Doc Searls has signed up for Sirius Satellite Radio, and offers a mostly positive albeit mixed review:

Now, the downside.

I don't care how many channels you put on a service like Sirius'; they all come from one company, and sound like it.

As opposed to say, the diverse nature of, er, Clear Channel radio's 1,200 stations?

To be fair, Searls is fair and has many good things to say. He also makes it clear that it's still new to him and that the jury is still out.

But, here are some observations gleaned from listenting to Sirius for one year:

The selection of radios that are available to listen to Sirius absolutely stinks. It's just dreadful. Not only that, they are ridiculously expensive - unless you shop around. You can find some relatively older models of Sirius radios (such as the X-ACT Stream Jockey) for $50 or so at wholesale places like BJ's or Costco. But you have to look hard. And then the antenna and setup can be ridiculously difficult.

But, if you're patient and/or willing to spend money on good hardware, satellite radio becomes a life-changing event. Before Sirius, listening to the radio on a one-hour commute to work meant listening to between 25 minutes and 35 minutes of commercials and mindless chatter. Executives at terrestrial radio stations knew they had a captive audience, and they abused it.

With Sirius, a one-hour commute means one hour of music. And not just any music. The specific type of music that you want, or are in the mood for. Jazz, smooth jazz, hip hop, dance, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, Elvis, Bruce, Reggae, soft rock, hard rock, coffee house rock. All gloriously commercial-free. No "Car Cash" commercials. No "ProFlowers.com" commercials. No ads for male enhancers.

Sirius does have DJs on some of its jazz and rock stations. If you grew up in New York during the 70s and 80s, you might remember some of them: Pat St. John, Meg Griffin, Cousin Brucie, Vin Scelsa. They introduce songs. They don't introduce commercials.

The content - even without Howard Stern - is absolutely top notch. (There's a ton of news and talk, although those stations do have commercials. But the Traffic & Weather stations for metropolitan areas provide non-stop reporting - no waiting for 10 minutes of news or talk to get updates.)

It would be a good bet that many subscribers would gladly pay an extra dollar or two on top of the $12.95-per month fee if Sirius could make available good, reliable, radios that were $50 or less. Content may be king, but there will be no kingdom without good, affordable hardware.

MORE: Stan shares an experience many will find with Sirius: Flashbacks to youth:

When I was younger, I never understood the appeal of oldies radio. It seemed that they played stuff that was either so old it didn't mean anything to me, or it reminded me of times I would rather have forgotten. Most '70s music falls into this category for me.

And then I was playing with the satellite radio in the new car and I found 1st Wave, where it's always 1985. They even have Richard Blade, Freddy Snakeskin, Dusty Street, and Swedish Egil, who were part of the KROQ crew back in the '80s. It's just like old times. I can put that on and just slump over the wheel, weeping for my lost youth...