Back in November of 2007 I wrote about the threat of Pandora and
other Internet radio companies to satellite radio. Back then, AT&T was smart to link up with the streaming radio company to offer a service for $8.99/month.
Now Pandora is at it again and will be integrated into a $1,200 automotive navigation system from Pioneer.
Still, I have to wonder exactly what this device does to make it worth $1,200. Many smartphones can play Pandora for free and many new cars have an input jack allowing the music to be played through the car’s speakers.
It is worth mentioning that Pandora doubled its subscribers last year and we can expect the popularity of Internet radio to increase even more over time. Still, Satellite radio has access to news, sports and other programming you can’t get on streaming radio services. But for music, it is impossible to match the diversity of streaming radio with a few hundred fixed stations. Finally, with satellite you can’t skip tracks. To many, including me — this is an invaluable feature.