XM and lovin’ it

I am totally infatuated with my new XM PCR— a little XM radio receiver that plugs into the USB port on your computer. I’ve liked the idea of satellite radio since I first heard about it, but I spend very little time in the car, so there’s not much point in buying a car unit. This, however, puts the music where I can listen to it: in my office.
There’s a Mac control program called MacXM that lets you change channels, see a song list, and even set filters so you get alerts when selected songs are playing, no matter what channel you’re on. (Plus, I now have the source code!) This might be a neat vehicle for me to brush up on my dormant programming skills, except that MacXM already does everything I want to do.
Audio quality is excellent, even though the antenna is looking out of my basement window. Since my Mac doesn’t have a line-in port, I had to order a Griffin iMic; until it gets here, I can listen to the computer or the radio, but not both. I can also use AudioHijack to record an XM stream as an MP3 file; combine that with filters, and you’ve got an easy way to record songs or programs, even with a timer. That will probably come in handy.
The radio was only $49; at that price, I’m delighted! My only complaint is that XM doesn’t seem to carry NPR, although Sirius has it on their service. On the other hand, Sirius doesn’t sell a computer-controlled radio, so there you go.