C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
Premium
join:2001-10-03
Davenport, FL | Get ready...
I wonder how long until these XM PCR's come along ringing up a price like $400 over original retail price on eBay?  |
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krobar
Is this thing on?
join:2002-09-15
Columbus, OH
| seen some on ebay going for about 300 recently already.
I also agree with what the other guy below me said, that it sucks because it's going to use bandwidth, had I known about the xm pcr prior to them pulling it I would have been very interested, being able to listen to music while playing a game online and not have it interfere with my speeds OR use up a lot of resources (ala some mp3 players) I'd have been all over it, now it looks like if I want the service like that I'll have to find someone selling theirs on ebay. 
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Power corrupts. Absolute power is kinda neat. |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| said by krobar  :
had I known about the xm pcr prior to them pulling it I would have been very interested, being able to listen to music while playing a game online and not have it interfere with my speeds OR use up a lot of resources (ala some mp3 players)
If all you want to do is listen to music, it's easy enough to hook a regular XM (or Sirius, or DirecTV...) receiver to a sound card. All you lose is the "seamless" control from the PC.
-SC
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"it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend
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lupinia
Premium
join:2004-08-24
Harrisonburg, VA
| You also lose the clarity of digital input. The PCR is digital, the new portable units they're pushing are analog, and if you have a high-end speaker system (like I have in my car and computer), you can really tell the difference.
They better offer 256kbps or higher for the online service. |
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pike
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-01
Cleveland, OH
clubs:
 ·Vonage
 ·AT&T Midwest
| said by lupinia :
The PCR is digital
Well, not exactly. While the service is digitally broadcast the XMPCR and most current receivers are equipped with standard analog ouputs.
There are some retailers selling modified receivers with TOSLINK outputs (such as www.myradiostore.com), including the XMPCR. There is also a Polk Audio home receiver that will be released shortly with digital out.
-Mike |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
·PHONE POWER
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
 ·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | reply to lupinia
I love my SAT radio ... don't get me wrong, but XM and Sirius sound quality is awful. It's probably not even as good as a 128kbps mp3. They also employ dynamic range compression ontop of the heavy digital compression in order to keep the audio level normalized for typical car audio use. The amount of loss caused by going through a line input on your sound card is going to be extremely negligible compared to the digital and dynamic compression that goes on before it even reaches your computer.
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\\ROB - a part of the SCB local network |
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lupinia
Premium
join:2004-08-24
Harrisonburg, VA
| reply to pike
Good, I'm tired of seeing all these analog units for sale. Hopefully I can save up for a new Pioneer hardwired unit before they're discontinued, my old one is getting, well, old, I got it from the Crutchfield here the day it came out. 
I currently have one of the original Sony portables sitting on my desk, and it would sound much better if I could run it through SPDIF or even optical. In addition to the reduced processing power of the standalone unit, it's also easy to layer music over my games, and I can even mute WAVE and still get my satellite feed [hugs his SP Audigy]
I've been a fan of XM ever since they came out, but crap like this is a tad unsettling. |
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steelerboy26
join:2002-02-24
Oakland, CA | reply to C0deZer0
SBC/Yahoo has LaunchastPlus for free if you are a subscriber. Can't really see paying for a streaming service that I have no control over on my PC. At least with launchast you can skip songs.
Steeler |
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