XM Discovers The Internet

Surprises

from the oh,-look,-a-more-popular-channel dept

Well, it took them quite a while, but it appears that the folks at XM Radio have finally realized that internet radio might be a bit of competition for them, and have decided to start offering an internet radio service themselves. They offer discounts to those who also subscribe to their satellite radio service, but you have to wonder if someone at XM Radio is slapping his or her head realizing here was a way to offer radio without having to spend so much initially on launching satellites, ensuring that the company won’t make money for many, many years. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that this is the same XM Radio that just pulled a receiver off the market because (gasp!) they realized people could record their stations to computers, and they were afraid that the RIAA would sue them. Apparently, the folks at XM Radio haven’t heard of stream ripping for online radio stations. Update: As a few people have pointed out, this new service, more than fear over ripping, may explain why XM pulled the service that let people move the satellite service to their PCs. Again, though, this seems short-sighted. Why not give your customers as many options as possible?