Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 103 posts

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#11

Post by nsxwolf »

jbob2000 wrote: post #5
relaunched wrote: post #3

This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.

SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…

It's built into my new car's stereo system, and it's as quick and easy to use as an FM radio. Using my smartphone and various services takes more effort.

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#13

Post by latortuga »

wil421 wrote: post #9

Cancelling Sirus is always interesteing. I always say I don’t want to pay the $90 or however much for 6 months of access. No $50 is also too high. How about $30? Ok sure I’ll pay. I think Sirus only makes money off the folks who forget to cancel after the promotional period. It’s like $20 a month and I’ve forgot to do it my self for a couple months. Pandora always had the best selections on their radio channels. Spot…

My experience is that Spotify's Daily Mix playlists are actually remarkably good "radio stations"! I get up to 6 different "stations", they keep generating random new tracks the longer you listen, and they do a reasonably good job of segmenting the different styles of music I enjoy. The naming is wonky but I think the Daily Mixes are a much better "radio" than the actually-named-radio feature in Spotify.

And they automatically rotate and update based on your listening!

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#14

Post by jbob2000 »

heavymark wrote: post #10
jbob2000 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…

In regards to, "Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone?" you don't if you only listen to music or content accessibly on your preferred streaming service. Their strength is in their specific content, most notably Howard Stern to note one. If and when Apple Music/Spotify gets and/or can take away that big talent then yes Sirius will eventually be dead…

Sirius is in a tough spot. I've heard from many people that they only listen for Howard Stern. If Howard was smart, he'd pivot to selling podcasts and doing live streaming like Joe Rogan. He could cut out the sirius middleman and bring much more money home.

There are so many places to get news that I'm actually surprised to hear that sirius is an important place for you to get yours.

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#15

Post by treis »

chollida1 wrote: post #2

Poor Pandora and their investors. This is for about a quarter of what they were worth just 4 years ago. Saddly this is almost all self inflicted. While Spotify, Apple music and Google music really worked hard to get people to actually pay for the service Pandora continued to act like it was a VC backed company in hyper growth mode long after that was the case. They fought with the record labels longer than most of th…

>Poor Pandora and their investors. This is for about a quarter of what they were worth just 4 years ago.

They also got 3.5 billion for a company that hasn't made any money in its 18 year existence so it's hard to feel too bad.

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#16

Post by josefresco »

I have used Pandora (happily) for years. Just downgraded my subscription to the "free" level as I have too many streaming music providers and needed to reduce cost. SiriusXM (paid), YouTube Music (paid, new), and Pandora (free) are my streaming services. Trying to build up my YT library now, as Pandora has over a decade of my "likes".

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#17

Post by [deleted] »

jbob2000 wrote: post #5
relaunched wrote: post #3

This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.

SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…

[deleted]

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#18

Post by misterprime »

jbob2000 wrote: post #5
relaunched wrote: post #3

This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.

SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…

There are a lot of people that have to do long distance driving (truckers mostly) and having a live selection of music to choose from when data connections fail is nice.

Loading music and podcasts is possible, but takes work and never feels like you're "connected" to the live world. You're always a few days behind the rest of the world, even though it's some of the best content.

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#19

Post by iammiles »

chollida1 wrote: post #2

Poor Pandora and their investors. This is for about a quarter of what they were worth just 4 years ago. Saddly this is almost all self inflicted. While Spotify, Apple music and Google music really worked hard to get people to actually pay for the service Pandora continued to act like it was a VC backed company in hyper growth mode long after that was the case. They fought with the record labels longer than most of th…

> And when everyone else was letting you select any music you wanted in playlist, they insisted on staying radio style only.

This is really the nail in the coffin. After a couple days on a Spotify trial, I converted to a paid Spotify account. The only reason I logged onto Pandora after converting was to get the list of my favorited songs to add to my playlist on Spotify.

Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion

#20

Post by PretzelFisch »

jbob2000 wrote: post #5
relaunched wrote: post #3

This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.

SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…

What you describe takes a lot of thought, planning and self curation. With Sirius we can just hop in the car and play music, listen to talk when we get bored flip around the channels. It also works in areas where cell coverage does not.
Post reply on HN