A Santa Fe software developer who specializes in “interactive audio” has teamed up with a Phoenix company to unveil a software program they say allows users of wireless, handheld-devices to access hundreds of terrestrial radio stations and a satellite-radio broadcast.
The technology allows users to literally scan through simultaneous broadcasts, selecting out favorite programs, even avoiding music they hate, the pair says. The software, called SelectRadio, was unveiled at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev.
Jim Kearns, who works with Cardonware in Phoenix, says he and Dave Dannenberg, the principal of Santa Fe-based Audible Logic, combined their skills to produce the software. It’s now available only in “beta,” or test form, but is scheduled to be available for commercial release for $35 next month.
“It’s like a passenger-seat radio agent,” says Kearns, likening the software to passengers in a vehicle searching for tunes on the radio while twisting the dial or punching radio buttons. It allows listeners even more access, since the software sifts through multiple stations and posts on the hand-held devices what’s being played.
Users who have relatively powerful hand-held PDAs like Axims or iPAQS are likely customers, since the software application has considerable memory and operating requirements. But Dannenberg says if the product is successful, scaled-down versions might be offered, “as we see growth in the Internet radio market.”
The software includes two features developed by the pair. One is called “HyperScan,” which automatically seeks favorite artists, and the other is termed “TrackSnap,” which “can capture a song from the beginning, even if the listener didn’t select the song until midway through the initial play,” according to a release.
It also allows access to the Internet-based transmissions of XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News). XM users can access the Internet component as part of their subscription, but Internet users will be required to pay a fee.
Kearns says the collaboration efforts between the two men stemmed from an earlier time when they both worked for Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC - News) at the company’s Chandler, Ariz. operations.
Published January 10, 2006 by New Mexico Business Weekly
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMFBreakerRick)
January 6, 2006
The inevitable happened. Howard Stern. The NFL. It was too much for XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR) to take. For the first time ever, Sirius Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) landed more new net subscribers than market leader XM. In dueling press releases, Sirius announced that it had picked up more than 1.1 million new satellite radio fans during the fourth quarter, while XM rounded up “nearly 900,000.”
XM fell short of its goal to top the 6-million subscriber mark by the end of 2005, though it has since lapped that mark. It’s the first time that XM came up short on its headcount; in the past, it had to boost user projections.
I should point out that I predicted this would happen 12 months ago. I even nailed the quarter. OK, so in that article I was brilliantly wrong about the fate of other stocks like Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Krispy Kreme (NYSE: KKD). However, I said that “I believe Sirius will sign up more new users in this year’s final quarter than XM.” It seemed pretty outlandish then, because Sirius had signed up just 440,000 new subscribers in the final quarter of 2004. That was well off the 700,000 listeners going with XM.
Yes, Stern has earned his keep for Sirius, and he’s still a few days away from taking to the satellite radio airwaves for the first time.
Now the real test becomes how the subscriptions play out as 2006 wears on. Sirius expects to have 6 million total subscribers by the end of the year, while XM is standing by a target of 9 million. In other words, both companies expect to attract 3 million new net subscribers apiece this year. It’s likely to be a tug-of-war all year long.
Sirius is positioned to come out ahead in the first quarter with Stern’s migration. XM has a good chance of regaining the lead in the second and third quarters once the baseball season rolls around. Then Sirius may wrestle the lead right back in the fourth quarter with the NFL.
Naturally, it couldn’t play itself out that easily. At this point, especially coming off its disappointing fourth-quarter subscription numbers, XM needs to announce the kind of industry-shaping content acquisition deal to get its name back out there. Stern has been a shrewd marketer for Sirius, even when he was still shackled to his old contract at Viacom (NYSE: VIA).
Three months ago, XM was recommended to subscribers of the Rule Breakers ultimate growth newsletter service. XM offered — and still offers — the cheaper market cap play in satellite radio, and it just happens to be the market leader. Then again, you have to lead by example. Satellite radio will be one of the most compelling growth industries over the next few years. Let’s hope that XM doesn’t squander its lead.
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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a Sirius subscriber but does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow’s ultimate growth stocks a day early.
Buoyed by its nearly 4 million subscribers, XM Satellite Radio has announced that it will add two more studios to the one it has operated at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum since 2001.
The expansion is a clear indication of Country Music’s continuing importance to the company’s programming. “We use that studio a lot,” said XM Satellite Radio corporate spokesperson Anne-Taylor Griffith. She noted that more than 800 Country artists have performed and/or been interviewed there. “Logistically, if you’re having artists come in and record shows,” she added, “it can be difficult if you just have one space to do those things.”
Griffith was mum on whether the new studios will spawn additional Country channels. Currently, there are seven of them: “America” XM 10 (classic Country), “Nashville!” XM 11 (Country from the 1990s onward), “X Country” XM 12 (progressive), “Hank’s Place” XM 13 (traditional), “Bluegrass Junction” XM 14 (bluegrass), “The Village” XM 15 (folk) and “Highway 16″ XM 16 (current hits).
Grand Ole Opry star and Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson has hosted his own interview/records/live performance show on the “America” channel since XM was launched. “Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends” has richly lived up to its title. Anderson estimates that he has chatted with “about a hundred” of the biggest names in the business, among them Merle Haggard, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson, the Oak Ridge Boys and Dolly Parton. Occasionally, he brings in record company executives - such as RCA Label Group Chairman Joe Galante - to talk about how the record industry operates behind-the-scenes. “We try to touch on a little bit of everything,” Anderson said.
In 2003, XM released a three-CD box set of music and talk excerpts from Anderson’s in-studio encounters with Haggard, Nelson and the Oak Ridge Boys. It, too, is titled Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends.
XM plotted out a number of ambitious Country specials for this year. One was a six-part series that aired in August and September on Shania Twain’s life and music, with Twain as the host entitled, “Forever And For Always.”
One feature that is currently running is “The Long Haul: The History of Modern Country Music.” Narrated by Anderson, Brad Paisley and Marty Stuart, this mammoth undertaking plays every Top 30 Country hit from 1940 through 2004.
To celebrate the release of Reba McEntire’s next album, which it will premiere, XM intends to play every song McEntire has ever recorded. This marathon event is booked for later this fall.
In announcing XM’s studio expansion, Eric Logan, Executive Vice President of Programming, urged Country Music creators to be adventurous and forget about the constraints imposed by commercial radio. “You produce great music,” he said, “and we will play it.”
Under an agreement reached between the two companies in April, America Online has begun carrying selected XM channels as part of its online radio service, including a station that features the best of the 2005 CMA Awards nominees. AOL and XM are also running a promotion on their site for a listener to win a trip to the CMA Awards in New York City when it airs live from Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15 at 8:00 PM ET.
“If you are an AOL subscriber,” Griffith explained, “you have access to 70 XM channels, which (includes) all of our music channels, in addition to the 130 channels that AOL offers. They will also be made free to everyone - you don’t necessarily need to be an AOL or XM subscriber - a scaled-down version that includes 20 of the XM channels.”
XM Satellite Radio is broadcast live daily from studios in Washington, D.C., New York City and Nashville. XM’s 2005 lineup includes more than 150 digital channels of choice from coast to coast: 67 commercial-free music channels; 64 channels of premier sports, talk, comedy, children’s and entertainment programming; and 21 channels of the most advanced traffic and weather information for major metropolitan areas nationwide. XM Satellite Radio is the satellite radio leader in sports programming, offering thousands of live sporting events every year. XM is the official satellite radio network for Major League Baseball, NASCAR, the Indy Racing League, the PGA TOUR, and the college sports conferences ACC, Pac-10, and Big Ten.
XM provides satellite-delivered entertainment and data services for the automobile market through partnerships with General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen/Audi, is available in more than 120 different vehicle models for 2005. XM also is available in Avis, National and Alamo rental cars. XM is the exclusive in-flight entertainment service for AirTran Airways, and will soon be available on JetBlue flights. Consumers can experience XM on the Internet through XM Radio Online at listen.xmradio.com. Recently, XM and AOL launched the world’s largest combined digital radio network to be promoted to an audience of 100 million consumers online.
On the Web: www.xmradio.com
© 2005 CMA Close Up News Service / Country Music Association, Inc.