Waiting for the iPhone/iPod touch Sirius XM App is excruciating!

[macfanatic010]

Yes, right now, I can listen to SXM using Pocket Tunes Radio, but that implementation is horrible. The user interface is the suck, it'll randomly stop and buffer even though I have a 3mbps internet connection, and there's random clicks and pops in the audio stream!

How many more "weeks" are there left


(P.S. I know Pocket Tunes Radio will get dropped if you lock your ipod for 30 seconds or more because the ipod is designed to turn off wifi when it's not in use to save battery power, but I tried to workaround this on my jailbroken ipod by using Keep Awake, which prohibits the iPod from disconnecting. My wifi is definitely on, but I still get buffering issues.)

 

[flap_jackson]

Yes, right now, I can listen to SXM using Pocket Tunes Radio, but that implementation is horrible. The user interface is the suck, it'll randomly stop and buffer even though I have a 3mbps internet connection, and there's random clicks and pops in the audio stream!

How many more "weeks" are there left


(P.S. I know Pocket Tunes Radio will get dropped if you lock your ipod for 30 seconds or more because the ipod is designed to turn off wifi when it's not in use to save battery power, but I tried to workaround this on my jailbroken ipod by using Keep Awake, which prohibits the iPod from disconnecting. My wifi is definitely on, but I still get buffering issues.)

And you had to pay $10 for that crap?:shock:

 

[macfanatic010]

And you had to pay $10 for that crap?:shock:

wouldn't recommend buying it. oddly enough, it's only bugging up on the SIR stations -- anything else in their directory plays fine, no buffer issues at all. heck, even clear channel's iheartradio app runs fine on my ipod. it's just pocket tunes' implementation of SIR that's shoddy.

edit: i forgot to mention, it only has issues when it bugs up. sometimes, i can run it for a few hours and it'll not buffer once, but that's only like 30%-40% of the time. all the other times, it'll start to stall & buffer after a few minutes of perfect streaming.

 

[iwasnotme]

About Pocket Tunes Radio

Hi all,

I work as a developer on the Pocket Tunes Radio product and thought I'd respond to your message. I also use our product to listen to Sirius every day (both in the office and driving around town).

I'm sorry to hear that you're having a problem with Pocket Tunes Radio. From what you describe, it sounds as if your network connection is (at least intermittently) unable to sustain the bitrate that Sirius uses. Even a relatively minor network interruption can cause "buffering" and the higher the bitrate, the more likely buffering is to occur. Network interruptions that are never noticed when "browsing the web" can become noticeable with Internet radio.

Most of the Sirius music stations use 128kbps by default, which is quite a bit higher than most of the other stations in our built-in catalog. You say that the other stations in the catalog work fine, so it does appear that the network is the issue.

The following KB article describes how to use a lower bitrate with Sirius channels:

How do I change the stream speed of Sirius radio?

If you have *any* issues with Pocket Tunes Radio, we want to hear about it! You can contact our Support team at:

NormSoft Support

There's a section at the bottom of that page called "Contact Support"...feel free to use it. I can assure you that we follow up with all submissions to that form.

Take care,
Allen

 

[macfanatic010]

Hi Allen,
I noticed this was your first post on the message board. Thanks for trying to help...it means a lot to see a company that's actively searching for dissatisfied customers and helping to fix the problems.

Unfortunately, I don't think my connection is to blame. As I've said before, I have a 3mbps dsl connection. Since I practically live behind the telco's office, I'm getting the constant 3mbps connection all the time. All of my computers can air sirius' 128kbps stream fine, it's just the iPod. I've already tried your suggestion prior to you mentioning it and, unfortunately, I was still getting buffering messages on the 32kbps streams.

 

[tsave31]

It is even more frustrating having to wait even longer for a Sirius XM blackberry app to come out!

 

[iwasnotme]

Very interesting

Very interesting. From the perspective of Pocket Tunes Radio, once the Sirius stream is established, it is pretty much the same as all other "Windows Media" streams.

So there are a couple of things we can do from here on this issue. If you can contact our support team, there are some diagnostic commands you can run within Pocket Tunes Radio that might help us figure out what's going on.

These types of problems keep me up at night, so please do contact Support so we can have a shot at understanding what's going on.

Allen

 

[macfanatic010]

Just an update: I've noticed that all the XM-originated channels are doing the click/pop noise on Sirius Internet Radio. It appears to be a Sirius-related issue because it happens on any program you listen with--be it pocket tunes, pulsar on mac, or the official web player. I've a feeling it is due to bugs in the Sirius/XM interface, since both systems weren't originally designed to talk to each other. I apologize for assuming this was a pocket tunes-related issue. I am still getting buffer problems though. I've notced that pocket tunes has a small, almost realtime, buffer. Is there a way to adjust the size? I think that would help with the problems I am experiencing.

 

[DAB]

I've been using this application for while now and I have no buffering issues whatsoever. So, I am in the camp that this is more related to your internet service than the application itself.

I can listen to it for hours and hours, in fact I've listened up to 8 hours without a single interruption.

I see that you are using DSL and I can tell you in our various offices we had a lot of problems with DSL not only streaming, but in general. We moved our offices to cable and have never had issues with streaming or anything else for that matter. Plus we are limited to the speeds that the phone company sets based on your distance from the nearest central office.

I've been very pleased with pocket radio, though they are relying on mobile musicdock which doesn't have an updated list of channels or graphics, so it makes it look like they are behind on keeping up. This should be nothing new for Sirius subscribers though!

 

[macfanatic010]

@DAB
I'm able to listen to SIR for hours on end on both my Macs and PCs with no buffering problems, just not using pocket tunes for some reason. I've done speedtests and I can tell you that I am getting close to the full 3mbps.

 

[DAB]

@DAB
I'm able to listen to SIR for hours on end on both my Macs and PCs with no buffering problems, just not using pocket tunes for some reason. I've done speedtests and I can tell you that I am getting close to the full 3mbps.

You know what I just realized is you are using SIR and I am using XMRO. I wonder if that is the difference in terms of the Pocket Tunes App.

I have rarely seen it buffer except when it first starts and it plays for hours and hours without stopping.

Speedtest are a snapshot at a given time, but doesn't show sustainability of high speeds overtime. But it would make no sense that you don't have problems with the SIR online which is what the Pocket Tunes application uses. XMRO uses mobile Soundock or whatever it is called to stream the music to the Pocket Tunes App.

Anyway... Who knows?! LOL I just know in the past I've had tons of issues with DSL and so for me that is like a red flag!

 

[limegrass69]

Try Wunderradio.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

You know what I just realized is you are using SIR and I am using XMRO. I wonder if that is the difference in terms of the Pocket Tunes App.

I am wondering why there are still 2 internet sources in the first place. I know they can't merge there sats but their online should all be from siriusxm.com

 

[MrJeff2000]

I'll wait and see how the "official" Sirius application works before spending $10 on a app (Pocket Tunes) that they might shut down with a lawsuit, similar to StarPlayr.

 

[DAB]

I am wondering why there are still 2 internet sources in the first place. I know they can't merge there sats but their online should all be from siriusxm.com

This is true I see no reason why they should keep them separate, but at this point they still are apparently.

I'll wait and see how the "official" Sirius application works before spending $10 on a app (Pocket Tunes) that they might shut down with a lawsuit, similar to StarPlayr.

Not going to happen because Pocket Tunes isn't just for streaming SiriusXM. They stream hundreds of music stations, so at worse they have to remove the ability to stream SiriusXM, but since they are not just a pure SirusXM app like StarPlayr then there is little to no chance of them coming after Pocket Tunes, already remember Apple approved the application and the StarPlayr was denied approval. I've been enjoying XM for 2 months now so what is that $5 a month now and this doesn't even take into consideration all the other stuff I've listened too with this application.

 

[lronglien]

Pocket Tunes

I also have the Pocket Tunes app on my iPhone. Works great both off if 3G and via WIFI. One good thing about NormSoft is that they DO have excellent customer service. They've responded 100% of the time to my questions or concerns. From a message I got yesterday from them, it looks like in the next update of PocketTunes for Windows Mobile you'll be able to get XM online--they are working on Sirius online as well.

 

[Jon]

I am listening to the Spectrum on Wunderradio right now (free trial). The only drawback is it doesn't have the song information or artist pad data. Which I'm sure Pocket Tunes has since I've never used it. Maybe the next $10.00 I have burning a hole I'll buy Pocket Tunes since I've heard good things about it. The sound quality is pretty darn good, though.

 

[dblue351]

Pocket Tunes does not display the song title or PDT either, but I still love it!

 

[DAB]

Pocket Tunes does not display the song title or PDT either, but I still love it!

What you talking about Willis? The song title, artist and composer shows up on mine, but you have to keep it set to web. If you click on the album art and then click back, it will auto refresh each time the information changes. On my Ipod Touch I strech the text to max size so I can see it more easily.

 

[Jon]

If I'm understand the online channel list correctly you get the Virus, NHL Home Ice and other channels from XM WITH the Best of XM package? It kinda reads like BOXM is included with online.