XM Radio (and Satellite Radio as a whole for that matter) are in its infancy right now, but starting to gain a huge following in the mainstream. I really think people don’t know what to make of this new medium. Yes a new medium !!! I see many comparisons between ipods and XM receivers being the owner of 2 receivers and 2 ipods I can tell you first hand that differences between them is huge. Yes the ipod is revolutionary, but you really can’t classify the ipod as a unique way of delivering content, just a sexier way.

Before I got an XM I kind of sort of knew what it was. I thought it was just some radio that I had to pay for and what’s the point in that. I can listen to the radio anytime I want for free, so why on earth would I want to pay for this stuff. Well I got a coupon for a free month XM Online, so I was like a free month with no catches I guess I can give this a whirl.

The commercial music channels made such a difference to me. Even if I was only computer for a short period of time I wouldn’t have to spend time going through which playlist I wanted. I had tons of channels at my disposable no matter what type of mood I was in. On top of the music I thought the comedy channels were kind of cool and of course Opie and Anthony. I don’t know what it is about those guys that hooks people in, but that’s for another article.

After my month was nearing an end I decided to go ahead and get an XM Roady 2. The Roady 2 is perfect for those curious about XM. The Roady 2 retails for about $50, which really isn’t a lot of the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t do some of the things the higher end receivers do such as recording content and some other niceties, but the Roady is portable so I could take it with me as well as listen to @ home.

This is the part where things really changed for me. The problem XM Online is that it’s limited to only certain stations and XM exclusive content. It’s just not the same experience. Yes its close a second, but its not even close to being the same experience. When I got my receiver one thing I quit doing a lot of and that’s watching TV. I’m not a big fan of TV these days. There’s too much bad writing and reality TV out there. I believe its phased out a lot of good script writers out of Hollywood. I really miss good TV a lot and XM fills that void nicely.

This one thing that makes XM a thing of a beauty in my opinion the amount of original content XM carries is just staggering. Aside from original XM content its nice to be able to listen to syndicated content from CNN, Major League baseball, and the NHL. This is content that I really can’t get anywhere else. Even on my ipod yeah I can get podcasts and I can hop on itunes and grab an album for $10 or so, but for $13/month I can have access to a heck of a lot more than 10 pre-recorded songs.

The only downside I can honestly say I’ve run into as far as XM goes is reception at work, where I listen to XM Online. My cube is in an area where there are no windows and not a shot of the sky at all, so I settle for XM Online when I’m working. I do think XM has bandwidth issues because I get several drops throughout the day, but that’s life I suppose. I’m usually able to get hooked right back up without a problem. Its more irritating than anything.

XM is now with me everywhere (just about everywhere) I go and if I didn’t have it I can truly say there would be a void in my life. It’s amazing how it consumes you. My ipod or even my Sony Mini-Disc player never really did that for me. I enjoyed both of those , but they were just a different delivery method of the same thing that I had been listening to my whole life, except for it being digital and portable what was I really gaining here. This is where XM is so different from anything else out there. This is just my 2 cents of course, I’d love to hear yours.