XM-Less

XM, there’s something I think you should know. I don’t think I’ll be needing you anymore. It’s just one of those things. I’m sure you’ll understand.*

We decided to pull the plug on both our XM radio subscriptions after much debate. Okay, it was more like a matter of I-don’t-have-a-job-and-really-don’t-need-to-pay-for-radio-anymore. While that was the first and foremost reason there were, however, more than a few others reasons for this decision.

— XM’s billing is so screwed up that it’s not worth going into detail about it. I’ll just get pissed off and want to throw marshmallows at my monitor, and right now I sort of need my monitor.

— The Merger. Read more about it here if you haven’t already heard me pontificate about it.

— I believe my Pioneer Inno receiver has finally bitten the dust. Since yesterday, I have constantly been getting an “Updating” message whenever I wanted to tune in; the only channels I can receive are the emergency channel, the XM Preview channel, and my radio ID channel.

After calling their billing department I was told that because we were behind on payments (which we aren’t, thankyouverymuch), my radio had been disconnected. Without warning, by the way. That’s the reason for the “Updating” message.

That does not, however, explain why every song I ever recorded on the unit is now inaccessible. Recorded content on Ann’s radio can still be played back, and the time before when we canceled service, both units still played back recored stuff. I event went into the Settings to see if my recorded songs were erased and they weren’t–they still show up as taking up part of the unit’s memory but do not show up in any Playlists or in general. They also show up–song titles and all–when connected to the computer but as has always been the case, they cannot be played or retrieved from the unit via PC.

Using my incredible powers of deduction, I came to the realization that there is something terribly wrong with my receiver and all things considered, it was time to say goodbye to XM once and for all. We start saving $20 or so per month as a result.

And as if all that stuff weren’t enough, I grew tired of the octopus of wires connected to the dock, which was affixed to my windshield and sat on my dashboard. I’ve since switched to my 30GB (5G) iPod–one wire, my entire music collection.

Besides, there’s a new station in town I’ve been getting into. See ya, XM.

*Paraphrased from the Corina’s “Temptation.” I always thought this song had some killer beats.

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