Saturday, April 30, 2005

What are YOU listening to?

I listen to a LOT of music; both in volume, and in variety. I USED to listen to my vast MP3 collection until my brother accidentally erased it (yes... angry was a very mild term), but at the moment mostly I listen to Sirius Sattelite radio.

I bought my sirius about a year ago; about a week after I bought my car. It's a 1990 BMW, and while the stereo was kick ass for 1990, it left something to be desired for 2004. So anyway, I'd been thinking about getting either XM or Sirius for a while; and there were a few recievers with either, that I thought looked interesting; so I picked the reciever I liked (a mid range kenwood; great stereo, and matching illumination for the Bimmer) which was sirius compatible. It jsut so happened they had a deal on sirius: buy a Sirius compatible Kenwood, and you got your sirius reciever for free; so I signed right up.

I have never made a better entertainment decision in my life.

From day one I haven't bothered with the regular broadcast radio, except on occaison flipping over to AM to catch the traffic.

You can find just about everything on Sirius; and the best thing is, there's ALWAYS something good to listen to among your choices. The next best thing? No commercials (except on the talk stations).

Oh and every NFL game, with a specific channel featuring your home teams broadcast for each game. They do the same for baseball and basketball; but I dont listen to either.

I liked it so much in fact that I got one for my house (on sale for $75 with the home adapter kit and shipping), and I may get another one for my office if they still have that sale in a couple weeks.

XM is great too; gives you a similar lineup(I like Siriuses better) and they charge a couple bucks a month less; though they do have some commercials.

Now the reason I love Sirius so much (and excuse me for sounding like a commerical here), is jsut BECAUSE my tastes are so many and varied. Sirius has jsut about everythign I want to listen to, and usually several different varieties of it.

I listen to a lot of metal, classic rock, blues, alt, punk, and soul -- Check
I sometimes listen to old school rap and hip hop (PE, NWA, KRS One and BDP etc...) -- Check
I sometimes listen to jazz and classical -- Check
I sometimes listen to country and folk -- Check
I sometimes listen to electronica, industrial, and rave -- Check
I sometimes listen to Celitc and sometimes Raggae -- Check

Hell I almost never bother with CD's anymore, unless I'm in the mood for a specific song. Kind of like having an IPod with a huge random playlist.

Lesse, here's my presets list, in order (I listen to all of them, but I spend the most time in the news and talk part):

Sirius Right (right wing talk radio. sometimes too right wing for me)
Sirius Patriot (NRA News half the day, right talk the rest, pentagon radio overnight)
Sirius Fox News
Sirius Phoenix Traffic and Weather
Sirius Weather Radio West
Sirius Raw Dog (dirty and offensive comedy -- Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Leary, Miller etc...)

Sirius Hair Nation (hair metal)
Sirius Buzz Saw (classic hard rock)
Sirius Alt Nation (basic alternative)
Sirius Octane (hard rock, metal and nu-metal, skatepunk, thrash, hard-alt, industrial)
Sirius Faction (mix of hard rock, thrash, punk, nu-metal, industrial and hard hiphop)
Sirius Hard Attack (Hard metal, speed metal, thrash metal, death metal, and industrial)

Sirius First Wave (Nu-wave, early alternative -- hudu gurus, sonic youth etc.. --, seattle sound)
Sirius Pulse (90's mtv stuff; wallflowers, bush, radiohead etc..)
Sirius Disorder (Odd mix of alternative, punk, nu-wave, classic underground, rock, ska)
Sirius Classic Vinyl (Early classic rock standards)
Sirius Rewind (Late classic rock standards)
Sirius Vault (deep classic rock. Non-radio cuts. B sides. Non-hits)

Sirius Outlaw (outlaw and alternative country)
Sirius Blues (blues)
Sirius Soul Revue (classic soul, motown style)
Sirius Planet Jazz (modern jazz)
Sirius Pure Jazz (classic jazz)
Sirius Pops (Classical pops)

I sometimes stick on the other country stations; but you get really tired of the twang babes and cowboy studs very quickly. I also go through the hip hop, electronic, world, and classicals a bit.

Like I said, very broad musical interests, but still mostly rock and roll.