Tuesday, October 7, 2008

1. (((XM))) Radio Online
http://www.xmradio.com/

Travis Harr
Andreya Hernandez
Mashari Hogan
Alyse Hutchins



2. XM Radio combines the spontaneity of the radio with the particularity of an ipod with the luxury of no commercials or hours of downloading and organizing. To receive their services you have to be a paying member with plans starting at $7.99 per month, or start with the free trial for a short period of time. The site is laid out with a selection of categories at the bottom and information at the top with a current reloading page in the center. There are a variety of music, news, sports, and talk shows to suit every taste and every mode. XM Radio can be enjoyed on one of their specific radios, in the car, or online.


3. After you are a member, you log on and your player uploads. From here, you have a list of hundreds of stations in every genre. The player states the name of the station and the artist that is currently playing. This is convenient because you can scroll through the dock and know what song is on without having to switch stations. You cannot skip or save songs, but you do have access to an ever changing list of practically every genre you can imagine. The title and artist are given, so if you feel you need it you can purchase that song by other means. Otherwise you have no control over the song being played; only the station you are listening to.


4. The site only makes money from people subscribing to XM Radio. There isn't any advertising on the site itself, and they don't play any commercials in between songs. You can't purchase music from XM Radio; you can just pay to listen to pretty much whatever you want.


5. As we searched through the XM website we came to found that they offer many celebrity playlists such as Kenny Chesney's No Shoes Radio, AC/DC radio, and B.B. Kings Bluesville just to name a few. XM really only had the main genres that people listen to, but did offer Ngoma which are sounds from Africa. The site also offered a lot of talk shows and sports stations including most sports and famous talk show hosts such as Oprah and Ellen.


6. We think the most unique thing about this website is that there are no advertisements or pop-ups bothering you while you try to navigate the site. Similarly, there are no commercials while you are listening to their music stations either. Also, the wide variety of music genres, subgenres, talk shows and sports cast are one of the sites strongest attributes, not offered by any other services.

4 comments:

Shelby said...

I found this site to be really interesting due to the fact that you are able to listen to it without any commercials. I like the idea of 7.99 per month and how I could be listening to a certain genre and then without changing the station, see whatother songs are playing on different stations. Also intriguing to me was how you could listen to various talk show such as Ellen and Oprah.

hillaryr said...

This site is interesting in that it costs are relatively low and it is designed for speedy and easy listening. Although you cannot purchase any songs on the website, no commercials or advertisements definitely makes up for it. Not being able to skip songs may seem like a downfall, however, the fact that another station is a click away is satisfying . I agree that having the capabilities to listen to talk shows, whether your in at your desk at work on in your car, is a definite plus as well.

monicat said...

This site was pretty cool. On the upside it had no commercials...love that. However, I don't need to pay to listen to the radio, therefore would never become a member, especially when there is good "free" radio out there. However, it had a wide range of radio stations, so for the consumer that's willing to pay for it...pretty cool. Another feature I liked was that you can listen to your favorite show, for example; Oprah. So for the Oprah extremist,that's gotta be cool (I would simply TiVo it, though). Overall, it's not something I would utilize.

Nick said...

I found this site particularly interesting—I have always thought that XM radio is a bit of sham. I still feel the same way, as I feel no one should have to pay a fee to listen to organized music that is not governed by big business (i.e., Clear Channel). People should not have to pay a fee; much less, they should not have to play for a monthly fine to enjoy good music in an organized manner. Satellite broadcasts have been subject to much debate; however, for reasons unknown to me satellite wavelengths are not public domain to the same degree that analogue signals are (i.e., AM and FM). While XM radio’s fees are not extortionate, they are still more than I am willing to spend just to listen to audio in my car (only one of my vehicles posses XM capabilities and most home audio equipment do not include XM capabilities).

I enjoyed the concise and clear layout of the webpage, and further liked the notion of having various popular talk shows and news options--options that seem to assert influence with a scope more pervasive than that proffered by similar analogue broadcasts.

ABOUT THE BLOG

This is the blog for the TR section of Media & Society, Fall 2008, at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. The blog will feature postings by students on a variety of media topics.