Woot XM alert

You can't watch the Sunday package if you aren't in front of your TV. For those on the road, Sirius/XM is almost a must-buy now.

 

Man, on NFL Sundays I'm on my couch watching the games, even if it sometimes means playing Barbies while doing so with my daughter. I don't work in sports, so I'm usually off.

 

And here is where you and I differ.

In the probably two years I had XM, I heard probably 4 songs on it that I couldn't hear on terrestrial radio that I liked. 99.8 percent of the music on XM was stuff I'd never heard of and didn't like.

I went to listening to the 80s station (which still played a bunch of crap I didn't know) and the comedy stations. Then I realized I was paying $13 a month to listen to comedy.



For whoever talked about driving through bad areas and getting Jesus or mariachi...for roughly 5 hours of my 8-hour drive home to see the folks, the XM didn't even work. So there.

 

So, if I buy this thing, how does it work in my house? I just plug it into the stereo I already own?
Also, can I listen to MLB games with it in my office or does it only work in my car and in my house? I won't buy it if I can't listen to the craptastic Yankees in the office.

 

You can listen to the music stations on your computer. To listen to the CRAPTASTIC Yankees at work--or anywhere outside the car, for that matter--you would need an XM boom box or some other kind of portable XM device. You just stick the radio in the docking station. I've had a lousy experience with the boom box, I cannot seem to get the antennae to ever work. But I've heard good experiences about their walkman-like devices.

If Moddy's here in the morning, I'm sure he'll check in. He's even more into XM than most of us here.

 

I just do not get that at all. If you haven't heard 99.8 pct of the stuff on XM, I seriously have to wonder: Did you spend the first three decades of your life listening to the same mix tape? Outside of the Boneyard, which often plays songs by hard rock bands I either never liked or never heard of back in the '80s and '90s, I rarely if ever hear a song I've never heard before on my other favorite stations ('80s, Big Tracks, '90s).

As for the lousy reception, I've had extended difficulties with XM exactly once...when I was driving into a massive thunderstorm last summer. I've been to some real bumfuck areas, such as my parents house in CT and a few places in way upstate NY, and I've never had any problem other than the occassional brief outage that lasts less than a minute. There's also a couple dead spots in the area around my house, including one highway on ramp where I lose the signal for about three seconds. Sure, losing the signal isn't fun, but it beats having to scan the dial every two hours to find a new station that doesn't suck donkey balls.

 

So, I could hook the boombox up to my computer and listen to the craptastic Yankees at work, or would I need to get a portable radio and transfer it to the radio through the FM thingy and listen with headphones to the craptastic Yankees?

 

Your computer would have to be near a window with southern exposure for the antenna. You'd probably be better off buying the mlb.com radio subscription.

 

I've got one of these things I'd be willing to give away. PM me if you're interested. Everything's in working order, I just like Sirius better.

 

I'd buy it. And you are right, I am probably better off listening to CDs and buying the MLB.com radio package.

 

Sorry. I didn't bother to look at Woot until just before I posted that. I figured they were selling newer technology.

 

I'd like to bring a little Western bias into this debate.

There is no such thing as middle-of-nowhere on the East Coast. Really now. Those states are so fucking small and so densely packed, do you ever really leave civilization for more than five minutes? Is there any stretch of road where, if you were to get stranded, there is a good chance you will not see another vehicle for 6-12 hours? Hell, is there any stretch of road where you couldn't walk to a farmhouse/small town/telephone in 15 minutes?

What I want to know is, does satellite radio work when you really are in the middle of fucking nowhere, such as West Texas or Wyoming?