Hi Jagat,
Aniruddha is true. Worldspace is an essential buy. We bought our worldspace in feb 2001, the JVC FR100 (probably the sexiest and the best bombox kinda receiver among all, made in Japan! and ofcourse with double super heterodyne circuit), almost 5.5 years back and believe me it has changed the music we use to listen to. Nobody listens to FM now in my family. FM is the most crapiest thing now. If sombdy says our city has gat 6 FM channels then he is a stupid to go crazy over it. Just listen to all those RJs bullshiting around!!! where is the music on a music channel??? they will play the same old songs again and again and that too songs wont be played properly. they'll start it somewhere after a minute of the song has passed and then in between with their horrible voice shout - "folks this song is dedicated to andy by mona"!!!! and the commercials...oh God....period. these chicks (bcoz rjs r mostly females and u know y) good orators and dont evn know the m of music. they will feed u with wat is regular in music or whatever the little they know. also they play the same kind of genre. They are also in a major way responsible for not getting the good music to India because the shopowner is scared to increase his stock.
Worldspace is awesome. The quality of sound will not be as crisp as an FM (but FM is pathetic in monsoon season or with electrical distrubances), but they r from the satellite...so u know ur music covers a very long distance..its actually excellant, crystal clear without any disturbances or noices. And in one word.......its a complete music box. No commercials, very very less talking by RJs, non stop miusic right from the starting till the end, dedicated channels to different genres and generations and finally a choice of over 40+ channels. Listen to BBC or CNN on it and their english is so good that any kid in ur house is surely going to get better with his loosing Bristish english! It has matured my taste for music and i give all this credit to worldspace..channels like Potion, Voyeger, Upop are the excellant channels and have been consistently bringing excellant music for years. Like Farishta or Jhankar are too good for hindi channels and Spin, our desi videshi channel spins some good mixed genre of english songs.
I would give 200% credit for Gandharv channel. Its a boomer for our priceless classical music. vocalists like rajan sajan mishra, pt jasraj or bhimshen joshi...similarily instrumentalists like v.g jog bismillah khan or pt. shivkumar sharma..have always struggeld to be as popular as kumar shanu or udit narayan.. these gentleman are the true indians and i really respect them for keeping our heritage alive. They desperatly needed a dedicated channel for them to showcase their excellant performances. I m sure the sale for classical music would have defintely gone up.. now.
Had i been a star myself, i would have personally promoted this very good cause "Worldsapce". Music needs inspiration just the way it gives us.
On technology front...it uses the best communication technology for transmitting music (Time Division Multiplexing). so the quality is damn good by default! setting up is no issue at all, the worlspace guys are very prompt and will get ur receiver hooked anywhere u wnt in ur home without putting much cables around! u can take it anywhere in the world or as a matter of fact atleast get all the channels u paid for in any corner of india. U can access internet through it, service soon to be launched in india. Then u can connect it to any existing music system in ur house. this is one investment u can never repent on. i m damn sure everybdy in your family will love it. buy it with ur eyes closed. have my word Jagat.
Cheers!!!