Pure Music. Review on World Space Satellite Radio

It's a unique concept altogether. Worldspace has it's own satellites which transmit radio signals directly to your worldspace radio sets. You have to buy a special worldspace radio set (different types available) and a yearly subscription package.

There are 34 channels in this package. But the best part is that music channels are segregated by genre of music. There is a seperate channel for classical indian music, old songs, new songs, indi pop and many more. All channels are 24hr without advertisements and minimum RJ interference, only music. Music is good digital CD quality. Personally, I listen to English music channels which feature songs which never feature in our music market or TV channels. Besides 24hr exclusive channels for pop, dance, latest rock, old rock, classic, jazz, country, intl news are priceless. For eg. I love rock music and on channel BOB ROCk I listen to Alternative Rock several hours everyday. All channels have excellent selection of songs. Nowhere else can you access such music in India. There are also channels in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil.

Now problems! First of all you have to buy a worldspace radio set, and it ain't cheap. Sets range from around Rs 1200 to 10,000.

Every set comes with a antenna. This antenna has to be installed outside the house facing a specific direction in sky, i.e it should have direct access to sky without any obstruction like buildings etc. This makes this radio a fixed installation, since a cable will be attached from the antenna to the set. This is the biggest drawback of this radio.

Yearly subscription cost me Rs 1200 in Nov 2004. But now it has gone up to Rs 1800/yr + Rs. 600 one time activation charge!!!

In total it is good value for money. I would recommend listening it once before buying and checking all sets before making final decision. Check their website for lot more info < http://www. worldspaceasia.com> This site is for India only, it also has a list of all retailers. ENJOY!