Satellite Radio's "Highs" and "Lows"

In the midst of all the election excitement going on around us, some of us may have lost track of other news that matters too. I wonder, will gas prices go up now? Everyday on the internet, I see oil companies making lots of money. Maybe the alternative to high prices is easier than we all think! Hopefully, with new legislation, we will see an increase in the supply of hybrid-type vehicles. I am a republican, but I also believe that sometimes it takes a democrat to get certain things done (although I would say it takes a republican President to get things done overseas that may not be the most popular, but need to be done). In addition to finding news about oil companies’ profits, I found this article about Sirius Radio’s lack of profit.

http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/2006/11/08/sirius-satellite-radio-markets-equity-cx_mk_1108markets05.html

Is this any surprise to anyone?? I love listening to the radio, and quite frankly, I think that most Fort Wayne radio stations suck. I want to listen to a variety where you may only hear the same song once a month at the most. There are tons and tons of untouched music out there that Fort Wayne radio stations will not play. This is irritating, because as a consumer, I am faced with a dilemma. My stereo in my car has Satellite radio capabilities, so that is not the issue. The issue is whether I want to spend $10 a month (maybe more) on radio that I can listen to for free elsewhere. Do I need the luxury of all those different choices of stations while I am driving? Another reason I hate most Fort Wayne radio stations is because of the quality of music they broadcast. I am anal when it comes to listening to music, so much that I can’t stand to listen to music with crappy quality.

For those of you who don’t understand much about music quality, here is an example. Say an audio spectrum is infinitely high and low. So, humans’ ears are capable of hearing certain sounds different from the capabilities of others such as dogs, who can hear higher on the spectrum. The solution to this problem is to record music that is slightly out of humans’ ears capabilities both high and low. The problem is the more part of the spectrum we use, the more space it will take up on a disc. So, we start limiting it by clipping and trimming off the highs and the lows of our music. The easiest way to tell is take out a popular rap CD and listen to it, then turn on the radio station and listen to it broadcast. There should be a noticeable difference, mostly in the bass line, of that song. Quality issues get more important the bigger the system is you are listening to it on. For some people, they are satisfied with listening to it on a small system, perhaps a car stereo. For others like me, we want nothing but high quality when it comes to music selection.

Fort Wayne radio broadcasts normally at about 128 kbps, which is okay for an “i-pod” or something where the speakers are very small. If you try to listen to that on a big system, you will be thoroughly disappointed. This is where satellite radio would be worth the money. It would provide listeners with high-quality music, and a nice selection. If I was traveling a lot, and didn’t have the capabilities to acquire any music I may be listening to on a CD, I would subscribe to satellite radio. But for now, I will stick to my albums with very high quality music, and deal with switching them out as I get tired of listening to them.