Competitors

The Logitech Squeezebox is one of my favorite devices capable of receiving Sirius XM Internet Radio. The simple device allows users to enjoy music through existing home stereo equipment, and is fully expandable, so the service can grow to fill your entire home with digital music. Today, Logitech announced some changes to make the service even better. (learn more about the incredible Logitech Squeezebox)

SqueezeNetwork is now called mysqueezebox.com

Now you add Music Services by visiting the App Gallery, and manage your accounts by visiting My Apps.

The software now uses a simplified control panel interface to manage your personal music collection. Select My Music from the mysqueezebox.com website to download the new Squeezebox Server software.
SqueezeCenter is now called Squeezebox Server.

The software now uses a simplified control panel interface to manage your personal music collection. Select My Music from the mysqueezebox.com website to download the new Squeezebox Server software.
Some menus have changed on your player:

- The Music Services category has been replaced by App Gallery.

- Music Library has been replaced by My Apps for Music Services, and has been replaced by My Music for your personal music collection.

- Duet users no longer need to switch between SqueezeNetwork and SqueezeCenter to listen to their personal music collection. To listen to your personal music collection select My Music from the home menu.

- The items in the Extras menu have been integrated into the App Gallery.

- The items in the More Radio menu have been integrated into the App Gallery.

- The item in the Music Stores menu have been integrated into the App Gallery.

Rock on!

The Squeezebox Team

It is no secret that terrestrial radio is suffering. Across the board, ad revenues are down to such an extent that even huge companies like Clear Channel are feeling the pain. Powerhouse radio stations like WBCN (credited with launching bands like U2 and the Police in the U.S.) in Boston are going silent. With all of these changes opportunity is created. Readers here will come to an immediate conclusion that Sirius XM would be the biggest benefactor, but that may be a bit premature.

Yes, Sirius XM offers compelling content, and yes, the satellite radio provider will fill a need, but the audio entertainment landscape is full of would be competitors that give consumers several things to consider. Taking a look at what is happening in Boston can give a good idea of the shuffle that may happen in many markets. Consider this:

- Boston Rock Staple WBCN goes Silent on 104.1 FM, but “relaunches” as an HD2 channel on HD Radio.

- CBS Radio takes their popular Mix 98.5 slot on the FM dial and changes it into a sports station called “The Hub”. This channel will compete head to head with WEEI 850 AM, which has been a monster of a station for years in Boston.

- CBS moves their Mix station to the 104.1 slot on the FM dial.

- WBCN launches a campaign that basically states the rumors of their demise were unfounded, and that they are very much alive on 98.5 HD2. They give away an HD radio every hour for four straight days to promote the changes.

- Free Form BCN, a channel programmed by WBCN’s original programmer gets exposure on HD and shows that HD radio can promise more depth in radio.

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After many months of uncertainty and endless questions surrounding the long term viability of the ad supported internet radio model, an agreement has finally been reached.

In an agreement set to run through 2015 Pandora will now see a 40-50% reduction in the per-song-per-listener minimum rates and will now have to pay this new reduced rate, or a 25% kickback based on U.S.  income, whichever is greater. Although Pandora CTO Tom Conrad thinks this is “expensive” he is still confident that these rates are workable enough to be profitable next year.

What does this mean for end users of the product? For 10% of the heaviest listeners it will mean that they now have to pay $.99 for any month in which they exceed the newly implemented 40 hour listening limit. This new program is said to be opt-in and typical users will carry on as usual, while the heavy users will have the option to continue on each month.

What can we expect for the future? CEO Tim Westergren says that “Pandora is finally on safe ground with a long-term agreement for survivable royalty rates. This ensures that Pandora will continue streaming music for many years to come!”

There will surely be continued debate on the level of competition between these “free” ad supported internet radio companies and “satellite radio” but, with the release of the Sirius XM iPhone application (which has been downloaded over a million times) and their own premium internet radio offering, the lines are certainly becoming more blurred. What is seemingly not up for debate is the long term viability of the likes of Pandora, but only time will tell.

[Pandora via TechCrunch]

Its been 11 months since the Apple iPhone App Store opened its doors and over a billion downloads later, there is still no sign of an official Sirius XM iPhone application. I should probably mention that the guys at Sirius XM have been saying that we should expect one “soon” which has fans everywhere asking the question… what the heck is taking so long?

As if things weren’t hard enough for fans of the Satellite Radio giant Sirius XM, yesterday they were dealt another blow when free internet radio specialists Pandora came through with a new application for the recently released Palm Pre. How is it that companies like Pandora, who by the way, had the most downloaded iPhone application of the entire year, can manage to turn out new applications in a matter of days while Sirius XM fans have had to endlessly wait?

Pandora now has a dedicated “on the go” page featuring free applications for four of the top smartphone platforms including the likes of Balckberry, iPhone, Windows mobile, and now, the only days old, Palm Pre. For those of you who might not know, the Palm Pre has only been on the market for a matter of days and already Pandora is locked, loaded, and ready to go.

The fact that the Pandora iPhone application was the most downloaded application of the entire year should be sounding off alarms in the heads of the movers and shakers at Sirius XM. There have been millions of iPhones sold and billions of applications downloaded and where was the biggest market? The audio entertainment market. What more do the people at Sirius XM need to see and how long will their loyal subscribers have to wait before they realize the importance of this new delivery system, which their fans won’t stop begging for and at the same time can put their content into the ears of millions of untapped consumers?

Slacker is continuing to broaden their reach in the Internet radio universe. The Slacker application, with over 1,000,000 downloads to their credit, has just turned up the volume again by releasing new apps for the iPhone and Blackberry with added features to improve the listening experience.

Slacker’s new app speeds the song-to-song transition, allows the user to read emails without interrupting their music listening, and still delivers high quality stereo sound that Slacker fans have come to expect. With four times as much variety as their nearest Internet radio competitor, Slacker is fast becoming a musical staple of iPhone and Blackberry users.

Sirius XM radio is nearing a launch of their own iPhone application, and with it a serious entrance into the Internet radio side of the audio entertainment world. Services such as Slacker can not afford to rest on their laurels, especially if Sirius XM markets their application aggressively. Slacker boasts that the application is free, and then up-sells consumers to a Slacker Plus services that eliminates commercials, allows unlimited skips, and lets users see album art, artist information, and song lyrics.

With the OEM channel slumping, Sirius XM’s iPhone application is taking on an importance for the company. Should the satellite provider gain traction with this application, their live non-music content such as news and sports will deliver a distinct advantage.

[via SlackerActive]

Long Sirius XM Radio

Those who love Sirius XM think that all of these “free” internet radio companies are no threat to the satellite radio business but, is that really true?

Top dog Pandora now has 27 million registered users and is growing strong to the tune of 50,000 new users per day. How does that growth rate compare to what Sirius XM has been pulling in lately? It doesn’t. How happy would investors be if SIRI was adding 1.5 million new users per month… it is probably safe to say that most would be happy if they added that many for the entire year of 2009.

The founder of Pandora also thinks that about 18,000 new subs per day can be attributed to their iPhone application alone. That being said, Pandora has been one of the top 20 downloads at the iPhone store since it was launched so, this should come as no surprise. This silver lining is that the potential for Sirius XM is still there but, the new Sirius XM iPhone application needs to sexy, it needs to get to market quickly, and it needs to be FREE if they ever hope to hit the 5 million download mark recently reached by Pandora.

Will Pandora continue to be a threat in the years to come? They, just like Sirius XM, will always have to deal with with those pesky royalty issues but, founder Tim Westergren is confident that revenues will double this year and he doesn’t seem to see any reason why the company should not be profitable in 2010. It seems to me that for the time being, Pandora is here to stay.

[via Mashable]

Throughout the merger process, HD Radio was a hot topic of discussion. There were proposals brought forth that wanted to mandate that satellite radio would have to include HD technology in every radio sold. Thankfully, capitalistic thoughts won out the debate, and the success of HD Radio would not be hinged on being coupled with satellite radio.

I am always a fan of letting the quality of a product or service, and the marketplace be the judge of whether a business succeeds or fails. To that end, it was always my opinion that HD Radio needed to put together a quality product and market it themselves. To their credit, they forged an early relationship with Ford, but momentum behind that relationship seemed lacking.

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Just as Sirius XM Radio is getting ready to launch their iPhone application, Slacker takes another step out in front to differentiate itself. Slacker will be featured as a standard application on the soon to be released Sony X-Series Walkman.

The new Sony X-Series features some state of the art features that iPod has not even addressed yet. Priced to compete with Apple’s iPod touch, and with the benefit of a strong brand name in electronics, the Sony X-Series promises to be a popular choice for consumers.

Features include standard noise cancellation, an FM tuner, standard Slacker, and the latest in video screen technology.

[via SlackerActive]