You can get car radios that are FM/AM/CD that will play MP3's. The one in
my car will do all of these but not play MP3's. There are many models of
cars being sold with standard FM/AM/CD car radios that will play MP3's. MP3
is just another standard that requires its own type of decoding. Many of the
new CD and DVD players for home use will play MP3's.

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations. With XM radio, you pay and just get music. Because
of the quality of most of these radios, and the way that they compress the
signals, I found them to have some artefacts to my perception when
listening. I personally would not go to the bother of doing a detailed test
on one of these. Another thing, in my personal opinion, I don't think the
subscription fees for satellite radio are worth for what I would be getting.
For the amount of time that a person spends in their car, or even to listen
to radio at home, I think these fees can be put for something more useful.

--

Where you went for your radio, I have to say that the salesman is not really
an idiot, if you know what I mean. He wants to make his commissions. He
probably gets paid mainly on his sales. If he can sell you a subscription
for the XM service, he and his employer will have a continuous commission
for each month your are paying for a period of up to 1 year (from what I
have read).

Many of these services pay the vendor a commission for the sale, and then a
commission for each month that the subscriber stays with his plan. This is
how it works over here with the sales of satellite TV and telephone
services. I the area where I am located, our telephone company pays the
vendor about $15 for each contract subscription that they sell. They then
get about 3% up to about 10%, depending on the type of contract of sale, of
the subscriber's payments for up to one year as commission of sale. The
dealers usually split this with the employee who did the sale. I know of
some salesmen who have many hundreds of these types of sales under them.
They are making a good income from this alone.

I have seen situations where the salesmen will lie about the availability of
a product, because he wants to make a bigger commission from the one that
the already has. Or, he does not have the one you want in stock, and he is
too anxious to sell you another type that he has in stock.

In your case, I am very sure that the salesman wants to suck you in to
taking the services so that he can make extra cash for himself, and have
more points from his employer. If he is the owner or a partner in the
establishment, he probably even makes more for himself. There are many
stores where I will not go in to because of the pressure to buy from them.
They come after you like hungry dogs!

When purchasing at any store, make sure that you understand their return
policy. This is important in case you buy something, and you are not happy
with it. Always check out a number of places for the same type of item
before putting down your money for it. Carefully compare prices and options
available for what you are buying.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"SEVEN SEVILLE" wrote in message
...
Looking for an MP3 player for my recently acquired truck I went to the local
electronics store which shall remain nameless. I asked the the car stereo
guy
(just last week he was working the television department) about MP3 players
and
he showed me a few and told me all this riff raff and suggested that I would
be
happier with XM radio. I was like WTF, i outta just stick with the stock
AM/FM
that's in there right now. Not much difference between XM and FM you know,
they even had a sample in the showroom and you can hear the compression
artyfacts.

Does any of you own an car MP3 player?

Who makes it?
How much did it cost?
How well does it play MP3's?
How does the FM tuner come in?

Jerry G. wrote:

You can get car radios that are FM/AM/CD that will play MP3's. The one in
my car will do all of these but not play MP3's. There are many models of
cars being sold with standard FM/AM/CD car radios that will play MP3's. MP3
is just another standard that requires its own type of decoding. Many of the
new CD and DVD players for home use will play MP3's.

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations. With XM radio, you pay and just get music. Because
of the quality of most of these radios, and the way that they compress the
signals, I found them to have some artefacts to my perception when
listening. I personally would not go to the bother of doing a detailed test
on one of these. Another thing, in my personal opinion, I don't think the
subscription fees for satellite radio are worth for what I would be getting.
For the amount of time that a person spends in their car, or even to listen
to radio at home, I think these fees can be put for something more useful.

--

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription.
BUT, there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where
it would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have
these in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio
sucks. The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.
It would be good for background music in commercial establishments too.
(rights issues aside)

Bob



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On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it would
be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these in there
cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks. The XM
works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues aside)

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.

--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)

Michael Turner wrote:


On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it would
be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these in there
cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks. The XM
works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues aside)

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.

--
Michael Turner

Email (ROT13)










AFAIK, digital music services such as dmx and another called Music Choice are
not available for use in automobiles as is XM and Sirius radio. They are
distributed primarily as part of digital cable television subscriptions and
also for use in commercial businesses.



Bruce J. Richman

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it would
be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these in there
cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks. The XM
works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV? I'm pretty
sure that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same
paradigm as you do. I could be wrong about this, but I seem to
remember having to choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper
paperwork.

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues aside)

I think that a commercial account would be covered in terms of rights.
It would be built into rental.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:35:59 -0600, dave weil wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it
would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these
in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks.
The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV?

Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.

I'm pretty sure
that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same paradigm as
you do.

AFAIK most of Western Europe has some sort of TV licensing system, usually
to fund the national broadcaster.

I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember having to
choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper paperwork.

The license choice here is a Black & White (monochrome) or Colour TV
license, and it's been like that since the late '60s.
http://www.tv-l.co.uk/

It would be good for
background music in commercial establishments too. (rights issues
aside)

I think that a commercial account would be covered in terms of rights.
It would be built into rental.

Yup it's the same with pay-TV satellite/cable here.
www.sky.com
www.telewest.co.uk
www.ntl.co.uk


--
Michael Turner
Email (ROT13)

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 18:01:12 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:35:59 -0600, dave weil wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:10:17 +0000, michael turner
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 10:20:55 -0600, (remove)sound wrote:

Personally, i do not own one and would not pay for a subscription. BUT,
there are many people who spend a lot of time in there cars where it
would be beneficial. A few trucking companies i do work for have these
in there cross country trucks. Going across the mountains, radio sucks.
The XM works. They love it. Is it for everybody? NO.

Here in the UK we have a free digital radio service, this is terrestrial
based rather than satellite. Gives about 40 stations, some of them are
pure-music (with some commercials), no DJs, no spoken-word.

Don't you guys pay a radio license fee as you do for TV?

Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.

I'm pretty sure
that in Germany, they do and they sort of operate on the same paradigm as
you do.

AFAIK most of Western Europe has some sort of TV licensing system, usually
to fund the national broadcaster.

I could be wrong about this, but I seem to remember having to
choose TV or TV/Radio when submitting the proper paperwork.

The license choice here is a Black & White (monochrome) or Colour TV
license, and it's been like that since the late '60s.
http://www.tv-l.co.uk/

Thanks for the info.

I have both XM and Sirius in my car and love both services. Personally I
think it's worth the $25 a month I pay since I'm driving quite a bit and FM
broadcast leaves little to be desired around here. The DJ talk in the
mornings is pathetic. Both of my systems are FM modulated and sound pretty
good. Hey... you can't take it with you and I can afford it, so why not?
It's not contract service like cellular phones, so I can cancel anytime.

About the MP3 player comments... Wal-Mart sells a FM modulated CD/MP3 6 disc
changer for 90 bucks. I have one and it works great. Best Buy sells an
identical CD/MP3 unit, but branded differently, for $229... so I think the
Wal-Mart version is a pretty dang good deal.

"Jerry G." wrote in message
...

As for the satellite radio, I would not want this myself. I like to hear
the
local news and traffic reports when going around. I also like our local
rock and jazz stations.

Wal-Mart sells a FM modulated CD/MP3 6 disc
changer for 90 bucks. . Best Buy sells an identical
CD/MP3 unit, but branded differently, for $229...

What is the name of the two different name brands?

michael turner wrote:

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.

We do. Many establishments get their canned music via DirecTV. Several
cable services also broadcast digital music channels, and in larger
markets they rebroadcast local AM/FM content for free over their Digital
Packages. A long time ago they had SCR (Satellite Commercial Radio)
which sent commercial free music over C-band satellites, but this was
largely replaced by the micro-dish providers.

For individuals, the market is much shallower. The consumer demand on
this side of the pond is image driven, and not equity driven. We still
don't have jack from RDS other than the station call letters, while in
some parts of Europe RDS actually changes the channel for you.

--
thelizman

teamROCS Car Audio Forums http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

This post is Copyright (C) 2004. Reproduction of its content anywhere
other than the rec.audio.car newsgroup without the express written
permission of the author is forbidden.

michael turner wrote:
Nope the radio license got abolished in the early '60s. We still have to
buy TV licenses however, this is used to fund the BBC, this includes BBC
national and local radio stations which are commercial free. BBC TV is
also commercial free.

As much as I hate the idea of government providing products that could
be provided by the private sector, I have to say it's damn nice that BBC
doesn't put those annoying screen bugs over the shows. 3/4 of the
Farscape episodes I've downloaded are from the BBC, and its so nice not
to have the Sci Fi channels logo frelling up the action.

--
thelizman

teamROCS Car Audio Forums http://www.teamrocs.com/caraudio/
teamROCS Car Audio News http://www.teamrocs.com/news/
"It's about the music, stupid"

This post is Copyright (C) 2004. Reproduction of its content anywhere
other than the rec.audio.car newsgroup without the express written
permission of the author is forbidden.

On Sun, 15 Feb 2004 20:09:05 -0500, thelizman
wrote:

michael turner wrote:

I thought commercial establishments stateside already had a commercial
satellite music service, DMX: www.dmxmusic.com. They tried DMX here in the
UK via cable a few years ago, but the company went bust.

For individuals, the market is much shallower. The consumer demand on
this side of the pond is image driven, and not equity driven. We still
don't have jack from RDS other than the station call letters, while in
some parts of Europe RDS actually changes the channel for you.

Too bad. I get DMX at my country house and I've enjoyed it for most
of the last 10 years.. The sound quality and program content, for me,
are vastly superior to what comes from cable and TV satellite
providers. Have not compared it to satellite radio but see no need
to.

Kal

One of our customers brought one of the WalMart changers in for us to
install and mentioned that it was only 50 bucks... It was a 10 CD/MP3
changer with a nice scrolling dot-matrix display. The changer was
'Durabrand'... I had to go to WalMart to see for myself - Sure enough! They
were on closeout for $50.00 (3 left...)

David
SoundworksCarAudio.com




"Masterson" wrote in message
...
Wal-Mart sells a FM modulated CD/MP3 6 disc
changer for 90 bucks. . Best Buy sells an identical
CD/MP3 unit, but branded differently, for $229...

What is the name of the two different name brands?

thelizman said:

As much as I hate the idea of government providing products that could
be provided by the private sector, I have to say it's damn nice that BBC
doesn't put those annoying screen bugs over the shows. 3/4 of the
Farscape episodes I've downloaded are from the BBC, and its so nice not
to have the Sci Fi channels logo frelling up the action.

Hey, that's capitalism! *grin*

--
Sander deWaal
Vacuum Audio Consultancy