The 'X' stands for...

The go-to gizmo for this year's holiday shoppers is an XM (Satellite) radio. For about $100 to $400 (depending on bells and whistles), consumers can subscribe to the XM or Sirius networks and receive 80 to 100 channels of custom audio programming. This page is somewhat of a bi-polar adaptor. I bought one of the first MP3 players, but I didn't get a DVD player until they became standard equipment with the Sony Playstation. After some consideration, this page is playing the waiting game on satellite radio.

First of all, I have yet to be seriously enthused by the programming. The overwhelming majority of the channels are music-oriented, and rest in the pop - rock - adult contemporary vein that dominates commercial radio. Satellite promoters will bleat that's not true, but this page doesn't see that big a difference between a channel for, let's say, East Coast hip-hop and another for West Coast hip-hop. I do occasionally listen to both genres, but by no means am I that discriminating that I couldn't stand to listen to 50 Cent right after The Game. In fact, they didn't care either, which is probably why 'Hate or Love It' (preview track #4) shot up the charts.... Dividing up the same programming among more channels is still the same programming.

I don't like the lack of any real connection between satellite broadcasters and their listeners. The lack of any local or community presence on satellite radio makes the new medium as alienating as Muzak. I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, and I like to hear where I can go to listen to some of that music in person. CBC Radio 2 can tell me where to hear to the classics in Vancouver. NPR affiliate KPLU can tell me where to go for jazz when I'm in Seattle. Seriously, if you're going to pay $13 a month to ride around with this thing, you should at least be getting the traffic and weather reports.

I also have a concern which will probably result in my receiving some kind of tinfoil hat, but exactly to whose advantage is it to equip thousands of people with satellite receivers, each of them tuned to a designated subscriber signal? Satellite radio may trumpet its commercial - free playlists, but its highly segmented programming is like shooting demographic fish in a barrel for future advertisers and direct marketers, especially when the fish gave their addresses and credit card numbers to get their satellite radios.

This page doesn't believe one needs the latest top-of-the-line gadgets to enjoy the holidays. All you really need is a fat memory card and a few podcasts.