[Electronics-Talk] Getting to the All Channels list on Sirius XM phone app

[cheez at cox.net]

Rick, thanks for this info.  I'm going to give it a shot and see what
happens.

Last time I looked in my Library, I saw this channel, which I have no idea
how it got in there.  I tried to remove it, but all it did was open the
thing!  I tried several times to delete.

I hope I find a way to delete it.

Vince


-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of
Rik James (MT) via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2024 12:48 AM
To: 'Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances'
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: rixmix2009 at gmail.com
Subject: [Electronics-Talk] Getting to the All Channels list on Sirius XM
phone app

As it happens, I have also been struggling since the SiriusXM newly revised
app. I use an Android Galaxy S22.
Just today, I finally got some time and I called their phone tech support.
To get to a human, when they try to put me with the chat AI stuff, I did not
say yes, but rather I said no, I wish to speak with a "human agent." Lately,
I have found that those two words seem to help me to bypass some of thos
artificial robots. Not to offend any robots out there. Some are getting much
smarter than any professor I have ever studied under.

I spent maybe 45 minutes with them. And once I had sort of directed my
questions specifically through each of the various pages and levels, I think
that now I am beginning to see some of the logic to the SiriusXM revision.
Once I am comfortable and do the work, it might just be that I will like
this better.

I had become pretty comfortable with the old app, although I was never all
that good. 
Some of the SiriusXM navigation is not seeming to work for me while Talkback
is on.
I cannot say yet for certain if this is my phone or the app. Because it
seems it happens in other universes on my Galaxy.
When there is a bunch of stuff from left to right, when Talkback is on, I
have trouble swiping through to the choices. But turn off Talkback, and it
is simple. Gee, that is disappointing.
But I am not giving up yet. After today, I felt like I might just get along
okay. 

It does not yet seem that SiriusXM has a very strong priority for blind
subscribers. I did attempt to make it clear of that, and my support person
said that they were aware of several issues with this app, for all
customers. Sometimes I think being in charge with tech support, and almost
guiding them to help them understand yields better results. Today, I was
quite directive, and it did seem that I got some good yardage, to use the
football analogy.

In my experience, some things that were not labelled on this new app, now
are. So perhaps we can hold out hope for continued improvements.

For any low vistion user, there is now a transparent font style which is
quite hard to read at all. Only using Talkback is how I can read it at all.
They said today that there are no adjustments in the Settings for Font
Style. I suppose this may be my phone, I don't know.

Since I am presently obsessed with my desire to learn this, I have typed a
few notes.
Hopefully, some of these notes I have made for myself, are useful to some of
you, but many of you may already know these things. 
I just learned, for example, 
Under the Search page, which is on the bottom between Discover and Library,
after you open it, there are various frames, I guess you would call them. 
Browse is one of those.
And below that is Popular Searches.
I did not venture yet into the Popular search. 
But I am working through the Browse frame.

And under each of those headings are the subcategories or genres. 
You move or slide to move to those laterally. 
The first in that line is 
All Channels.
Then to the right of those, the many genres.
One needs to slide, rather than to swipe, to get to those. 
And for me, each time I get to one it will open it, and you have to use the
Back button to return.
Many, many genres. Which have listed here:
Rock.
Country.
Jazz.
Reggae.
Classical.
Standards.
Hard Rock & Metal.
Entertainment.
Comedy.
70s.
80s.
90s. and on up.
Then I find:
Relax.
Subgenres to Relax are:
Mellow Hits. 
Acoustic & Unplugged.
Mindfulness & Meditation.
Instrumental Zen.
Laid-back Grooves.
(I thinkn I made it to the end, not sure.)

The All Channels.

Once I tapped on that, 
It opened up the entire range of channel numbers.
I don't know if that existed in the old app. Perhaps, but I had never found
it before.
The tech support told me that there are over 400 channels. And within some
of those channels are what are called Extra Channels, and those do not have
numbers.
For example, under The Village there is Folk Classic, which I was pleased to
find for my old folkie tastes. I have no idea how to discover all of the
so-called Extra Channels. Except by exploring and having the odd happy
accident.

Today, I found The Blend channel for the first time. It was pleasant for me
for a while. I think they said, Light Rock and Folk Rock. 

Likely, we all know that when on a channel's page, there is a button to
click to Add to Library, formerly known as Favorite.
And the upper left of the screen is the important Back button to return to
the previous screens.

I used the old app in such a way, that there were so many channels, that I
just kept finding something and then making it a favorite. Until, finally, I
had so many favorites that the whole thing was unwieldly.
I am hoping perhaps I may learn to use the above means to go to channels and
so on. We'll see.

What used to be called Favorites is now just called Library.
But I think it has now more to it.

The top row of choices in Library are from left to right, and the same goes,
as to the need to swipe to navigate to them.

They are as follows:
All.  (just the word, all.)
Channels. 
Shows and Podcasts.
Artists and Hosts.
Teams and Leagues.
And finally, Downloads.

One thing they told me today, when I asked. That I can type in the channel
number in the Search field.  I suppose that this was true before, but well,
one day at a time.
So, just now, I typed the number 70 in the Search field. 
And there I was, on the Sincerely Sinatra channel. And there was the
Chairman of the Board, singing guess what? Why, That's Life, of course!!

Good luck.
Happy may we all become eventually, as we continue to adapt to every
changing and ever challenging yet delicious technology.
And remember, a hundred years or more ago, we sure had other sorts of
challenges. 
Best,
Rik James


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