To XM or not to XM

We bought a new vehicle right before Christmas last year, a Saturn Vue, and it came with an interesting feature, a three month free trial period of XM radio. Now, I figured I would enjoy it for free, but didn't think I would be motivated enough to actually subscribe.

Part of my problem with radio is that I have such eclectic, wide ranging tastes, and like most people, I also get bored with repetition. Take rock radio, for example. Here in Houston there are not really many options. There's the Arrow, that is heavily 70's oriented classic rock, the 80's station that plays a very narrow batch of stuff, mainly the new wave bands, Pat Benatar, Bryan Adams, you get the picture. 103.7, the station that used to be KLOL-type album rock is now Jack-FM, which seems to be a mix station by another name, and other than the moldy oldies and top 40, that is it. Now a few of those stations may sound good on paper, but they have a limited play list that they repeat over and over, and after a few days you have heard it all (many times). Sad, huh.

Let's compare that to XM, shall we? It's hard to know where to start really. Sticking to our rock comparison, we will examine the beginning of the dial where there is a station devoted to the 60's one for the 70's and one for the 80's, and one for the 90's. My wife listens to the 60's and 70's stations a bit and they aren't bad, but are a little more pop oriented (this is more obvious on the 70's station). The stations that get the most play when we are in the car together are Top Tracks and Big Tracks. Top tracks is rock from the 60's and 70's, while Big Tracks is rock from the 70's and 80's. They both play a good balance, and Big Tracks, for example, plays a lot of music that got airplay in the 80's quite a bit but didn't make it to the oldies stations. It sounds a great deal like what KLOL did in the mid 80's. I have heard songs on Big Tracks that I haven't heard since the 80's. While those stations are good, there is sooo much more. there is a station for every category: general heavy metal, 80's metal, new metal, classic alternative, new alternative, grunge, obscure classic rock, acoustic rock, and even punk gets it own station. So you see there is a wide variety of stations for whatever you are in the mood for, and speaking of different moods, lets explore a little wider.

There are a lot more stations to choose from, and I'm not always in the mood for rock. There is actually a real Jazz station, not just that smooth jazz stuff (there's one of those if you want). Also, I like opera, but on broadcast radio one is limited. 88.7 usually broadcasts opera on Saturdays around noon, but that's it. XM has a whole station devoted to just Opera and vocal music, where they play whole operas, as well as lieder, choral music, and similar things. I also find myself listening to the stand-up comedy channels quite a bit.

Well, as you can see, I found myself enjoying XM quite a bit more than I thought I would, and when our free trial was up we did subscribe.

currently reading:

Blowfly - Patricia Cornwell
Dubliners - James Joyce


currently listening to:

Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
Dropkick Murphys - Meanest of Times
Flogging Molly - Float
XM112 - Vox - the opera station

Looking for:

1972 and 1999 by Morgan Llywellyn

Currently playing:

Need For Speed Pro Street - PC
Guitar Hero III - XBox 360