SURE it has to do with him wanting more money, or different types of rights.. Like maybe sirius wants to rights to replay on phones after he is gone.. that whole deal.
But its ALL ABOUT RIGHTS and not about making you pay more. He did say he hopes that they add it soon, but its not likely to be VERY soon
But its ALL ABOUT RIGHTS and not about making you pay more. He did say he hopes that they add it soon, but its not likely to be VERY soon
I was listening Monday hoping he'd say something about it but didn't catch this. Thanks
I'm really digging this app. I don't care much for Howard Stern. The quality is great over 3G, much better than I was expecting and I have yet to hear any lackluster quality or have the radio station drop due to low service. Awesome stuff.
I was just about to post how bad I thought the audio quality was. I was certain it sounded better before, but after finally listening to it on a nice stereo, I take back everything nice I said about this app. It can't be a higher stream than 32k or 64k. Awful. Pocket Tunes streams at 128k, and that's what I'm paying for on the online stream. The fact that this app uses variable kbs over 3G is unacceptable. When will satellite learn that not everyone can tolerate crap quality?
I've tried installing Tricker ThreeG, but don't hear any noticeable improvement in SQ. Guess I'll stick with Pocket Tunes for now.
...unless you purchased a lifetime subscription. online listening is still free, but it's at the lower bit rate and it doesn't work on the iphone app.
The lower bitrate stream is only still free if you are under contract with Sirius. They are phasing it out and will eventually force everyone to the $3/month stream. Starting in July they are also raising rates by $2 (more if you have multiple radios) for "music royalty fees." Thats about 35% my bill has gone up in the last couple of months and I'm getting pretty much the same service I was before (I don't really care about the higher quality stream). Trying to decide if I want to keep it or cancel... it isn't really worth $20/month to me... That merger isn't working out too well for consumers so far.
Not quite. I signed a lifetime contract with them. They can't get rid of it without being in default. If they do, they'll have to compensate everyone that purchased a lifetime program. The rep I spoke with yesterday said there is no planned kill date for the lower bit rate stream. It will always be available to lifetime subscribers. When peoples' annual or monthly contracts expire they lose access to it. That's not the case for the ppl who purchased lifetime subscriptions, and paid a premium to do so. Sirius can't just do what they want when there's a contract w/ no expiration in place, without having consequences.
Getting ready to jettison another radio from my XM and Sirius accounts, leaving us with one from both (down from a total of five). They've effectively killed any desire I have for the service and there are perfectly acceptable alternatives in Pandora, Pocket Tunes, etc. They have got to be hemorrhaging subscribers.
Right... like I said, you are still under contract so you aren't effected. I'm a month to month subscriber and they gave me the option to sign on for an additional 2 years and they would waive the new $3/month fee. I passed since I really don't want to be in a 2 year contract with a company desperately trying to fight off bankruptcy.
The $2 rate increase for music royalty fees is an increase that wasinstituted by the federal government. It's not something that the folks at Sirius wanted to do, but they were forced to. Had you actually read the entire letter that was mailed or emailed to you, you would have seen that. Secondly, I;ve been a Sirius subscriber for almoat 6 years now and in that 6 year time my basic rate went from $12.95 a month 6 years ago to $12.95 a month today. Hmmmmm not too bad when prices everywhere else skyrocketed in 6 years time. The addition of the $3 for the higher bit stream on the internet is reasonable. I enjoy Sirius a lot and even more so with the iPhone app and quite frankly if you don't like the rates, then cancel it. Go back to the free radio broadcasts. You'll be back after a wek or two of listening to that.
This is one of my most favorite apps. We get the internet stream so it sounds allot better than what we get in the car or on our XM radios at home!
The bad thing is, if you listen to it for a few hours, it shuts off due to inactivity. No way to get around it.
The bad thing is, if you listen to it for a few hours, it shuts off due to inactivity. No way to get around it.
Scott, I can see you are a big Sirius fan. I have been too and I have been a subscriber for longer than 6 years. And yes, I read the entire email Sirius sent to me. Whether Sirius wants to raise rates or not is irrelevant the fact is they are and I will be paying over $20/month for one subscription now when I was paying about $15 for it a couple of months ago. Percentage wise that is a pretty big increase and a lot of people are starting to question whether it worth it or not especially with the free offerings of Pandora, Last.fm, and Slacker.
The app does work very well so I can't complain in that regard. Nice UI and easy to navigate. I just wish I could get everything on it.
There's rumblings of people replacing radios with iPhones. Considering that you may not always if ever get the 128k stream, the sound quality will take a huge it.
There's rumblings of people replacing radios with iPhones. Considering that you may not always if ever get the 128k stream, the sound quality will take a huge it.
Ditto for sure. First, Stern was specifically excluded from the APP. I guess Howard just wanted more money since his Sirius stock tanked and he's down a couple of hundred million. Second, you're right that when someone is a paying member already, why pay for the privilege of even lower quality streaming sound. There are plenty of programs that will capture streams. I can do that and then put in on the iPhone from iTunes.
But Sirius/XM is in serious financial difficulty. The merger was no savior. I love the service, but this APP is not worth it at all.