Up until March of 2007, I was a huge proponent of free radio.  Meaning AM/FM radio and even HD radio as an emerging form – otherwise called terrestrial radio.  My logic was why pay for something you can get for free?  Sure, you have to put up with commercials, but you do when you watch TV as well.  Even subscription cable networks has some commercials/ads between shows oftentimes.

But what changed my attitude?  It was my new car.  The car has Sirius Satellite Radio built into it (I’m assuming as an add on by the previous owner).  Not only is there a menu that tells me what type of programming is on, it tells me exactly what I’m listening to.  I believe it’s billed as over 36 commercial free music stations.  There are also a number of other stations that have to be able to afford hosts and programming so there are some with commercials.  I became hooked almost instantly.  The biggest thing that I like about it is that I can get it wherever I go.  Most of my family and many of my friends live about 120 miles away.  When I travel to visit, I don’t have to fuss with the dial when I’m traveling through different markets or listen to commercials.

I was so hooked that I bought a second radio for the house.  I also upgraded the included ability to listen online for the high quality rate.

I primarily used the online player when I was at work.  This was fine.  I had a Windows machine at work which worked seamlessly with their player.  The only problem was that at home, I have a Mac.  I looked and found a player which would work but was sometimes a little shaky.  Then they updated it and it became even more shaky and I pretty much gave in to only using the additional radio at home rather than the convenience of the computer.  Until now.  Now, I have a Mac at work as well as home.  What to do?

I primarily used Parallels and an install of Windows in order to use the online player.  Then I abandoned that when I became aware of Simplify Media.  This alone deserves its own post and review, but in using that on my home computer and work computer, I was then able to stream my own music from home at work or on my iPhone.  It’s as easy as it’s billed.  Free, easy, integrated.

Simplify Media was fine until I grew tired of listening to playlists and creating more (even though this was made easier by the iTunes 8 release).  So once again I turned to Google to see if I could find anything new.  And to me, there was!

StarPlayr2.  Not only do they have Windows desktop software to stream Sirius and XM, they also have a desktop application for the Mac to stream Sirius!  And their site claims that software for the iPhone is being developed – awesome, I can’t wait!

StarPlyr2

StarPlyr2

 

 

If you subscribe to Sirius (or XM and have a Windows machine), check it out, I’m sure you’ll love it.  If you don’t, get your free trial and give it a shot!  I’m sure you’ll love it.