Yesterdays Dallas Morning News reported a story on the front page about a new service called XM radio that is going online sometime this September. XM is a digital satelite radio service that will cover the entire United States, similar to the way satelite TV works.

There is supposed to be around 100 stations available with all types of formats, most stations will be 100% commercial free. Subscriptions are supposed to be about $10US per month, with listeners able to listen to their favorite station from one end of the country to the other. The service is being tested in the Dallas and San Diego areas before being rolled out to the rest of the country.

Pioneer, Alpine and Sony car stereos built in the last few years are supposed to have the needed technology built in to use the service while other manufacturers are adding it to their units. In addition, selected GM cars will be shipping with AM/FM/XM radios in 2002.

For more information, visit www.xmradio.com

Now my obvious questions is this - can/will our empeg units be able to use this new fangled technology as well?

Carl

080000506 12gb-green

Yes, if there was sufficient demand to develop an XM tuner module. There's almost no demand right now, so watch this space.

Rob

In reply to:

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Pioneer, Alpine and Sony car stereos built in the last few years are supposed to have the needed technology built in to use the service while other manufacturers are adding it to their units

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Does anyone have a head unit with an FM/AM/XM tuner already? Or did you mean they have inputs for a future tuner module (like an empeg)?

-Doug
Mk2-12G Blue (Now A/R Green)

If Empeg makes one I hope they remember to make something to work on the Mark I units as well because I want one as well.

Steve

OK. Put one vote down for me for demand for an XM Tuner Module. :)

I've been following XM Radio (and hybrids) for a while, and would love to have my empeg support this when it becomes a "standard".

(O|||||O)

More like two requests :) I would totally love to see this technology on my empeg... just another part of the 'Nerdfactor'

Damien Heiser

RioCar 12GB Blue SN: 120001043

There are some pretty obvious but unaddressed issues with XMR. If they do not adress them, I can't see this ever being a success.

A DSS dish sits stationary with a clear view of its satellite at your house. A car is not stationary. What happens when you go under a bridge? A tunnel? Under an overpass? Though thick overhanging trees? In parking garages, etc. You see where I'm going, I hope. :) Those with DSS know that electrical storms can cause erratic reception. Same with XMR.

These are just the obvious issues, but I wouldn't plan on XMR going anywhere very soon. *shrug*

My understanding was that they have a bunch of ground-based repeaters working for those kinds of situations.

Anyway, I don't find XMR compelling. Give me Shoutcast wirelessly and you'll have my attention!

To me, overcompressed audio with limited service coverage isn't compelling. The idea of having a wide variety of commercial-free music at your fingertips is a good one, but if it's overly data-compressed (and isn't available in the hilly area where I live anyway), forget it. Then you want to charge me a subscription for the privilege? OK, where do I sign up.

Now, if someone could just come up with a way of having high-quality digital versions of all my favorite music in one place, and allowing me instant access to it, and having it work everywhere regardless of radio reception, well then I'd be a happy camper. Too bad such a system doesn't exist yet. Oh well !!!!!!

___________
Tony Fabris

In reply to:

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Now, if someone could just come up with a way of having high-quality digital versions of all my favorite music in one place, and allowing me instant access to it, and having it work everywhere regardless of radio reception, well then I'd be a happy camper. Too bad such a system doesn't exist yet. Oh well !!!!!!

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I'm pretty sure I saw a webpage for some small company in the UK (I think they were based in Somerset?) who were working on something like this. That was a couple of years ago... I wonder what became of them??

Geoff
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Got one of the first Mark 2 empegs...

I wonder what became of them??

Their headquarters was stormed by a raging mob bearing torches and pitchforks, chanting "We want our tuners..."



tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"