
Many people have e-mailed us wanting to know more about the situation with the Xm Online Radio gadget, when will it work again, where's my sound, why can't I login, and how about that channel list?
First, a couple quick notes:
1. We are not affiliated with SiriusXM in any way. Some people have sent in support tickets asking us to reset their password. We do not have any access or authority to do that and we will NEVER ask for your login information.
2. The reason the gadget cannot currently login is because SiriusXM pulled specific server files that we (and every other 3rd party player) were using to authenticate a user. This file also generated the cookie that was used to connect the radio stream. Without that in place the gadget stops working once a user logs out.
- - -
We have good news and bad news.
1. The channel list has been updated for anyone who still has a working gadget. Don't logout of the gadget, you will not be able to log back in.
2. We have managed to decipher a decent amount of the new SiriusXM website player and can now login, select a stream, and get the data for that stream.
Now the bad news.
The new stream that SiriusXM is using requires a Flash player with custom Akamai functions to be able to work. Basically, we need to rebuild the player part of the gadget. Before now we have relied on Windows Media Player to do this work for us. We'll need to build a custom player that can stream the data, has volume controls, and can be accessed via external javascript functions from the gadget. This may take some time to get working.
That is not to say that this gadget is dead and buried. It is possible that at some point in the future we will get a player working and be able to provide an alternative to the SiriusXM web player. It's just not going to happen this week, or this month. We'll get back to you.
Rest assured that when we do finally get this thing working we'll be letting everyone know via the website, Twitter, and Facebook page, so be sure to check into those or subscribe to our RSS feed to stay up-to-date.