Satellite Radio Providing Entertainment And Information In A New Era
Sirius Satellite Radio is an online and satellite radio service owned by Sirius XM. It’s a merger between XM Radio and Sirius. This North America based radio offers at least 65 channels of news, music, sports and entertainment to listeners. They broadcast around the clock while providing commercial free and uncensored content. Sirius employs a pay-for-service model just like cable TV. Their music channels are free of commercials while talk channels feature a few regular ones. Subscribers only need a password and a valid user name. Subscriptions are prepaid and prices vary with duration. Recently, the company announced the launch of over 100 channels for the internet radio.
Working Principle
The ground station owned by XM Radio transmits a signal to active satellites which return signals back to radio receivers. Radio receivers with more than 170 channels are programmed to receive and unscramble digital signals. Apart from the encoded sound, the signal contains broadcast information. For instance, when a song is played its name, genre and duration are displayed on the radio. XM’s broadcasting system comes in when signals are blocked by physical barriers like buildings. Ground transmitters are used to supplement the broadcasting system.
Beneficial Use
The main advantage of satellite radio is that programs are not interrupted by commercials. This is because service provider’s income comes from listeners who subscribe and not from advertisers. It offers up to 70 music channels which are commercial free. Users are also provided with a wide variety of music genres like hip-hop, rock, dance, folk, blues, opera and more. Satellite radio also eliminates static allowing users to get a crystal clear digital sound whenever they go. Signals come with metadata which describes the music or programs playing.
Users can be able to know the artist when they hear a sweet song. Its programs are uncensored allowing users to listen to their hip-hop songs without annoying beeps. Users can also obtain detailed information about weather conditions and local traffic. There are an unlimited number of instances that users can fast forward or rewind music, talk, and sports. Music channels allow 1 rewind and 5 fast forward moves per hour or 6 fast forwards without a rewind per hour.
Limitations
Some of the services are not fully integrated due to software and hardware compatibility issues. Poorly designed interfaces and unreliable features may force people to seek alternatives. The subscription fees may be unfriendly to low-budget individuals. Issues regarding royalties of music can lead to additional cost and limited music selections. There is little sensitization for people to adopt digital en masse. There are no reliable measurement services for an online audience in place which limits accountability.
Conclusion
Satellite radio is a great audio service because users can listen to music without interruptions. Traditional radio is very boring and full of commercials, we’re also seeing a shift in ad dollars moving to digital platforms. Sirius XM radio provides affordable subscriptions on average. The sound quality is impressive and more information like the weather is provided. There are few limitations like interface incompatibility. Otherwise, satellite radio is a revolutionary way of listening to radio. This digital platform is providing entertainment and information on consumer terms. Listening to radio has never been better.