Pay for Radio?

Are some things meant to be free? I think radio should be one of those things. But, my belief in this is slowly being chipped away. I like many others commute to work/home. And I'm a loyal listener to WEEI (local sports radio station) while I drive in the car. The ever-changing Boston sports scene and my love for sports makes it entertaining.

Now, ever since the Mrs. bought me an Ipod for Christmas; my listening habits have been slowly evolving. I hooked the Ipod up to the car and now I listen to mp3's and podcasts while I drive. It's a nice luxury to have the freedom of listening to whatever I choose.

So what's this have to do with pay radio? Well, some online folks have been posting the Howard Stern Radio show he does on Sirius for download. I save the mp3's to my Ipod and now I listen to Stern on my way to work. Now, I used to never listen to Stern on free radio on a day-to-day basis; but I've always been a very casual fan of his stuff. So, his jump to pay radio caught my attention and I was curious to hear what the King of All Media can do now that he has no FCC restrictions.

After listening to his broadcasts for a few weeks, I can safely say I'm hooked. I don't agree with alot of the stuff Stern spews but he puts on a humorous and entertaining radio show. And of course the Stern marketing/hype machine is praising the Sirius service constantly on his shows (Stern has 2 channels on Sirius). 'It's just $0.43 a day for this AWESOME service.' and 'You can't get the Sirius radios anywhere since this show hit the air!'. Maybe it's just me, but since listening; I've been peeking at the Sirius radios for a few weeks. And I'm extremely tempted to become another subscriber.

Despite experiencing a taste of what Sirius offers and seeing how it's a great service; I've come to this temporary conclusion...I don't want another bill. I pay for enough stuff as is and besides the NFL season is practically over (Sirius broadcasts all the games) and I've read streaming video is on the horizon. So maybe I'm not completely convinced to not sign up...for now.