Please, educate about radios

[czechsonofagun]

My FM radio in my shop is dead and I am thinking about asking Santa for a new one. First I just wanted a boombox from wally world, but with the annoying commercials and country music I can not really stand - anybody is using HD radio or satellite or whatever the latest buzz is? According to the promos you can listen to commercial free music?

Opinions, please?

 

[Chilly807]

We used to have Sirius satellite radio in our work truck, have to say I really enjoyed it.

There is a monthly fee for satellite radio, if you listen to the radio a lot it's probably worth it to you. The radios aren't expensive, it's worth trying for a month or two to see if you like it.

See what Sirius' lineup is like now, I think they have most of the Galaxie channels, no advertisements there on the cable anyway.

Sean

 

[flyingcow]

I've had sirius for a few years. Costs me $14.93 a month. Wouldn't go without it. My unit is permanently mounted in my truck. Next one will be a type of reciever that i can move from vehicle to house or wherever i want it. Can even listen online. music channels are commercial free. Like it.

Don't know a thing about HD.

 

[merrickvilleguy]

The only prob I had with em was they tend to repeat the same 4hrs over and over so if you tend to listen a few hrs a day every day, you are likely to hear the same thing multiple times (same as free radio) ... and the specialty channels are loaded with commercials, viagra types, debt reduction scams and the like that you dont have to listen to on free radio

 

[MichKubota]

Before going to XM or Sirius I would consider a smart Phone. With anyone of about 10 aps you can have free internet radio. The internet radio will give you thousands of channel choices.

 

[Thomas]

Satellite..you'll like!!!..check out Roadhouse station.

 

[OKnewguy]

I agree sat is very cool. There are still alot of people that do not know about hd radio thou. Hd in okc metro area, at least doubles or triples the amount of over the air broadcast. Yes you still have commercials, but you have a much greater choice. So it might be worth doing some investigating and see if one of the hd stations in your area will float your boat.
I have it in my work fan, and it is great! One of the stations is the local am talk station, but it is crystal clear. And no $$
Dave

 

[Captain Carburetor]

Hey Prokop, I used to have an automotive repair shop and we used an old desk top computer (lap top will work) and listened to "PANDORA" RADIO.
It's called "streaming audio" and it's free. We used an old stereo with big speakers (junk ones) and plugged into the headphone jack on the computer.
My wife likes a site called "JANGO" It's similar to Pandora, they both have some very limited commercials but it's not intrusive like the fm-radio.
At these sites you can custom taylor the music you like and even create your own "radio stations". I love country, but I also like old rock and roll, so I have mulitple stations for both. -good luck!

 

[flyingcow]

Satellite..you'll like!!!..check out Roadhouse station.

Or Willys Place.

Like Stern 100/101 also

 

[podagrower]

Pandora gets my vote as well. For like $10 a year, you can upgrade to commercial free unlimited listening. The free subscription service is good, but there are a few commercials (maybe 2 an hour, for the premium service), and the free subscription limits you to a certain number of hours per month (I'm sure multiple accounts could be set up to get around this).

Anyway, you build a "station" on Pandora starting with a song or artist you like. Pandora automatically plays similar artists. If you don't like the artist or song, hit the thumbs down. It goes to the next song.

I listen to Pandora 85% of the time there is noise at home. I can sign into my same account on my smart phone, and take it with me. I can sign into my account at my friends house and listen to it there as well.

There are many radios coming on the market with HD, Satellite, and WiFi built in.

FM is fine, HD is good, Satellite is great, Pandora is awesome.

 

[Thomas]

Flyingcow.
"Willys Place."

Yep,got Willy Place second on list.

 

[Ken45101]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think using a satellite radio inside a building may require an outside antenna, especially if it is a metal roof building.

 

[dmccarty]

One option is that on the cable service I had in the past, and with Directv now, there are a bunch of music channels. If you have either service you could run some coax from a cable/sat receiver in the house to the work shop. Course running the coax may not be easy.

If you have your own music on CDs I would rip them to digital. Then you can play the music through any number of devices from mp3 players to cell phones to stereo receivers. I have ripped most of my favorite CDs to digital. I have a 16GB SD card in my Android phone that is holding about 8 GB of music. It has most of my favorite music. If I find time I will eventually rip all of the CD I have. I do not know if they will all fit on 16GB but at some point a 32GB cards will be in my price range and I think that will hold all of the CDs I own.

Later,
Dan

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If you have Dish Network satellite TV, you already have Sirius. An extra receiver is all you need, and then you would have TV in your shop too.

Streaming online radio is another option. There are a LOT of online radio programs. Your favorite radio station may stream online. In addition to Pandora and Jango, Slacker is another favorite music site.

You can always buy a better radio that will accept an external antenna. If you can improve the signal/noise ratio, your reception will improve.

 

[Ezlivn]

I have an Ipod touch and a Bose sound dock system. I have all my favorite tunes loaded on my Ipod and use the sound dock in my workshop and then i can also take the Ipod on my motorcycle in the summer.....then of course...the headphones while I'm plowing snow or workin the Deere outside. I love it!!:thumbsup:

 

[RobertN]

Like it too. The Patsy Cline "station" is great. I have Patsy, Stevie Ray Vaughan as my top two "stations"(what a combination huh? Patsy and Stevie Ray...). Listen at work a lot.

Pandora gets my vote as well.

 

[MtHam]

I have had XM (now part of Sirius) for over 5 years and find it well worth the fee to have quality choices of commercial free music anywhere I go. Whatever your taste in music (classical, opera, jazz, country-both classic and today's pop/pap, rock by decade, folk, easy listening, new age etc) there is a channel for you. I would never not go back to the crap offered today by commercial local broadcasters. Most local stations are now owned by a few large companies who create playlists of an extremely limited number of songs, with a mind numbing number of commercials per hour Corporate greed has ruined local FM broadcasting, and AM is even worse unless you are into talk radio.

 

[inveresk]

In the workshop I have an old 60's valve radio that still booms pretty good. In the office or house I listen to the radio via the internet. Lots of radio channels on itunes and many are commercial free.

 

[MossRoad]

My FM radio in my shop is dead and I am thinking about asking Santa for a new one. First I just wanted a boombox from wally world, but with the annoying commercials and country music I can not really stand - anybody is using HD radio or satellite or whatever the latest buzz is? According to the promos you can listen to commercial free music?

Opinions, please?

Do you have satellite TV by chance? I like a couple of the music stations on Direct TV.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Lot of sounds advice, guys, as always. Thanks!

I used to have PC in there and would listen to online radio or itunes songs, but the problem with it is the boot time. Radio is just a click of a button away.

I am looking into a network player now, will check best buy for HD radio also.

I like the idea behind Pandora, I didn't know about that content grouping based on your likes, that's actually pretty neat.

And it was a good discussion too, thanks again.