(I was going to put this in the Slacker forum, but I didn't want to seem like a troll.)
I know you'll call me crazy, but hear me out:
In the beginning, there was FM radio. If you didn't like that, you had your tapes, CDs, records, whatever you had. If you wanted an "expanded playlist", you'd go to your FM radio. If you wanted to control what you listened to and listen without commercials, you'd pop in a CD.
Then, satellite radio came along. People jumped to it. It was something new, something fresh. Sure, you had to pay a monthly fee, but people gladly did. The popular line was "You already watch movies on HBO instead of TNT. You buy bottled water instead of drink from the sink." And they were right. Millions of people did (and still do) pay extra for HBO and bottled water. Walk through any grocery store, and you'll find everything from filtered water to spring water to flavored water to more.
Over time, people found their favorite satellite radio stations and didn't listen to the others. They didn't listen to country music on the FM dial, so why would they listen to country music on satellite? Maybe they had 5 music channels on their presets, maybe they had much more.
A couple of years passed and people were happy.
Then, they complained about hearing the same music. What was once a whimper began to turn into a roar.
And some began to move on to Slacker, Pandora, and iPods.
They took their favorite bands and favorite styles of music to their new media devices with "unlimited playlists." If they didn't like country, rap, classical, or jazz on their satellite radios, why would they listen to it on Slacker, Pandora, or iPods?
Honestly, I don't know why i'm including iPods on the list, because you already have to know the music is out there in order to put it on the iPod. (Disclaimer-- I have nothing against iPods, I actually own and use one on a regular basis.)
Millions of people set up their favorite music on their Slackers, Pandoras, iPods, in-car WiFi dealies (in-car WiFi will still take a few more years to come around...people aren't going to go out and spend several thousand on a new car just because it has a hard drive and internet access.)
Here's my prediction:
Give it a few years, and I wonder if people will bitch about the limited playlists on their Pandoras, Slackers, and the like.
On my satellite radio units, I listen to live talk which I can't get anywhere else. This includes sports. (Hey, I like the scoreboard feature, as well as the fact that I can listen to any game.)
In terms of music, I have 90's alternative on a preset and two other 90's channels. Those are the music channels I listen to a lot. It's not like anything new is going to be added to those channels. By restraining myself to a certain decade, i'm setting myself up for complaining.
Hey, if i'm wrong i'm wrong. It's no big deal.
I'm just thinking that the following is true: Anyone can listen to music for 8, 9, 10 hours a day, but the more they restrict what they listen to, the more likely they are to set themselves up for complaining. They're BOUND to hear repeats eventually.
Does SiriusXM have everything? No, and i'm not saying they do. I'm saying that most people probably only listen to a very limited number of channels. No matter where they get their music from, it's only a matter of time until they start complaining.
I know you'll call me crazy, but hear me out:
In the beginning, there was FM radio. If you didn't like that, you had your tapes, CDs, records, whatever you had. If you wanted an "expanded playlist", you'd go to your FM radio. If you wanted to control what you listened to and listen without commercials, you'd pop in a CD.
Then, satellite radio came along. People jumped to it. It was something new, something fresh. Sure, you had to pay a monthly fee, but people gladly did. The popular line was "You already watch movies on HBO instead of TNT. You buy bottled water instead of drink from the sink." And they were right. Millions of people did (and still do) pay extra for HBO and bottled water. Walk through any grocery store, and you'll find everything from filtered water to spring water to flavored water to more.
Over time, people found their favorite satellite radio stations and didn't listen to the others. They didn't listen to country music on the FM dial, so why would they listen to country music on satellite? Maybe they had 5 music channels on their presets, maybe they had much more.
A couple of years passed and people were happy.
Then, they complained about hearing the same music. What was once a whimper began to turn into a roar.
And some began to move on to Slacker, Pandora, and iPods.
They took their favorite bands and favorite styles of music to their new media devices with "unlimited playlists." If they didn't like country, rap, classical, or jazz on their satellite radios, why would they listen to it on Slacker, Pandora, or iPods?
Honestly, I don't know why i'm including iPods on the list, because you already have to know the music is out there in order to put it on the iPod. (Disclaimer-- I have nothing against iPods, I actually own and use one on a regular basis.)
Millions of people set up their favorite music on their Slackers, Pandoras, iPods, in-car WiFi dealies (in-car WiFi will still take a few more years to come around...people aren't going to go out and spend several thousand on a new car just because it has a hard drive and internet access.)
Here's my prediction:
Give it a few years, and I wonder if people will bitch about the limited playlists on their Pandoras, Slackers, and the like.
On my satellite radio units, I listen to live talk which I can't get anywhere else. This includes sports. (Hey, I like the scoreboard feature, as well as the fact that I can listen to any game.)
In terms of music, I have 90's alternative on a preset and two other 90's channels. Those are the music channels I listen to a lot. It's not like anything new is going to be added to those channels. By restraining myself to a certain decade, i'm setting myself up for complaining.
Hey, if i'm wrong i'm wrong. It's no big deal.
I'm just thinking that the following is true: Anyone can listen to music for 8, 9, 10 hours a day, but the more they restrict what they listen to, the more likely they are to set themselves up for complaining. They're BOUND to hear repeats eventually.
Does SiriusXM have everything? No, and i'm not saying they do. I'm saying that most people probably only listen to a very limited number of channels. No matter where they get their music from, it's only a matter of time until they start complaining.