The end of an era

Happy Friday, one and all. We’ve almost made it to a hard-won weekend!

Before I go further, let me express my hope that everyone who visits here is safe and dry, given the severe weather some parts of our country have experienced.  I have been fortunate throughout my life not to have experienced a disaster like the recent hurricanes, so I am certainly thankful for that.

So I stopped by this morning because, as the kids say (sorry, when you are in your 60s that applies pretty frequently), I did a thing yesterday.

Over the past few years my travels have caused my approach to on-the-road entertainment to evolve somewhat.  Part of it was buying our newest car, which is equipped with a dedicated connection for your phone to then play the contents of that phone via the car audio system.  Another part of it is that I rent cars for about half of my travel weeks, when the distance is such that I want to keep those miles off my car.

But the real reason I did what I did was that it was time for a change. A change in what we pay for certain things, particularly when that thing offers less and less value and is harder and harder to arrange.

After almost 20 years, I ended our ongoing subscription to satellite radio.

I know, I’m showing my age, but in so many respects it has been so much easier than loading up a pile of CDs or scanning the car radio for something to listen to in an unfamiliar area.  At least it used to be.

For the past ten years or more, instead of offering a fair price for subscription renewal to continuing subscribers, this service required that you contact customer service and negotiate your new price.  Different every year.  And the service offers less for the average consumer than it ever did.  Because this service pays Howard Stern a substantial sum to appear exclusively on their air and they are now grossly overpaying to have exclusive rights to popular podcasts (some of which I listen to for free), it relies on a certain percentage of its users to not really pay attention to what they pay month to month for this service.

Cancelling our service for good was almost as arduous as negotiating a new, better rate each year.  I burned up most of my lunch hour with an online chat with an agent to simply stop subscribing.

I recently recognized that I use it a lot less than I once did, owing to those changing car-listening patterns. When we got the service (when we bought my wife’s legacy car in 2005, if you can believe it) it was great, commercial free music and lots of live sports.  The music has continued, but the sports have become more and more scarce.  Time was, I could get into the car and tune into a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and drive several hours and continue listening to it the entire trip.  Hasn’t been that way for a long time!

My wife drives around our home city mostly, often does not even have the radio on, so her adjustment will be easy.  And in my case, I’ve already adjusted to using my own music library (played from my iPhone via CarPlay) and downloaded podcasts or free audiobooks from my local library via the Libby app (which I highly recommend.

And finally, since I’m hoping to retire in just a few years, this is one of several cost-cutting moves we’re exploring.  Our television package is likely next, as I am tired of paying what I pay so that we can watch a few channels and sports teams.

Anyway, that was the thing that I did.  Do you still have satellite radio activated in your car?  Something to think about!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An unexpected return trip to see the Colonel

Happy Sunday, everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend, and enjoyed Halloween, whenever your area conducted Trick or Treat! I write that knowing that here in central Kentucky most cities and towns postponed from Halloween night to the following Saturday afternoon, due to an extreme drop in temperature on Thursday followed by high winds.  Locally I'd say they made the right decision. I had to travel south for a business function on Saturday, so headed through Tennessee Friday afternoon after conducting some business closer to home.  When I realized what time it was and that I didn't have to be anywhere by a certain time Friday evening, I did what any right-thinking admirer would do--I paid another visit to Lynnville, Tennessee to visit the retail location of Colonel Littleton, Ltd.! If you'll recall, I did the same on my way back from Birmingham a couple of months ago, and successfully restrained myself, buying only a coffee mug. Not this time.  Not only did I treat my
Read more

They were right

Happy Monday, friends!  Here in Kentucky, the locals are celebrating that it's Derby Week, which is code for non-Louisville residents to steer clear of that city.  Lots going on this week, and if you're unfamiliar with what happens where, well, you could find yourself in a lot of unexpected traffic! I come to you with a bit of an update to my last post about music appreciation while working.  If you remember, I mentioned that I have a Sonos One SL wi-fi speaker on my desk.  And that I was contemplating getting a pair of the new Era 100 speakers that are the One's replacement. As a Sonos user of several years, I find some utility in receiving their e-mails now and then, although a great many of their products are aimed at the home theater market, where I don't really have a stake (but we'll address that another time). A message from Sonos proclaimed a great savings event on refurbished Sonos equipment.  And one such item that they were offering at a substantial disco
Read more

I know

Happy Friday, everyone!  After what I hope was a short week for you last week, these five day weeks seem SOOOOOO long….. I think I mentioned in this space at some point in the past that I have had a lot of fun portraying myself to my grandchildren as the Knower of All Things.  A couple of them dispute this openly, and try to beat me with researched questions and the like.  It’s all in good fun for all of us. Kidding aside, though, I was driving (as per usual) this week and began to think of a list of things that I am pretty sure that I DO know.  Here goes…. People who persist in speakerphone conversations in public places need to be taken directly to a store where they can buy a pair of earbuds or headphones that they can use to preserve the quiet where they are the only ones making noise. The people who hurriedly cross multiple lanes of traffic to make it to an offramp on a limited access highway are simply not very good planners. When asked “is it hot enough for ya?”  I simply nod.  
Read more