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I am a Fred fan.  Or I guess I was a Fred fan.  Fred was an alternative rock station on XM that played some deep tracks that exposed where bands like U2, REM, Cure and others got their sounds influenced from.  XM radio has euthanized Fred and other themed genre stations, in efforts to merge their networks.  I am not the only one sad.

The replacement for Fred is First Wave, a Sirius station, which in my opinion and the opinion of these groupies, blows chow.  Bad.  Shallow.  Bad.

Can I make a fiscal justification to keep both stations going along?  No.  Can I say that satellite radio has finally lost the race with Internet radio?  Yes.  My cohorts and I are leaving as we can’t stand your far too repetitious music designed for those behind the wheel for 30 minutes.

It isn’t all tears for satellite radio owners though, according to craveonline, 

“Each sides’ premium channels and talent remains mostly intact, with stations like Howard Stern, the Grateful Dead Channel and Eminem’s Shade 45 all now available to XM users, while Sirius listeners now get Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure and B.B. King’s blues station.“

Those of us that got attached to these themed genre stations will miss them and the talent at XM studios in DC.

Farewell Fred.  Thanks for the tip, Jeff.

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While we have already reviewed both of these cases, sometimes its nice to see how the case looks on the phone, and while we cannot send one out for everyone interested we have taken a bunch of pics to hopefully give you a good idea of just how the case looks and fits the iPhone.

First up we have the ClearBoost;

Keep reading to check out some more images of the cases on the phone, and don’t forget to also check out our review.

MORE »

Product:  Griffin Technology ClearBoost and Wave case
Price and Availability:  Both currently available, the ClearBoost is $29.99 and the Wave case is $24.99
Rating: ClearBoost 5/10 and Wave case 9/10
Pros: Both cases offered solid protection for the iPhone along with the display.
Cons: A personal issue, but they both make using the Apple dock difficult.
Overall: If you are looking for a solid case or a signal booster, then either of these from Griffin would make an ideal option to consider.

Keep reading to check out the full review, and don’t forget to check out our follow up post with some more “real-world” pics of the Griffin cases…

Read [Appletell] Product [ClearBoost] Product [Wave case]

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