Satellite Radio (OT)

[Norm's Coupe]

Like most new cars today, satellite radio was included at no charge in the new car we bought in August. Think they said it was good for 90 days free/included. After the 90 days, think they said it would be something like 12 bucks a month.

Well.........I do like the Elvis channel, but.......they play the same songs over and over. Same with the other satellite stations, like RB and country. So......why should one want to pay 12 bucks a month to hear the same music over and over. Can do that much cheaper with a CD if you want. Not only that, but there is no local news on it. Then we won't even talk about sitting under a carport roof like at the drive up window at the bank. As soon as I pull under there the satellite radio says "Searching for station" (or something to that affect) and the radio goes silent until I leave. At least with AM/FM or CD the radio keeps on playing. I think satellite radio is a big waste myself.

[Young Ed]

Norm I know what you mean about no local news. We were getting a bad storm. I had 104.1 jack fm on. They dont have DJs. I didnt really think of it until later but they never interrupted for bad weather because of the no DJs. Luckily my dad called and told me to turn on the tv!

[greg g]

You sure it only 12 songs??? Elvis has 15 top 40 #1's, so you may be hearing at least 15, but probably you're right the big 12 are in a more frequent rotation. The big advantage to Sat radio is you can hear the same 12 songs clear across the country without having to retune the radio. Except of course when you go through tunnels, it's cloudy and raining, your uder thick trees, your at the drive through or getting gas. I usually listen to the sat rad when I travel for the dealership. Its a novelty to be able to listen to the same station (I usually tune in NPR or one of the sports talk channels) without having to change it 5 or 6 times but for 150 bucks a year, nah nevermind. Most of the long distance trips we take in the car, we listen to books on tape or cd. get a couple or three, inbetween you can tune i the news on the FM, or you can always find some political windbag comentary portrayed as the news where ever you go.

Besides if you are tuned into Sat Rad and have the GPS plugged in, drivig through police radar and collision avoidance radar, aren't you slowly cooking your self with microwaves????????????

[Merle Coggins]

I've got a Sirius radio that I can switch between my truck and motorcycle. I don't use it much when I'm around here, but when I'm out driving around the state I turn it on so I don't have to keep searching for stations. I can put it on one channel and listen as long as I want. I originally bought it for my motorcycle for when I'm traveling. I can ride all day across the country and never have to change the channel unless I want to. I love it. I've had it for several years now.

I got Sirius because they have the NFL package. With that I can listen to the Packer games no matter where I am. It will come in handy next month when I will be driving down to Asheville, NC the Sunday of the Packer-Bear game. I can tune in the game and listen in as I cruise down the highway. I'll probably be in southern Indiana or Kentucky by the time the came starts, but I'll still be able to listen to it.

Merle

[greg g]

So Ed, can't you tell what the weather is doing by looking out the window???? You gotta watch it on TV??? With Sat TV if it snowing or raining hard the reception goes to crap, whattareya gonna do then???? Besides if its dark out the weather doesn't matter anyway............

[Young Ed]

We knew it was stormy but not that a tornado was a mile or so away.

[Norm's Coupe]

I've got a Sirius radio that I can switch between my truck and motorcycle. I don't use it much when I'm around here, but when I'm out driving around the state I turn it on so I don't have to keep searching for stations. I can put it on one channel and listen as long as I want. I originally bought it for my motorcycle for when I'm traveling. I can ride all day across the country and never have to change the channel unless I want to. I love it. I've had it for several years now.

I got Sirius because they have the NFL package. With that I can listen to the Packer games no matter where I am. It will come in handy next month when I will be driving down to Asheville, NC the Sunday of the Packer-Bear game. I can tune in the game and listen in as I cruise down the highway. I'll probably be in southern Indiana or Kentucky by the time the came starts, but I'll still be able to listen to it.

Merle

Merle,

Sirius radio is what's in the car. I just assumed all satellite stations were the same, so didn't mention the brand name (if that's what it is). Bought the car on August 21, so I'm assuming they'll cut my reception around November 21st. I'm not going to pay to keep it going. I have all those oldies but goodies on CD anyway if I want to listen to those. Now, on your motorcycle that may be a little hard to play a CD without it skipping, so maybe it would pay for itself, if you do a lot of riding on the bike. Plus, it's a little hard to get a CD out of the Jewel case while riding a motorcycle down the highway.

[Merle Coggins]

My bike actually has an option for a 6 disc CD changer that mounts in the bottom of the trunk. But at $800+ for that option I didn't get it. I can also plug an MP3 player or iPod into the stereo system and listen to that too, if I want to.

Merle

[Tom Skinner]

Tube Radio Music is Free.

You can go on ebay and buy a Tube Consol Radio for the house.

They sell counter top Tube Radios for about $20.

They sound better, more mello and the music is free.

Where are you going to find a better deal than that?

Tom

[Don Coatney]

Besides if you are tuned into Sat Rad and have the GPS plugged in, drivig through police radar and collision avoidance radar, aren't you slowly cooking your self with microwaves????????????

Hay man, I thought we all got fried in the 60,s using weed and stuff. Today I dont inhale microwaves so I should be cool

We knew it was stormy but not that a tornado was a mile or so away.

Young Ed;

My GG Grandfather Archibald Coatney (born about 1804 died about 1879) fathered 18 children with 3 different wives (two of them were sisters) over a 53 year time span. He did this without radio, TV, rubbers, the weather channel, telephones, electricity, airplanes, blenders, helmets, infernal combustion engines, and glass windows to name only a few.

As a future POC president and proginator of the future of Plymouth automobile interst why do you care if a tornado is a mile away? Grab your honey and follow Archibalds lead!

[Plymouthy Adams]

don't see the big deal here ..you could get a Satellite radio from Plymouth as early as 1965

[Young Ed]

18 children huh? thats quite a handful. Now adays he'd be paying childsupport up the you know what to the first 2 wives.

[greg g]

Hey Tim wasn't that a radio in a Satellite????

[Norm's Coupe]

Tube Radio Music is Free.

You can go on ebay and buy a Tube Consol Radio for the house.

They sell counter top Tube Radios for about $20.

They sound better, more mello and the music is free.

Where are you going to find a better deal than that?

Tom

Tom, Don't need to buy a tube radio. Have this nice 1937 Philco console I fully restored back in the 90's. Wife's uncle bought this new in 1937.

[Captain Neon]

I plug an mp3 player into my aux jack on all of my vehicles. I even have a recharger to keep my mp3 player charged. With the high capacity, low prices, and small size of mp3 players, I've never had to worry about not having enough variety of whatever I want to listen to while traveling. Sure was nice to listen to some Star Wars novels and Trans-Siberian Orchestra while driving back and forth to Chattanooga this past weekend.

My wife and I have three mp3 players. I bought her one of the first mp3 players when I bought her a Diamond Rio back in '99. We keep it around for sentimental reasons. Kind of like why I have my old Apple //c stashed at my parents'. She now has a Sansui mp3 player that I think could hold every CD we both own. I have a little Insignia that I got for $5. I got a similar unit for my 10-year old niece. Nice little units. No CDs to scratch or skip.

Norm, I agree with you. I can't see the value in satellite radio for music. Now, if I was a dyed in the wool superfan of a certain sporting franchise, then, yes, satellite radio is the way to go. I think, however, the years in the factory and my general curmudgeonliness has made it more and more the case that I just listen to the sound of my engine and exhaust just to grab some groceries or go to the post office.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Hey Tim wasn't that a radio in a Satellite????

yeah...but... it was a Satellite radio...can't sneak up on you...!

[eric wissing]

I have Sarelite radio in my car and in the house. I like 'The Loft" channel 33. They will play jazz, folk, rock, Latin( mambo, samba, salsa). A good ,mix at night. They have DJs such as David Johansen, Vic Scalia, + others. I like hearing new music. There is also "The Bob Dylan Radio hour which is great. He plays all sorts of things even some country.

On the news side there is the BBC, CBC, PBS with shows that don't make our local PBS radio. "On Point" , "Forum", "Fresh Air", "Click and Clack", "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" and they repaet them so if I miss something I can find it later.

If you want to know what is coming through your speaker with no surprises get an MP3 player. The sound is only so-so but handy. Eric

[Norm's Coupe]

Eric and others, it really doesn't matter to me that much anyway. I rarely play the car radio. If it's on, then you have to talk over it to talk to whoever is with you. Even when alone, I like the peace and quiet without the radio. So.........really, the whole radio is probably wasted on me, and the same would be true of an mp3 player.

That said, don't you have to pay to load your MP3 player too? Not trying to be funny here, but I just don't know the answer, as I'm not into all these gadgets. Not only that, I believe you need headphones for the MP3's. If you have headphones on in the car, you can't hear all that's going on with the traffic.

[Young Ed]

Norm yes and no. You can load your existing cds onto the MP3 player. But you can also load digital music bought and downloaded from the internet. So if its a song you dont already own you either have to buy it on cd or buy it online. My ipod plugs into my 48 radio and into my dakota radio and plays through the car speakers so no headphones. I won't listen to it with headphones.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed,

Well if you have to use CD's anyway in the MP3 player, I can just shove a CD in the car radio if I wanted to. Of course, that's a little difficult in your P15.

That said, I started this thread talking about the Sirus satellite radio they give you with a new car. Well........I knew mine was about to end. Just got the notice in the mail today saying it will expire in early December (didn't give an exact date). It's also strange because they said I'd be receiving a bill about a month before the expiration date, but.........didn't send an actual bill or even give the rates. Looks like they would have done that all in the same letter, or at least given the actual expiration date. Oh well, guess they don't mind paying for two mailings for the same thing.

They did send a pamphlet giving all the various channels and shows. Didn't know it but guess they also have a station giving traffic reports. However, out of the whole list there was not one that gave the traffic report for my area. Nearest was Chicago. But.........here again, if I'm going someplace, does it really matter if that road has a lot of traffic. I'll still have to take that road to get to my destination. If the traffic is moving along, then I'll move along. If it's slow, then I'll sit back, relax and go slow with it. You can't fight it.

[Plymouthy Adams]

watch it Norm..you are about to be slammed...if you don't opt out..you, by lack of "action" are indicating that you wish to continue the service...but hey..if I had your money, I'd burn mine...lol

[Young Ed]

Norm you dont put cds in the MP3 player. You use your computer to transfer the songs to it.

[Captain Neon]

When you convert the files on the CD to mp3 format, you don't have to worry about the mp3 player skipping or the CD getting scratched. One also does not need to keep swapping CDs if they have sufficient amount of programming on an mp3 player. Plug, play, forget. A definite safety plus, and I know, Norm, that you are all about safety.

One also has the benefit of almost instant availability if downloading music. It sure has been convenient for me to download just the audio book or music album that I wanted rather than having to go to a brick and mortar store and hope they have what I am looking for in stock. My tastes are a bit eclectic and are not usually stocked on store shelves. Dowloaded mp3 files also offer a bit of savings to the consumer as one does not need to pay for packaging or handling.

Edited November 4, 2009 by Captain Neon

[Norm's Coupe]

watch it Norm..you are about to be slammed...if you don't opt out..you, by lack of "action" are indicating that you wish to continue the service...but hey..if I had your money, I'd burn mine...lol

Tim.......in that letter I got they gave me a password and pin number to go on their website with. Well.........the letter went in the shredder. I will not get slammed because they don't have a credit card number. If they send me a bill, it will also go into the shredder.

Ben, Hey, I now use my seat belt in that car. So........I'm being safe.

Ed, like I said I'm not into all the new gadgets. Now, you can see that.

[blueskies]

Ever drive through Nevada? No radio for hundreds of miles... I have XM radio and it makes the drive bearable when we make the trip from Idaho to Vegas three or four times a year. There's a lot more on satelite radio than music too, news, talk, comedy, etc.

Also use an iPod for music, but I get tired of my own music. Use it mostly for audio books for the kids when traveling. Can't imagine why anyone would bother with cd's in a car nowadays... I have 2500 songs on my iPhone and they all fit in my shirt pocket.

Pete