For my birthday, my wife got me a portable (sort of) XM Radio, the Samsung NeXus 50, to help me stay in touch with the Reds this season. I plan to write up a full review of the MLB XM service and this little audio player after I've had more time to mess around with it, but I wanted to post a few quick impressions of the radio and the XM Radio service:Pros:
- The player:
- Player has a nice look & feel, and very small and compact.
- Very affordable. There are other options that are a bit nicer in terms of features (see below in cons), but for someone who wasn't willing to shell out several hundred dollars, this was a nice option. There is a sizable rebate that is good through the end of the month.
- Sound quality from the headphone jack seems very good.
- Can hold MP3's (if I wanted...though I have an ipod for that), and can record up to 50 hours of XM radio material for listening any time. This can be a single song from a music station, or a complete broadcast.
- Can output audio with an earphone jack (I have it hooked up to computer speakers through this jack), or through RCA output.
- Screen is monochrome, but is easy to read and has a nice backlight.
- XM Radio Service
- Reception is great, even a few rooms in from the closest windows while at work. I don't get satellite service that far into the building, but XM has a number of terrestrial "relays" here in Phoenix which result in crystal-clear signal. ymmv.
- Channel 175 (MLB Home Plate channel) has a nice lineup of shows. I listened this afternoon to Chuck Wilson's On Deck this afternoon and found it to be a nice talk show with a nice pace of news, as well as some analysis. The highlight today was an interview with Maury Brown about Extra Innings-Gate (it is enough of a scandal to be called a gate now, right?). Other good looking shows include Charley Steiner's Baseball Beat, Ripken Baseball (with Cal and Bill)...and heck, even Rob Dibble has a show. :)
- Every baseball game is broadcast. And you can schedule a pre-recording of the show, which allows you to play it back at a later time. Handy with my crazy schedule.
- There's also an online xm web broadcast available, though the MLB broadcasts are not--I'm guessing because it would compete with MLB's webcasts...
- The Audio Player
- The big one: this unit has to be hooked up to its cradle in order to play live XM radio. You can play back previously recorded stuff on the go, but if you want to be carrying a unit around and listening to live stuff like MLB broadcasts, you'll need to buy one of the more expensive options.
- Interface could be better. The menus are logical, clean, and uncluttered, but I really miss the touch wheel on my ipod when trying to quickly scroll through menus--especially long lists of channels. The included remove helps negate this when it's appropriate to use it.
- The remote works fairly well, though you do have to make sure you're pointing it directly at the unit.
- XM Radio Service
- As far as I can tell, only one broadcast from each game is aired at any one time. I don't know how they decide who to broadcast--maybe it's the home team? The result, however, is that I'll probably only hear Marty and Thom/Jeff/Joe about half the time. I'm not super upset about this, but it's irritating.
- The interface for scheduling pre-recordings is really clunky. It's an add-on to Napster, and not very well implemented. Unlike similar services such as TiVo, the program guide and the scheduling software are completely separate. So, for each game you want to record, you have to note the channel (there are 14 channels, and teams aren't consistently on any one channel), date, and time, and then manually enter it in. I'm spoiled by Tivo, 'cause I find this really onorous.
My wife bought me the XM MyFi 2 years ago and I still love it, especially during baseball season. You are correct, you only get the home broadcast, and only select spring training games (like today's Reds-Yankess match-up). The addition of WLW to the XM lineup is great as well. It's fantastic listening to Marty before and after the game to get the Reds perspective should it be a road game. My unit is portable, which is nice for train commutes in Chicago, where XM transmits a perfect terrestial signal by the way. The portable MyFi/Tao is actually quite cheap nowadays, you can find them for around $100 on the net.
ReplyDeleteWe got this unit for $10 after rebate. :) If the non-portability of the unit gets to be a real annoyance, I may go ahead and upgrade to a unit more like yours at a future date. For now, though, this will let me get my feet wet and listen to games at work. That's the main reason I have it. :) -j
ReplyDeleteI've had my XM for over a year now, and I love it. Though I have a car unit. Though most in my industry don't like XM (yeah I'm in radio). But we have no sports programming in town, so this is the only way to get my fix.
ReplyDeleteYeah you only get the home game, but sometimes when your team is on the road is to listen to what the other guys have to say. Though there are some HUGE homers out there..the ChiSox radio gang..drives me nuts. Ugh..they're horrible.
I've thought about getting a unit like yours at a later date.
My big objection to XM is that you pay them $12.95 a month, and the advertising is thick, most of it promoting XM. I've gotten good at channel hopping - I go to 150 and pick up comedy while other stations (like 175) go off on five minute ad binges.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind ads during ball games, as the time between innings is short, by my God do they hammer you with it otherwise.
I was excited to see the addition of WLW because I figured since XM Radio has the rights to baseball it meant all the Reds games would be on with the Reds feed. Not sure why this doesn't occur. XM really has missed the boat on only broadcasting the home feed. Baseball is a sport that you listen to the announcers as much as the game. Plus you get used to how they call a game. In my mind, only sending out one feed makes the service at best half what it could be, but probably less because since you have to know if your team is home or away, I tend to miss home games too.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. This is especially true this year with the new announcing crew for the Reds--I'm really enjoying the Marty and Thom games, and while I know he's not popular with some, I actually am liking Jeff Brantley too.
ReplyDeleteI will say that I have enjoyed some of the out of town announcers though. Toronto and Tampa Bay were quite good. But there are some out there that I'd rather avoid. St. Louis and the Cubs come to mind... -j