kodokan

Really, as much as that? Are podcasts different - I often stream those, and hardly ever use any data (even though it's unlimited anyway, as T Mobile do an unlimited everything plan that's cheaper than the other mainstreams base level stingy offerings).

Hotscot

I would assume that podcasts are much less as voice data will be more amenable to compression than the dynamic range necessary for music.

kodokan

Ah, I see... sort of

Steerpike

I'm too cheap to do Sirius/XM any longer (even with the annual 'cancel and re-negotiate' deal of around $70/yr), but I found their playlists and channel selections pretty extensive. I've just been trying Pandora (free version, to start) and I must say - the data usage seems pretty negligible on my phone (using my phone as a streaming device for the car via bluetooth). I have a 2 gig plan and hardly noticed any difference. HOWEVER ... I enjoy silence much of the time so I'm probably not representative.

A website confirms Hotscot's numbers ... "The free edition of Pandora can stream music over the Web at a bitrate of 128 Kpbs or 57.6MB per hour. This could mount up to a significant usage each month. For example, if you listed to Pandora for one hour each weekday while commuting, you would use at least 1.1GB over a month containing 20 workdays. This usage alone would put you over the limit on some data plans."

I was surprised that, over several months of testing driving around the bay area, I never failed to get a steady music flow - I am guessing they do some heavy buffering. What shocked me about Pandora, though, was how crappy their 'algorithm' was for music selection. I built a '60s classic' channel, and said 'thumbs down' to every single "Beach Boys' song they played - at least 20 it would seem - but they still threw new Beach Boys songs at me. I mean, come on, get the hint here! On the plus side, I heard some live recordings of Simon and Garfunkel that I've never heard before.

Don't know what to do next ... I'd generally rather use the time in the car to 'think', but my g/f loves to listen to 60's oldies and I'm trying to keep her happy while avoiding Sirius/XM's rip-off prices.

I could just load up tons of 60s songs, but for reasons I cannot explain, she prefers the random nature of the radio vs. pre-built playlists of her own.

ETA - I'm actually happy to pay about $80/yr for Sirius/XM, but they won't let you use that one subscription on multiple vehicles. My g/f is paying about $80, I was paying about $80, and they wanted more $ to get access to the same content over the web. If they did 'family' or 'household' pricing I'd be a customer (fat chance!). I think satellite radio is a dead duck due to the internet / streaming audio. I feel sorry for the folks working for Sirius/XM ... if the company doesn't re-invent themselves the workers will be out of jobs in a year or so.

Pulaski

That seems to be about the norm in the US. Most stations seem to have a "Breakfast Show" has two presenters, plus a junior "side kick", and often a cast of occasional bit players or contributors, ..... but very little music.

The local classic rock station has a long established show, which has probably four songs an hour, and a few risqué moments, some humorous sketches I'm not willing to explain to little Miss P, and some minor profanities that she doesn't need to be picking up at her age.

The "new rock" station OTOH, .... They play a little more music, maybe six songs/hr, but don't seem to be able to go more than about 20 minutes without some mention of, or allusion to, sex, masturbation, oral sex, or strippers. Although they play a fair number of songs I like, I got fed up with having to make a quick jab at the off button, (I really need the "six seconds" that broadcasters give themselves to cut off any guests that overstep FCC imposed limits) and gave up on that station too when little Miss P is riding to school with me.

Pulaski

That sounds bad, but 1hr/day would be 60Mb, or 1.2Gb/mth for 1hr/day for 20 days each month, so well within the data allowance for most data plans.

Given that most of my data usage is at home on wifi, or within a wifi hotspot, I could listen to streaming radio for two hours a day without using up my data allowance.

Hotscot

Yes but some were talking about streaming on the go, and some data plans are as low as a couple of hundred MB per month.

Pulaski

I was also talking about streaming on the go, and while I know that there are some smaller data plans, I thought most were 1.5Gb or more.

Sally Redux

This thread is not delivering the constant talk about sex which it promises

Hotscot

Hotscot

I don't know what most data plans are...

Sally Redux

N1cky

I'll bring it back on topic after the school run on Monday

Sally Redux

Make it so

Steerpike

What strikes me about this topic is, US TV is famously ridiculed for it's attitude towards sex (prudish), but here we have local radio stations apparently being too liberal!

You guys who are expressing concern about what your kids are listening to in your car ... were you equally concerned about what was on TV in the UK at prime time? Or was the 'risqué' stuff on after the kids' bedtime?

As an aside, my mum is visiting from UK and I was showing her 'Game of Thrones' ... personally, I'm indifferent towards all the sex (ok, I enjoy it - I confess!), but suddenly sitting with my mum, I felt rather embarrassed! I didn't realize just how much sex was in the show!