What's Your Opinion of Satellite Radio?  

Honestly, some may call me cheap but I like the fact that I can turn on the dial in the car and get FREE music. Yeah, I can't rewind it, yeah there are lots and lots of commercials, yeah not all the songs are my favourites but dude, it's F-R-E-E! lol!
I think the idea of satellite radio that you have to pay for is just stupid and only people whoa re foolish with money would pay for somethig that we can get freely.
I am worried though that eventually everyone will go to satellite radio which means then we will have no choice but to pay for it. That's the time I guess I'll just go to my cds.

My husband has satellite radio in his truck because it came in the package when he bought it. It really is nice because there are not any commercials. There are about 250 channels That range from hits list to country music to childrens music to sports and tv shows. It has a wide range of stations for most any interest, even comedy. We love it. Because when there is nothing on the radio, you have lots of options.

No I wouldnt like one had satilite tv one time hated it.
I like my radio the way it is commicials and all!

As in internet radio? I think they are quite the same? I love them. And I hope they won't ever be turned off. Advertisements (visual ones) are perfectly fine since they don't affect my listening experience. ;-)

I have Sirius Satellite Radio and I love it. I am not trying to change anyone's mind on subscribing - nor am I criticizing anyone who isn't interested in subscribing, but I want to explain why I like it, why I have no problem paying for additional radio stations, and why I don't think anyone needs to go into panic mode about free radio being a thing of the past.

First, why I like it and am willing to pay $12 a month for it:

1. Have you ever been in the car and driven out of range of your favorite radio stations and then had to search for another station in your genre of choice? Or worse yet, driven where there is absolutely no reception whatsoever? That doesn't happen to me anymore. I can receive the same radio station in my car whether I am in New York, California, Texas, or Florida. There's more to the portability factor than just road trips, too. We also have a satellite radio boom box, so we can take the radio on the boat or anywhere else we might go that isn't in the car.

2. I don't live in a small town, but I don't live in a thriving metropolis either. While my choices for local radio aren't limited, they are when you consider what choices are available on satellite radio. I like many different genres of music. I can listen to Broadway and show tunes 24 hours a day. Same for acoustic music (like what we used to see on MTV's Unplugged back when MTV was still watchable). I love movie scores as well. There are stations dedicated to specific genres that aren't available on local radio such as the examples I have given. There is a channel that is just '80s music (and the DJs are all of the original MTV VJs, which I find completely amusing). There is even a channel that is just '80s hard rock/big hair/heavy metal for those who are interested.

3. There is a long list of talk radio stations, including CNN, Fox News, Left Wing radio, and the Patriot Channel (Right Wing). The same personalities who have TV shows on these TV stations also have radio shows on the corresponding networks. We are big fans of some of these personalities, so to be able to listen to their shows while we are on a road trip is very entertaining for us.

My thought on free radio becoming a thing of the past: I don't think we need to worry about free radio (or individual stations) disappearing as a result of satellite radio. Broadcast TV didn't disappear. The advertisers didn't go away. Radio advertisers haven't gone away either. On that note, it's a common misconception that satellite radio is completely commercial free. It isn't. The music stations are, but the talk stations are NOT. Pay attention to the advertisements for satellite radio. They specifically say "commercial free music."

The comment made above that "...satellite radio that you have to pay for is just stupid..." is exactly the same comment people made back when cable TV first came out. "Why pay for additional TV channels? We get the broadcast channels for free!" Satellite radio is much cheaper than cable/satellite television. And even though you spend a decent chunk of money on cable television, you are still subjected to advertising, regardless of what station you watch (of course, you could always go the TiVo route and whiz by all of the commercials like we do, but I just wrote a novel about that in another discussion, so that's all I will say here).

So, that's it. Just my opinion with a couple of facts thrown in.