You're 100% right. I hate the growing ad segments on Stern, so offering pictures to advertisers to up the prices and (hopefully) lower their volume would benefit me, and they would be stupid to not jump at it.

Their video hopes are a bit of a pipe dream, this sounds attainable. Without a merger, there won't be the bandwidth to support any decent vid service anyways.

I still have a working Roady (the first generation) and I love it till this day. Alot can be done to update it but it has to be innovative which is difficult in this day and age. Making the Roady XT with more features of the MyFi/Inno can only make the plug and play that much better.

Copy the iPhone styling ... a simple flat color screen that is shiny & black with just cool ICONS - and the best software - no buttons.

Then display cool JPEG album art for every song !!!

Plus cool channel icons along side the album art.

If XM/Sirius wants to let people in cheap (i.e. $7.95 month) then they could display some random non-intrusive picture-type ads (but only cool ones - like a COKE bottle, PEPSI can, sexy models etc.).

No audio ads though on the music channels - that's a big NO NO.

The plug & play wiring must NOT stick out the side of the car kit !!!! That looks shoddy !!!!!!!! Put them in rear of the unit !!!

Allow different color backgrounds to match cool auto interior styling.

Then pump and leak the XM/Sirius combined radio NEWS - for at least 6 months prior to the release - like Apple did with the phone !!! Free News Channel advertising always beats high cost TV ads !!!!!!!!!!

Color displays... ABSOLUTELY. Even if it's just as simple as an Inno's screen... a color background, channel logo, and plain white text. That right there is more than enough to grab attention. Album art would be a MAJOR plus, and advertising could demaind additional revenue for pictures to go with the audio ads.

Put a 320x240 res screen in a SkyFi2 form factor. You could have BOTH the sports ticker and stock ticker, and still have everything else on a normal SkyFi2 display without any problems. Heck, you could even have additional display options for text size. Or go with the Commander MT's split-screen option, and show what's playing on your favorite channels.

It's time to upgrade the plug-and-play, and a color screen is definitely one way to do this!

prozac: The amazing thing is that the plug-and-play has essentially changed very little - especially in form factor - since the original Roady hit the streets.

...probably one reason why you've never found the need to upgrade. :)

if and when i get a nwe plug-n-play it would be cool to have a diffrent color eact time a genre came up
and mabye a little sleeker. a plus 10 button.

prozac: The amazing thing is that the plug-and-play has essentially changed very little - especially in form factor - since the original Roady hit the streets.

...probably one reason why you've never found the need to upgrade. :)

Posted by: Ryan Saghir

Your right Ryan...Even the HD Radio plug and play's look alot like SatRad designs.

As far as the form factor goes, I think PnPs have reached their optimal size. I don't think I'd like a PnP much (if any) smaller than my Calypso. The Roady XTs and Starmates etc. are just too small to be usable, IMO, with their display and button limitations.

And I think PnPs should keep buttons. I don't want to have to go through a menu to activate my presets: that defeats the point. Further, direct channel entry is a godsend (even though Howard 100 is a preset, I'm always directly entering the number) that's unbelievably kludgy without push-buttons.

The thing to remember is that we're still talking about a primarily automotive application. Menus don't work in automotive environments, period (you listening, BMW?), because they tend to require excessive amounts of memorization of the menu hierarchy or they require users to take their eyes off the road.

My only concern with color displays is legibility. As far as I'm concerned, the most important feature of a display is how well you can read it if the sun is shining directly on it. If you're going to go color, you need to do it right and not cheap, to avoid washouts. I think you'll always need to have monotone display PnP units simply to allow for an inexpensive entry point, saving color for the higher end units.

One can argue that it's "radio" and not "video" - so who cares about a color display?
In the case of a BlackBerry, it's only email, who needs a color display? Or a cell phone - all you're doing is looking up a phone number, right?
Eventually the crappy display hinders the ability to add more features, and it also sets expectations lower. If you visit a website and it has blockly amateurish design with poorly rendered images you usually don't expect as much from it, and the same holds true for electronics. If it looks like something that was produced in the early 90's then how many people don't give it a second glance?

cfg: I couldn't have said it any better.

Just make the new 'basic' service $7.95/month for selected channels - and retail will ramp back up - bigtime.

Color screens may require more battery power when placed in a boombox -- not worth the trade-off in my book.

I'm guessing that many of the people on this site haven't bought a plug-and-play radio since the wireless FM mods were phased out last fall. My neighbor got a radio for his birthday a month ago, and he's given up on the wired, in-box solution, and he's taking it into Best Buy for a professional install. I think the future of the plug-and-play depends heavily on a reliable, inexpensive solution for connecting the radio to the in-car stereo system.

R. Pete Ur: You're absolutely correct, and no worries, this will be something I'll cover in a future entry.

R. Pete Ur: the only real deficiency in the connection department is for cars from 2000 to about 2006. Before that, most cars have a tape deck, which is a simple direct connection. After that, most cars have a front aux-in jack, another simple connection.

It's only radio-only or radio+CD cars that pose a problem.

Levi brings up a good point about the front aux-in jack. I know Ryan is planning a separate entry on the plight of the FM mod, but still, I'd be curious to know how many new vehicles offer the front jack, and, if the number is signifciant, what XM and Sirius could do to promote this option.

It doesn't matter that new cars have a line-in jack, almost all cars on the road are older and have tape decks, not line-in jacks. The lack of an FM mod is a real problem. I got my brother a MyFi and his 2004 Passat has neither a line-in jack, nor a tape deck. He also has a shark fin antenna so can't use the radio in his car at all without hardwiring, something there is no way he wants to do. My 1995 Mazda has a tape deck but also a retractable antenna. I can connect via the tape deck but the FM mod is useless for me also. This is a real problem. Besides the fact that no one wants a bunch of wires in their car, the lack of a wireless FM mod really hurts the average user who isn't going to put up with the bullshit to get the "easy" plug & play unit to work in the car.