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I love Directv, but the Sonic Tap really sucks.

30K views 141 replies 62 participants last post by  ericknolls 
#1 ·
Been listening to Sonic Tap "8-Tracks" for about two weeks now. Whoever is in charge of programming obviously wasn't even alive during the late 60s and early 70s because they only play a fraction all the great songs that were coming out almost daily at the time. They fill in the rest of the time with absolutely horrible 'filler' songs. Filler songs are all the garbage songs that come with the album you had to buy just to get the one or two hit songs that you wanted.

The record company's dirty little secret was that if a group had several really good songs, the companies would spread them out across multiple albums to make more money. Used to piss me off that I had to buy a whole album just to get the one song I liked. Sure, there were some exceptions with super groups where almost all the songs were great, but they were few and far between. At least now with itunes you can buy just the songs you want most of the time, although I found a few that were only available with the album.

But anyway, the 8-Tracks channel plays all the crap songs that the radio stations of the time would never ever play because they would go bankrupt from lack of listeners. It's probably programmed by some minimum wage kid who was told to just fill up the time with whatever was on an album from back then.
 
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#102 ·
damondlt said:
If you have 1000.4 you are not getting the exact same line up as 1000.2 either.
Why don't you give me that RSN line up. :righton:
Only difference , a simple phone call will add what ever you need with Directv
Man, I really hope I'm right with my theory that when D14 is operational, Directv will replicate the content from 95 and 119 and a SL3 will be able to receive all programming. Just to see certain people stop whining about how Directv is screwing customers by installing SL3s :)
 
#103 ·
I got nothing against SL3.

But right now I'm having and getting worse signal issues, Saturday can't come soon enough.
LOL. Maybe he'll give me a Slimline 5 lnb. Then I can have all the missing channels I'll never watch . HA Ha Ha
Sent from my Galaxy S5
 
#104 ·
Laxguy said:
Billy Joel??

Anyhow, doesn't Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm, Apple Radio fill the bill on showing you new music if prompted? With higher bitrates, likely, too.
I was referring to the guy earlier in the thread who is upset that they played some other instruments on his piano music channel :rotfl:
 
#105 ·
JeffBowser said:
I was referring to the guy earlier in the thread who is upset that they played some other instruments on his piano music channel :rotfl:
OK, got it, but I also think he's got a good point!

My real question of you was/is:
Anyhow, doesn't Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm, Apple Radio fill the bill on showing you new music if prompted? With higher bitrates, likely, too.
 
#106 ·
peds48 said:
That is a lot different than 30 channels that some one claimed!
I now see that there are 13 channels that are remapped.

SONIC 9560
SONIC 9561
SONIC 9562
SONIC 9563
SONIC 9564
SONIC 9565
SONIC 9566
SONIC 9567
SONIC 9568
SONIC 9569
SONIC 9572
SONIC 9573
SONIC 9574

In any event, there's quite a variety of music at 119W.
 
#107 ·
Laxguy said:
OK, got it, but I also think he's got a good point!

My real question of you was/is:
Anyhow, doesn't Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm, Apple Radio fill the bill on showing you new music if prompted? With higher bitrates, likely, too.
I use Pandora on occasion. At the risk of TMI, my wife and I enjoy putting on various music channels in our bedroom a couple times a week :eek2: where we have no other music source. I also have it piped into my home theater setup for big sound, and I have not setup anything else. So, by default of not spending time setting other things up, being of a generation that doesn't first think of streaming music, I default to what comes easiest - tuning my TV to music.
 
#109 ·
harsh said:
I now see that there are 13 channels that are remapped.

SONIC 9560
SONIC 9561
SONIC 9562
SONIC 9563
SONIC 9564
SONIC 9565
SONIC 9566
SONIC 9567
SONIC 9568
SONIC 9569
SONIC 9572
SONIC 9573
SONIC 9574

In any event, there's quite a variety of music at 119W.
and those are most aimed at commercial accounts. Some of them are mono
 
#110 ·
Youtube is my source for music since i'm online most of the time anyway, I sometimes use Pandora when i'm tired of searching online, although I do use my playlist on Youtube for continuous playing, Sonictap is crap for me, although I do hear tranquility music channel to help me sleep !rolling
 
#112 ·
Will someone please tell the person creating the play-list for the Piano
channel, that A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO!

The SonicTap Piano channel play-list changed on May 11, 2014. For the previous
many years the Piano channel played exclusively piano music, and I piped it
throughout the house 24/7.

DirecTV's description of the content of the Piano channel (865):

"Solo piano for dining and relaxation. Elegant and contemplative selections
from New Age, Easy Listing, Jazz and Classical. Tentative, reflective and
flowing. Music for perfect moments."

Since the play-list has begun to feature saxophones, guitars, and drums, I
haven't heard any classical or standards tracks. It now definitely has a jazz
focus. I don't find the sort of jazz now on the Piano channel to be tentative,
reflective nor flowing. Instead, it is discordant and unpleasant, and would be
more appropriate for the Jazz channel play-list.

Please inform the SonicTap music director that:

------> A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO! <------
 
#113 ·
LDighera said:
Will someone please tell the person creating the play-list for the Piano
channel, that A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO!

The SonicTap Piano channel play-list changed on May 11, 2014. For the previous
many years the Piano channel played exclusively piano music, and I piped it
throughout the house 24/7.

DirecTV's description of the content of the Piano channel (865):

"Solo piano for dining and relaxation. Elegant and contemplative selections
from New Age, Easy Listing, Jazz and Classical. Tentative, reflective and
flowing. Music for perfect moments."

Since the play-list has begun to feature saxophones, guitars, and drums, I
haven't heard any classical or standards tracks. It now definitely has a jazz
focus. I don't find the sort of jazz now on the Piano channel to be tentative,
reflective nor flowing. Instead, it is discordant and unpleasant, and would be
more appropriate for the Jazz channel play-list.

Please inform the SonicTap music director that:

------> A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO! <------
Contact Sonic Tap.
 
#114 ·
LDighera said:
Will someone please tell the person creating the play-list for the Piano
channel, that A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO!

The SonicTap Piano channel play-list changed on May 11, 2014. For the previous
many years the Piano channel played exclusively piano music, and I piped it
throughout the house 24/7.

DirecTV's description of the content of the Piano channel (865):

"Solo piano for dining and relaxation. Elegant and contemplative selections
from New Age, Easy Listing, Jazz and Classical. Tentative, reflective and
flowing. Music for perfect moments."

Since the play-list has begun to feature saxophones, guitars, and drums, I
haven't heard any classical or standards tracks. It now definitely has a jazz
focus. I don't find the sort of jazz now on the Piano channel to be tentative,
reflective nor flowing. Instead, it is discordant and unpleasant, and would be
more appropriate for the Jazz channel play-list.

Please inform the SonicTap music director that:

------> A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO! <------
Well, if you're no longer satisfied with Sonic Tap there are several piano channels on Pandora.
 
#115 ·
LDighera said:
Will someone please tell the person creating the play-list for the Piano
channel, that A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO!

The SonicTap Piano channel play-list changed on May 11, 2014. For the previous
many years the Piano channel played exclusively piano music, and I piped it
throughout the house 24/7.

DirecTV's description of the content of the Piano channel (865):

"Solo piano for dining and relaxation. Elegant and contemplative selections
from New Age, Easy Listing, Jazz and Classical. Tentative, reflective and
flowing. Music for perfect moments."

Since the play-list has begun to feature saxophones, guitars, and drums, I
haven't heard any classical or standards tracks. It now definitely has a jazz
focus. I don't find the sort of jazz now on the Piano channel to be tentative,
reflective nor flowing. Instead, it is discordant and unpleasant, and would be
more appropriate for the Jazz channel play-list.

Please inform the SonicTap music director that:

------> A SAXOPHONE IS NOT A PIANO! <------
My goodness, man. if piano music, or any music for that matter, is that important, you should not be getting it from your TV service.
 
#117 ·
Pandora, Spotify, Slacker, Apple Radio would seem to be superior to Sonic, but best of all is your own selected music, by top artists, well recorded on concert Steinways, with top engineering...

DirecTV has no real stroke over Sonic, and DBSTalk has about as much pull with DirecTV.....
 
#118 ·
sigma1914 said:
Contact Sonic Tap.
Thank you for your sagacious advice. Of course, I attempted to do that with mixed results. I spoke with a customer service representative in Austin, Texas who did nothing. Attempting to contact SonicTap at the e-mail address on their FaceBook page (INFO@SONICTAP.COM), I received this error message:

Final-Recipient: rfc822;INFO@SONICTAP.COM
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.

The SonicTap web site http://sonictap.com provides no contact information.

The page at the contact link on the DMX web site http://dmxmusic.com has been removed, as has the page for the Join Our Mailing List link. Attempting to register and access the E-Quests http://dmxmusic.com/equests/index.html was completely unproductive. Although the dmxmusic web site lists David Sader as being the Director Of Music Entertainment, he hasn't worked for DMX since 2006. The information at this link http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Mood-Media-Reviews-E372752.htm provides some insight into the operation of this enterprise. More here: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/DMX-Reviews-E7874.htm

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX_(music) lists John Cullen, CEO http://www.capstarpartners.com/ourteam/bios/bio.php?ID=17172 and Paul Stone, President http://www.capstarpartners.com/ourteam/bios/bio.php?ID=17172, but I'd prefer to talk to the person who chose to include raspy saxophone on the Piano channel.

So, perhaps you are able to provide the name and contact information for the person responsible for choosing the music play-list for the SonicTap Piano channel?
 
#120 ·
LDighera said:
Thank you for your sagacious advice. Of course, I attempted to do that with mixed results. I spoke with a customer service representative in Austin, Texas who did nothing. Attempting to contact SonicTap at the e-mail address on their FaceBook page (INFO@SONICTAP.COM), I received this error message:

Final-Recipient: rfc822;INFO@SONICTAP.COM
Action: failed
Status: 5.5.0
Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.

The SonicTap web site http://sonictap.com provides no contact information.

The page at the contact link on the DMX web site http://dmxmusic.com has been removed, as has the page for the Join Our Mailing List link. Attempting to register and access the E-Quests http://dmxmusic.com/equests/index.html was completely unproductive. Although the dmxmusic web site lists David Sader as being the Director Of Music Entertainment, he hasn't worked for DMX since 2006. The information at this link http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Mood-Media-Reviews-E372752.htm provides some insight into the operation of this enterprise. More here: http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/DMX-Reviews-E7874.htm

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMX_(music) lists John Cullen, CEO http://www.capstarpartners.com/ourteam/bios/bio.php?ID=17172 and Paul Stone, President http://www.capstarpartners.com/ourteam/bios/bio.php?ID=17172, but I'd prefer to talk to the person who chose to include raspy saxophone on the Piano channel.

So, perhaps you are able to provide the name and contact information for the person responsible for choosing the music play-list for the SonicTap Piano channel?
Certainly have to give you credit for trying!

Rich
 
#123 ·
We have music channels ?
Why ?

Just kidding. I knew we had them and I do agree that the music we had before the Sonic Tap did sound better.
I never ever use my system to play music.

They should remove all the music and make use of the broadcast ability to change some SD channels to HD.
 
#125 ·
jimmie57 said:
They should remove all the music and make use of the broadcast ability to change some SD channels to HD.
Check out the transponder maps, the music channels are spread out with 4 or 5 assigned to a transponder, it isn't like digital cable where they usually devote an entire QAM channel to MusicChoice. They would barely be able to add an SD channel if they got rid of them.
 
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