siriusxm

No more rewind on many SiriusXM channels

It's official -- the best feature of SiriusXM's iPhone (and now Android app) has been removed from many of its most popular stations. Version 2.0.2 of the iPhone app confirmed what many subscribers suspected: licensing contracts got in the way of convenience and technology.

The satellite radio company updated its iPhone app on April 16 to version 2.0.1. Many listeners who updated reported network errors preventing them from using the app, and others lucky enough to connect to SiriusXM bemoaned the loss of an exit button and were left wondering why 5-hour rewind was … Read more

Cloud-based Apple TV

Links from Friday afternoon's episode of Loaded:

A new AppleTV may cost $99, run the iPhone 4.0 operating system, and stream media through the cloud

Motorola bets big on Android and Verizon for its summer line of phones

Sirius XM satellite radio can now be played on Android devices

Sony shows off a bendable OLED screen

Who is your favorite radio DJ?

I've had a lifelong love affair with radio. I was a huge Howard Stern fan, back when he was funny, and I'm into political talk, but music has always been the biggest draw. I find most of the new music I buy on the radio.

A great DJ can turn you onto great music. They work as filters, filtering out the crap, and playing stuff you might not hear anywhere else. That's what makes them great DJs.

I've been listening to Vin Scelsa since the early 1970s, starting with, I think, WABC-FM in New York City. His sets, now on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio can go on for 30 minutes or more, and the way he weaves together tunes from rock, jazz, classical, world, strange and wonderfully obscure music is unmatched. His deep knowledge and vast music library (he broadcasts out of his house) should be cited as some sort national treasure. There's something about the way Scelsa makes musical connections I never tire of. … Read more

Music radio? Is anybody listening anymore?

I read Matt Rosoff's Digital Noise blog all the time, and his recent lamenting radio's irrelevance hit me hard.

I think Matt was mostly referring to AM or FM radio, but what about Internet or satellite radio? Me, I'm still a die hard Sirius subscriber and listen to Left of Center, Sirius Disorder, and Underground Garage channels many hours a day. They turn me onto new music all the time, so I buy an average of two CDs a week.

Of course, now that the hoopla over the Siriius/XM merger has died down and the stock … Read more

Who's going to pay for the Sirius-XM merger? How about Howard Stern?

It seems like the Sirius-XM merger been dragging on for years, and both sides are eager to get it done, but what would I get out of it? I've been a happy Sirius subscriber for years. I love the commercial-free music channels, and the uninhibited talk channels are hugely entertaining. At least maybe Sirius' sound quality will get closer to XM's--it's always sounded a little better.

They still need approval from the Federal Communications Commission before the deal is done. If you ask me, it seems anticompetitive to let the only two satellite-radio companies in the U.… Read more