Radio to the Power of X

(I hope I don't get any posts from XM's corporate lawyers for lifting their slogan for the title of my post.)

My commute to work is an hour long each way. I know, I know - it stinks for sure. Well, it's further justification for my XM radio subscription. XM is satellite radio, kind of like satellite TV except no picture. There are something like 200 channels, and, just like satellite TV (if we had it), I only listen to about 15-20 channels regularly.

At any rate, satellite radio isn't bound by the same limitations as "terrestrial" radio. Mainly, it's rare to lose a signal and the vast majority of music channels don't have any commercials. Since a large portion of my commute is out into the farmland east of Raleigh, most radio signals wouldn't survive. XM keeps me trucking right along.

With all those channels, I get some very specific niches of music to listen to. One channel plays alternative 80s music - which is great when I'm in a particularly synthesized mode. Another plays alt rock hits from the 1990s, which immediately takes me back to high school (complete with sweater vest and carpenter jeans). A particular favorite of mine is "Ethel" the new alt rock channel. Listening to Ethel has introduced me to droves of bands I otherwise would never hear about. I've tried to keep the music streaming on this blog updated with new bands I like as I hear them. Some of the music is from artists that I've liked for a while, too.

A friend of mine from high school once introduced me to Modest Mouse, but it wasn't until the release of their newer album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank that I started to "get" their music. I've also been enjoying new music from Matt Nathanson (check out Come On, Get Higher on the playlist). I can also safely say I knew of him "way back when": I downloaded a fair amount of his music from...ahem...Napster (when it was still free and music piracy didn't exist).

Sure, every now and again I'll mix in a little X-Country (pronounced "cross country") for a slice of down-home cookin'...musically speaking. Cinemagic is a great channel, too - it plays music from just about every movie. The other day I listened to John Williams' scores to the first three Indiana Jones films. Doing so made me wish action music could follow me around all day. When I want a dose of what our friends across the pond listen to, I'll check out U-Pop (Euro Pop).

Even though I spend two hours a day in my car, the variety of music and talk channels are enough to pass the time. Now, if I can just boost my gas economy a little more...