Sirius Satellite Radio News

Purchasing a Sirius radio is exciting. The prospect of over 130 channels of commercial free music, sports and talk is something that any customer will look forward to with relish. However, there are a few things that you can do to maximize your listening experience, especially in your car. Knowing a few helpful tips and knowing what accessories to buy to get better service will go a long way towards making a better experience.

First, some helpful tips:
The first thing to understand is that your radio signal comes from a satellite. What this means is that you get access to crystal clear signal, but there are things that can block your signal. If this happens, don’t call Sirius, it’s completely normal. Driving in downtown areas with lots of tall buildings can give you an intermittent signal, as can tunnels and other large structures. The reason for this is because all the metal in those buildings and other structures is blocking out your signal; drive on and it will be back in a matter of seconds.

Second thing to understand is another variation on the first part. Listening to your Sirius radio may be difficult in parking garages and the like. This is for the same reason stated above. Knowing this, you can enjoy your radio without the worry that something has gone awry with your system.

There are some things that you can do to boost signal and get more out of your system. These accessories are widely available and constitute a wise investment.

Car Antenna: The Dot ultra low profile antenna is the best way to increase the signal from your removable Sirius radio. It comes with a magnetic base to sit on your roof or trunk and 21 feet of wire ensuring that you can make the connection between radio and antenna easily.

For home use, there are even more options available to boost your signal. This is great, since many consumers are purchasing Sirius radios that can dock in home, car and boom box.

One of the best options in this case (especially for large homes) is the Echo repeater setup for home use. This repeater hooks directly to the antenna so that you can listen to Sirius radio anywhere in the home, even areas where you once did not receive any signal. There are two antennas that can be used with this set up, the included home antenna or the more powerful outdoor home antenna.

There are even options for your portable Sirius radio that will allow you to dock your system with your computer and enjoy even more music in your home.

Getting the most out of your Sirius radio has never been easier than today. With a host of great accessories designed to increase your signal reception, boost the number of places where you can listen to your Sirius radio and even expand the sound of your system, this is one of the best investments around.

Father’s Day is rapidly approaching and dads everywhere are groaning at the prospect of another tie, another wallet or set of screwdrivers. Do your dad a huge favor this year and get him something that he can really use and actually appreciate. Toss the tie, real dads want tech!

Laptops: Dads love mobile technology. Laptops offer the ultimate on the go computing and they can be used just as well in an arm chair as they can in a coffee shop or greasy spoon. There are some fantastic brands out this season, though some stand out as much better value than do others. For instance, Acer has a great line of affordable, durable machines. These won’t set any speed records, but they work great and won’t hit your wallet quite as hard as some other brands with the same specs. The Acer Aspire 7720 offers a 17 inch, CrystalBrite screen and Duo Core processors; the included nVidia graphics card is also another great benefit.

Digital Camera: Dads love to take pictures; getting him a new digital camera can be a great thing for Father’s Day. While there are a ton of great digital cameras on the market, some buying tips are more useful than brand names.

1) Mega pixels are not the end all be all of the camera world. Seriously, after about 7.5 mega pixels, there is not much point unless the intent is to enlarge a small section of the picture to enormous proportions.

2) Currently, digital zoom is no match for real zoom. The higher the actual zoom level of the camera, the better the pictures will turn out.

3) Stay away from wild colors and funky set ups; get dad a rock solid camera that works.

HDTV: HDTV is another hot thing this year. Getting that crystal image, amazing Dolby sound and fantastic resolution is sure to make dad happy! Before your get the TV, make sure that dad can get HD channels from his satellite provider. Direct TV currently has the largest number of HD channels on the market. Then you’ll have to decide if you want to get plasma, LCD or DLP technology. LCD offers the longest lasting, least trouble for your money, by the way.

Sirius: What dad doesn’t love the radio? The commercials drive them nuts, though! Giving the gift of Sirius radio is a great idea. With over 130 channels of commercial free music, talk and sports, dad will find what he wants, every time. In addition, there are numerous ways in which he can listen. Got a hip dad, or one that likes to get out and about? The portable Stiletto series offers Wi-Fi Internet access, the ability to record both mp3s, WMAs and Sirius radio. It can also broadcast directly to an in-car radio or dock at home with a number of great kits. For the sports loving dad, this is a must have, thanks to their GameAlert function that will alert him to any game note, as well as the ability to track games by team.

Sirius has been called cable for your radio, and is one of two satellite radio services in North America, the other being XM. However, satellite radio is about to change thanks to the merger between the two largest satellite radio companies in the business. This historic merger also happens the same year that we find out the fate of analog television—canceled after 2009. Digital entertainment is not really the future of entertainment, more like the postponed present. With the emergence of digital television mere months away, one has to wonder if satellite radio will soon eclipse the legend of terrestrial radio, even as we prepare to bid farewell to the final Super Bowl and final American broadcast on analogue TV. There’s no argument that the time is far from imminent. Terrestrial radio’s audience is still into the hundreds of millions of Americans, whereas Sirius and XM’s combined audience numbers into the 13 million.

However, terrestrial radio’s numbers have declined significantly since the peak years of the 1960s, or even as recently as the mid-1990s. Indeed, it may be hard to remember that at one time for Americans got their news information from traditional radio than from any other source. More Americans listened to station radio for their music “fix”, to sample the latest craze of the month. (Who Let The Dogs Out, anyone?) As the mid-1990s peaked and settled into the new millennium, and terrestrial radio’s giants soared in the stock market, two new paths were shown: the Internet boomed, already having a successful introduction to mainstream America in the mid-1990’s, and satellite radio, a far fetched concept when first introduced, but identified as the basic outline for terrestrial radio’s future competition. The problem may well have been that while terrestrial radio was aggressively maintaining its dominance, it failed to introduce any new formats to the radio market. This was the difference that satellite radio offered and their technology and vision grew as the decade matured. This evolved market was expanding the entertainment and news business, introducing altogether new concepts to radio entertainment.

When it comes to technical sophistication, satellite radio has a clear advantage over terrestrial radio. A satellite network can offer a much larger selection of channels than any U.S. radio market. This makes satellite radio ideal for capturing niche-program audiences, even while traditional radio struggles to hold onto its large general audience. (Not to mention fire talent that is costing too much money or causing too much controversy) This strategy of catering to a niche audience is clearly in the same vein as other successful mediums such as satellite television, cable television and of course, a little invention called the World Wide Web.

Sirius currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of sports, news and entertainment to its highly dedicated base of listeners. Streams can carry a wide range of genres, even while broadcasting 24 hours a day, commercial-free. While Sirius, XM and satellite radio may still in its sophomoric year, in a world that is undergoing a digital revolution, listeners are waiting intently for the sound of victory.