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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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In no particular order.
1. When those providers came online, XM in 2001 and Sirius in 2002 I believe, were they not they were completely commercial free? I used XM way back before the merger. In fact I still have the XM receiver. The catch is that back then they were completely ad free. Now they are as bad as regular car radio.
2. With Spotify, Pandora, iHeart, Amazon Music, WHY does anybody actually pay these people anymore?
3. Does anybody here use this thing? Is there some allure that I don't know about? Because at the bottom line, I STILL can only listen to what they send me.
4. What are your opinions about the "all" stations? All Springsteen, all Dylan, all Petty, all Beatles... I mean there are 5 stations dedicated to TOM MORELLO!! Really?
They keep sending me these 90 day trial offers and I don't even bother reading them. The most annoying thing is that because my car radio is satellite ready, every time I start the car it reverts to Sirius/XM and I have to change it. That kind of intrusive behavior makes me take the attitude of "You will NOT take over my car so I will NEVER subscribe to you." Then again I can be an arrogant PITA so take that with however many grains of salt you like. I don't even like Pandora anymore because of the "Because you listen to this, you might like this" nonsense. If I set up David Sanborn, play frickin' David Sanborn until I change the channel. Don't give me Grover Washington or Boney James. If I knew how to set up Sanborn, I am also capable of setting up Grover or Boney, am I not? I didn't know until yesterday that Pandora allowed me to say "Play ONLY this artist". I may have to sign up again.
I just like my thumb drive with the music I want so every song is one I picked.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
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This isn't an issue if you just buy the albums and listen to those.
Just sayin'....
Byron Dickens BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency. https://soundcloud.com/athanorsoundlabs
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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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For me to do that I then have to rip them into MP3s. I don't have a CD player in my car. I set up Pandora and will give it a month. I now see how to set up "artist only" so I don't get sent to some band that Pandora thinks I would like.
I liken this to driving up to Burger King drive through and them telling me they are an ice cream store.
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1) I would say not quite as bad as regular radio. Mostly DJs just talking since they don't do ads. 2) Good question. I certainly don't. We just get free satellite radio time (weeks/months) from our Chevy dealers whenever we need any substantial work done on the cars. My assumption is car dealers buy up time to give away to customers as they need. 3) No and No. They always offer deals for $5/month for X months but then want to go full price when the term is over. Of course they say you can quit. I've just never wanted to buy into it as I'm sure you would get harassed with spam about re-joining. 4) I actually don't listen to the "all" stations when I have free service. They aren't actually "all" that artist. They give you the "you might like" artists in the mix. I have about a half dozen rock stations I do like but most of them have Morello on during the afternoon drive which renders the station useless to me. If I want to listen to exactly what I want, I load my phone with MP3s and play those in the car. Next to that, Pandora is my main tool. I actually customized a few Pandora playlists to mimic the stations I like on Sirius XM and that suits me for most listening. P.S. - This is an old man rant post. Just go back to your corner and take a nap. 
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics. PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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eddie1261
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eddie1261
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Just stay off my lawn, dude!
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Well, I listen to Pandora and on occasion I hear myself. But I mainly have a Sirius XM subscription on my phone, because it gets one of their auxiliary channels that I like. My car Sirius radio cannot get those extra channels, so I connect my phone to the car stereo. The channel I like is Luna (Latin jazz). Luna used to be one of their regular channels, but they relegated it to the extra channels you can only get from the app.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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I tried it a few times.
They don't have a good classical station - light classics (I don't want to go to sleep) and opera. I want heavy classics and symphonies.
On the classic rock stations, there was too much chatter between the songs. I don't want to hear the corny jokes and DJ babbling.
The jazz stations mixed too much from different types of jazz. One cool school cut followed by a funk doesn't do it for me. I like both genres, but not at the same time.
So after my 90-day trial I told them, "Thanks, but no thanks."
I have a digital walkman that has over 10,000 songs in it, culled from my CD/LP/Legal Download collection. I use it in the car, on random mode, and it does me just fine.
At home, I listen to CDs, LPs, or the tracks I bought online burned to CD. That way I have control, and no talking between songs. Plus I get to listen to albums in the order they were put on the disks. Sometimes, as in a theme album, that's important to me.
Insights and incites by Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove & Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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I step into either vehicle or the living room and tell Siri to play exactly what I want to hear - song, album, artist or genre. Done. Or I let "her" play some stations curated for just us that often expose us to unfamiliar songs that we frequently like. Ten bucks a month for access to anything I want to hear ... hmmmm 30 pennies a day for us serious music lovers? Yeah, I'll take it and have for years.  I listened to XM 20+ years ago and I will credit it for having an early on Americana station that exposed us some artists we still listen to. Bud aka "oldest forum streamer" Apparently 
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos are here on our website.
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Apprentice
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Apprentice
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Posts: 271 |
I've had a Sirius/XM subscription for over 10 years. I have it in my truck and I have a radio in my workshop. I spend a lot of time in the shop during the winter so it's pretty much on all the time. I listen to a lot of different Stations depending on what kind of mood I may be in on any given day: NHL Network MLB Network 60's on 6 70's on 7 80's on 8 Willie's Roadhouse Bluegrass Junction The Bridge for some easy listening when the mood strikes me. One of the comedy stations when the mood strikes me. There's a bunch of others as well. I really don't mind the DJ's on the music stations. At least I'm not listening to the same old irritating commercials over and over again As for the talk radio stations, yes, they do have commercials but you may get 2 in a row at the most. Sometimes my radio's volume knob is my friend when I'm listening to the talk stations. I don't pay for it monthly. I pay the yearly cost in one payment. What I love about them is that I can dicker with them every year when it comes time to renew my subscription. I've never paid more than $200 a year for both radios. This year I got it for $140. That's not per radio... that's for both of them. I also have full access to their app. I'm kinda too "mature" (Never say "old") to start messing around with all the new fangle dangle stuff that is out there today. I'm having a hard enough time learning how to use BIAB. It took me quite a while to figure out how to turn the radio on. 
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Journeyman
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I had a google play music subscription (family plan so wife and I can both listen to what we want) it is now YouTube Music, rebranding and all. Still have the family plan, unlimited streaming and pretty much have never not found what I was looking for. I create a bunch of playlists of bands/people I want to listen to. I currently have Christmas list with about 600 songs on it on shuffle. It works great in the car as well as I have Android phone and android auto plays YouTube music natively, so I can just select my playlists for actually just tell the car to play my xxxyyy playlist and it starts right up.
You can also upload your own owned music to play wherever you want as well.
I also get Sirus/XM for free after getting my car serviced. So I do listen occasionally to that.
Last edited by etcjoe; 12/09/22 08:32 AM. Reason: added statement about uploads
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
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I like Sirius/XM in the car. When we travel (usually to go camping, and we go to places where there often isn't much in the way of decent radio stations and where there isn't even cell phone reception, so streaming services are out. On the interstate it's nice, because local stations fade away and you have to find something new and when cell phone reception isn't good (such as in the mountains), so it's nice to have the music from Sirius/XM.
I do have my entire music collection on my phone (I recorded, cleaned, and ripped all my albums (1500) and cassettes (850), as well as my CD's (2000)), but I have to futz with the phone while driving to play that, which isn't good.
For me, because of when I grew up, it's:
60s on 6 70s on 7 The Bridge Classic Vinyl Classic Rewind and sometimes Deep Tracks
We generally sing along to all of those while driving down the road.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 8TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 11TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting and construction)
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Joined: Dec 2018
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 436 |
When XM and Sirius merged, they cancelled the one channel I loved (Beyond Jazz) and turned it into a one-hour show on the "regular" jazz channel, which played a LOT of songs that I didn't consider to be real jazz. I was one of the first million XM subscribers, and also one of the first to cancel my account after the merger.
I've had an Amazon Prime account since they started that service and comp'd me the first year. Amazon Music is included in the Prime membership. I have built up a bunch of playlists with the content I want to listen to. No ads. Many albums available in Ultra HD. I have the Amazon Music app installed on my laptop, my Android phone and my Android/Google Smart TV. Playlists can be downloaded, so you can have music available on your phone when there's no or limited cell service.
I had a Pandora account way back, but became unhappy with the service for reasons I can't even remember anymore.
I purchased a THX Onyx USB headphone amp a couple of years ago for my phone that no longer had a dedicated headphone jack. It has an MQA decoder built-in, so I have looked at getting a Tidal account several times. But at $20/month for MQA-encoded music is too expensive, when a huge amount of the music on Amazon Music is available in HD or Ultra HD. And my old ears probably couldn't tell the difference anyway.
Last edited by TheMaartian; 12/16/22 07:13 PM.
ThinkPad i9 32GB RAM 7TB SSD; Win11 Pro; RME Fireface UCX II; BiaB 2026 Ultra Bitwig Studio 6; Studio One Pro 7; Melodyne Studio 5; Acoustica Premium 7 Gig Performer 5; NI S61 MK3; Focal Shape 65; Beyerdynamic DT 880 & 770
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<...snip...> I do have my entire music collection on my phone (I recorded, cleaned, and ripped all my albums (1500) and cassettes (850), as well as my CD's (2000)), but I have to futz with the phone while driving to play that, which isn't good.<...> I agree. Which is why I bought a digital Walkman. 8 gigs of storage, drag-and-drop song entry via Windows File Explorer, and less than $75. I have over 10,000 songs on it, ripped from my CDs and LPs or from purchased downloads. I chose the tunes for riding in the car, so there are few Classical pieces on it, as they tend to be long and need some compression to overcome road noise in the soft passages. I have a lot of pop/rock, blues, jazz, "real" R&B, soca, reggae, Latin American, and 'world music' on it. I have it set for random play, so I just plug it into the aux mini phone plug, and let it play. It does over 50 hours on a charge, so even on a long car trip, it isn't going to quit playing. I'm not into subscription services, if there is an alternative. As a gigging musician, I can't depend on a steady paycheck. I've always done OK (not rich, but not poor either) but if anything showed me the advantage of not having subscriptions, it was COVID. For about two years, nobody wanted to hire a band, as they were cautious about congregating in crowds. Thanks to now recurring bills, I made it through without having to dip into my savings. Since last January, we are gigging like crazy. It seems people are trying to make up for lost time. It feels good to be doing what I love again. Insights and incites by Notes ♫
Bob "Notes" Norton Norton Music https://www.nortonmusic.com
100% MIDI Super-Styles recorded by live, pro, studio musicians for a live groove & Fake Disks for MIDI and/or RealTracks
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
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You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Watch the video.
You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
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-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 25 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 12 new RealStyles.
- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
- Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
- Playable RealTracks Set 5
- RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
- SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
- Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
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- MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
- MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
- Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
- Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
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Learn more about the Bonus PAKs for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Video: New User Interface (GUI)
Join Tobin as he takes you on a tour of the new user interface in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®! This modern GUI redesign offers a sleek new look with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, and a smoother workflow. The brand-new side toolbar puts track selection, the MultiPicker Library, and other essential tools right at your fingertips. Plus, our upgraded Multi-View lets you layer multiple windows without overlap, giving you a highly flexible workspace. Many windows—including Tracks, Piano Roll, and more—have been redesigned for improved usability and a cleaner, more intuitive interface, and more!
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You can see all the 2026 videos on our forum!
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 10 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Here’s just a small sampling of what you can look forward to in XPro Styles PAK 10: Soft indie folk worship songs, bumpin’ country boogies, gospel praise breaks, hard rockin’ pop, funky disco grooves, smooth Latin jazz pop, bossa nova fusion, western swing, alternative hip-hop, cool country funk, and much more!
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Video: XPro Styles PAK 10 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Introducing Xtra Styles PAK 21 – Now Available for Windows Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
Xtra Styles PAK 21 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
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Video: Xtra Styles PAK 21 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 21 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Introducing XPro Styles PAK 10 – Now Available for Mac Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 10 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 28 RealTracks and RealDrums!
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and a brand spankin’ new XPro Styles PAK! In this, the 10th edition of our XPro Styles PAK series, we’ve got 100 styles coming your way! We have the classic 25 styles each from the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres, and rounding out this volume's wildcard slot is 25 styles in the Praise & Worship genre! A wide spanning genre, you can find everything from rock, folk, country, and more underneath its umbrella. The included 28 RealTracks and RealDrums can be used with any Band-in-a-Box® 2026 (and higher) package.
Here’s just a small sampling of what you can look forward to in XPro Styles PAK 10: Soft indie folk worship songs, bumpin’ country boogies, gospel praise breaks, hard rockin’ pop, funky disco grooves, smooth Latin jazz pop, bossa nova fusion, western swing, alternative hip-hop, cool country funk, and much more!
Special offers until December 31st, 2025!
All the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 10 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
Learn more and listen to demos of XPro Styles PAKs.
Video: XPro Styles PAK 10 Overview & Styles Demos: Watch now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
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