I never subscribed to it so I cannot say for sure.. but you bring up a good point or two.

Regular radio stations in the US were 'deregulated' a few years ago. There used to be a law that said a company could only own two or three stations at most in any radio market. The bad thing about that was it suppressed the 'democratic idea' .. in other words, if I can afford to buy a station then why shouldn't I be allowed to. So the law was lifted. Enter Infinity Broadcasting, and some others, and they scooped up all the radio stations. Now the markets are flooded with stations that all sound and act the same. Gone is all the flavor of local shows, the 'screw you' attitudes of a lot of the once independant stations.

I had hoped that XM would not be this way, that they could string together a list of the more rebel radio stations of the past. I would pay the ten bucks a month to have radio the way it used to be instead of the corporate conglomerate that it is today. As far as paying $200 for the tuner.. may I remind you all that we have already spent what others would deem way too much for something equal (in their eyes) to a CD changer?

But this is mute, if XM is just an extension of the few individuals a thousand miles away from me telling me what I can listen to.

Sometimes, big business sucks.. and this is my favorite classic example of just that. They took a once thriving colorful industry and now its all washed out, and plain vanilla.

Even though I own a tuner for my player, I still rarely use it. I have all the benefits of XM now. No commercials, and coast to coast music without having to change stations. And, no monthly fee.