Ramblings of a Mad Weatherman...

I have to tell you, I adore satellite Radio. I read with great incredulousness and sadness last week that the Recording Industry of America was keeping their lawyers in business with a silly lawsuit that wants to charge XM $150,000 per song recorded on the new genre of portable satellite radio receivers.

I have a problem with that. We are already paying $12.95 per month to listen to radio that is not determined by formula. It’s all about the music. You can’t copy or transfer the songs to someone else’s player.

Hey RIA XM actually sells songs for your members. I hear songs nearly every day that I like. I can press the memory button and the player remembers the song. Then, when I get on iTunes, I can PURCHASE the song and download it to my iPod. Then I can enjoy it anytime.

What the players do is just let us do what we have been doing with VCRs and DVRs for decades. It lets us time shift.

I have the original Delphi XM2GO. I couldn’t wait for it to come out when it was released two Christmases ago. The new portable receiver/recorders are smaller, have more memory and pack more features. Each day, I use my XM 2 Go to record two of my favorite programs on XM. At 11 a.m., there is a show devoted to fantasy baseball, called fantasy focus. It is an hour of nirvana. That show is followed immediately by Baseball Beat. Charley Steiner, the LA Dodgers announcer as well as ESPN and Yankee alum, hosts the two hour show of baseball columnists from all around the country. For the baseball fan, it truly is heaven.

By time shifting, I get to listen to those programs while I was driving to the airport Thursday morning and while I was in the air flying to Baltimore. Time to get off my soapbox. I want composers and artists to receive compensation for their intellectual property. I agree that the original Napster model was wrong. I have paid for many hundreds of dollars of music on iTunes and the new Napster. I just think that the RIA is a heavy handed organization that is using Draconian methods to maintain its position.
Posted by   www
on May 27, 2006, 10:05 pm
Bill, I couldn't agree more. I love my XM radio. I have inrroduced my boys to several genres of music they would never have heard of otherwise. Tonight we listened to the Giants/Rockies game while we did other things around the house. Then I turned it over to the blues station, 74. I like listening to many stations, especially the 70's, 80's, Spirit 32 (Christian), and 175 (baseball). I like "Baseball This Morning" with Mark Patrick, Oresta Destrada, and Buck Martinez.

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Posted by Mikey  
on May 28, 2006, 12:01 am
Yes...XM has changed the face of music (and the way we listen to it). I don't listen to OTA radio any more unless it's in someone else's office...the commercials get on my nerves. Plus...I understand that Magic 96 is touting HD radio...that's good if you want to plunk down $250 for an HD receiver. That makes no sense when you can get a satellite radio (I have the Delphi XM To Go) for $150 at Wal-Mart. Even with the $12.95 per month (and additional receivers are only $6 per month, so the two in the household is $19.95 per month, which comes out to less than $10 for each one), it's a great deal.

I believe that terrestrial radio is on it's way out.

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Posted by  
on May 28, 2006, 12:29 am
I myself prefer SIRIUS Satellite Radio. SIRIUS has the NFL, NCAA Basketball, Football and Baseball and coming in 2007, NASCAR. I listen to music channels such as, The Big 80's, Classic Rewinds, and Super Shuffle.

I don't mind at all paying 12.95 per month for having SIRIUS Satellite radio. I hardly ever listen to FM radio anymore.

As far as the RIA in concerned, all they are doing is lining their pockets. The rich getting richer.

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Posted by  
on May 28, 2006, 4:17 am
LOL---- When I read the headline to this post, I thought it said, Ramblings of a Weather Madman.

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Posted by  
on May 28, 2006, 8:30 am
I think the IRAA as well as the MPAA are gready Bas****s. They need to enbrase the new technology and not file law suites. Reminds me of the MPAA trying to block the sale of VCRs in the 70's looking back this has helped the motion picture business rather than hurt it. I rented a car with XM, enjoyed it and will probally buy one in the future. I am a talk radio fax and with BOPL (broad band over power lines) comming clear AM reception will be almost impossible in most areas.

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Posted by stephany  
on May 28, 2006, 10:06 am
RIAA sucks... nuff said.

Music sales are down because artist aren't creating Albums worth buying as a whole.

They should release "Electronic" albums or Electronic singles.




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