Sirius

Anyone who's read this column before probably knows I've been a proponent of satellite radio since the early days and continue to be a listener despite what I think are some missteps by Sirius and XM since the merger. Some of my recent concerns about the company dealt with whether Sirius XM Radio -- the new name since the merger -- could compete in a mobile world where Internet radio was taking over.

As we've seen from the ubiquity of the Apple iPhone and the popularity of such Internet radio iPhone apps as Pandora, people no longer need satellite radio to get fast and easy access to fantastic music. And one of the best parts about Pandora, Last.fm, Slacker and others is that they're absolutely free. With that type of business model, it's very hard for a subscription-based music provider like Sirius XM Radio to compete. Hard but not impossible, I think.

Sirius XM Radio took another step toward staying up with the mobile revolution this week when it announced it would release its own application to stream satellite radio to the iPhone. The announcement of the iPhone app came during an earnings conference call this week which stated that Sirius XM lost $245.8 million dollars in the fourth quarter, with its stock rated at just 8 cents a share. No, an application for the iPhone won't turn that around right away but it's a start.

The frustrating part is that the app won't be available until the next quarter when it really should've been here already. A third-party software company called NiceMac cancelled its plans to launch its own Sirius XM app for the iPhone in early March after Apple would not add it to the iTunes App Store. (Presumably this is because Sirius XM already has an "official" satellite radio app in the pipeline.) NiceMac is now trying to sell the trademark and the brand for the app, called StarPlayr, to any interested parties.

Satellite Radio Players for Your Computer Desktop
It's a pity because I had a chance to play with another satellite radio program that NiceMac produced and was pleased with the design and interface of their product. Prior to scuttling StarPlayr, NiceMac created the StarLightXM standalone satellite radio music player for Mac computers.

That free program was great because it allowed you to easily stream Sirius XM Radio -- if you already had a subscription -- to your computer desktop without having to open a web browser and log in. You can listen online at Sirius or XM Radio's websites but it's a pain in the butt and often causes Firefox or Safari to crash.

Now for the bad news, along with canceling the StarPlayr iPhone application, NiceMac has also dropped the StarLightXM player for your desktop. Right now, the only remaining stand-alone media player for Sirius XM on your computer is Pulsar from RogueAmoeba. (There had been one other third-party player called SiriusMac 2 which I could never get to work. That program appears to have had its plug pulled too.)

The Good News
The good news is that I really like Pulsar. Though it's not free -- it costs $15 for the software license key -- it's a very decent program that will only get better with each update. If you pay for channels on Sirius and XM you can access both of them with Pulsar which is convenient.

The app's channel guide provides all the info on available stations, including showing the actual logos for each one so it's easy to scroll through and find the channel you want. There's also a "Now Playing" feature at the top of the player that shows you not only the station you're listening to but what's actually playing on the radio.

I also like the "Save Favorites" feature which lets you pick and choose the channels you like to listen to the most so you can get to them quickly. Sound quality pumped through my JBL computer speakers was decent if not spectacular. (It all depends, really, on whether you have a basic or premium online account with Sirius XM.) Though Pulsar is resizable, you can't yet put it into a "mini" mode which would make it less obtrusive. A minor quibble perhaps but for $15 I'd expect a few more features.

If you're not sure if you want to pay for the app, RogueAmoeba lets you download and test Pulsar for free. The catch is that after 20 minutes of listening to the trial application, an overlay of static will blot out the reception, forcing you to pay up or be annoyed.

Though I really like Pulsar, it makes me wonder why SiriusXM hasn't released their own stand-alone desktop player for computers. Content is definitely king on satellite radio -- especially if you like Howard Stern, like I do -- but I've found Sirius XM's hardware and software to be seriously lacking. You'd think by now that they'd have put out a decent portable music player though the Stiletto 2 and the XMp3 Player are only so-so devices.

Let's hope that Sirius XM's app for the iPhone, whenever it comes, is not too little, too late.