JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Mentor Questions Forum Newsweek Interview with Michael Laskow

Ed,

A comment about your XM radio example. It's not comparable. They require a separate purchase of an XM radio just to try out the service. It has to be installed in your car or you can get a house unit. That barrier alone, plus the fact that they only offer streaming (and only the 68 music channels are commercial free and the most popular channels are the talk ones from what we've heard) and nothing on demand. They've also just announced extra fees for "premium" channels. That has little similarity to what Virgin Digital (and many others like Rhapsody, MusicNet, Napster etc..) are doing with on demand services which will combine the benefits of XM, iTunes and add an On Demand feature (which is the best feature of all) eventually to the mix. All for probably LESS money per year, using equipment most people already own (computers) at a much lower operating expense (small staffs, no satellite to fund etc..). XM was a pioneer. But if these new services are even 1/10 as good as they claim they will be, I can't see why you'd want to pay for XM unless you rarely have access to a computer. XM is great for car roadtrips and truck drivers. It's not much value as a comparison for subscribers to a far superior and cheaper service.

Brian