tell me about satellite radio...

rooftest · Nov 21, 2005

I just bought a car that has XM standard. I don't know what it costs per month... it just works.
There's probably about 100-200 channels - only 25 I'd actually listen to. The channels have somewhat limited playlists - I hear a lot of duplicates.
I like it, though. It sure beats the radio stations in Southern California.
(There's only 4 decent channels now.)

luken8r · Nov 21, 2005

you can get either an add on box (like I have) or a dedicated reciever with the sattelite system built in. The add on deal is good because you can move it to car to car to house to office, etc, but it is one other thing you need to carry around
They are specific to the provider, XM makes their own (well Delphi does) and Sirius has their own. They are non transferrable. IMO, the XM units are a bit better and smaller than the Sirius counterparts. The personal units can also record. I believe the XM trumps Sirius in this regard as well, the recording time is much higher with XM

They both have similar channels, both with a group of rock stations, hiphop, jazz, pop, etc.
Sirius has NFL, NBA and Howard Stern
XM has MLB, NHL, Nascar, PAC10, Big10, and ACC sports as well as Opie and Anthony and a Playboy channel if you are so inclined
Also weather and traffic on a city basis (maybe 15 markets) with a bunch of other talk stations (BBC, CNN, Discovery chan, even two comedy stations)
Ive heard that the Sirius has a wider range of music on their music chans, I have no compalint with the XM channels which I have. Aerosmith is on right now followed by Pink Floyd on the classic rock station. Both are commercial free on the music stations and the talk stations have only a blurb here and there with the station ID or a commercial to give the live acts a break
I got the XM because their units are a bit cooler and because of the MLB package, I would have paid $10/mo just for that, but its all included.

robdamanii · Nov 21, 2005

luken8r said:
you can get either an add on box (like I have) or a dedicated reciever with the sattelite system built in. The add on deal is good because you can move it to car to car to house to office, etc, but it is one other thing you need to carry around
They are specific to the provider, XM makes their own (well Delphi does) and Sirius has their own. They are non transferrable. IMO, the XM units are a bit better and smaller than the Sirius counterparts. The personal units can also record. I believe the XM trumps Sirius in this regard as well, the recording time is much higher with XM

XM kills Sirius in the area of portability of units (Tao, Airware, MyFi), customer service (actual PEOPLE when you need something), and a much larger seleciton of channels. The Sirius portable units are NOT capable of listening on the fly, they can record and re-playback but not listen live like the XM portables can.

I've not found the music selection on XM to be at all limiting, especially when hitting things like unsigned and deep tracks. You'll hear things you never knew existed. Additionally, I have XM set up to bill wuarterly at $8.99 per month (I believe that is my price). XM also has the distinction of the family plan, which any additional radios only pay either $5.99 or $6.99 per month instead of the regular cost. XM also has the exclusive rights to hockey after this season (and I believe it runs for 7 seasons) and exclusive rights to MLB in which they broadcast every game. O&A are now part of the general subscription, and XM has one last little neat bit in that you can listen to XM through your computer with an online stream.

I'd definitely go with XM. They're narrowing their loss margin each quarter and Sirius is only going to widen it when the Hoo Hoo contract hits the books (and all prelim stats show that he'll only bring in about a half million new subs). You're looking at 5.2 million subs on XM versus 1.5 mil on Sirius. Personally, I believe XM is much more concerned with listener care versus Sirius.

Mike B. · Nov 21, 2005

I went with Sirius and despite what robdamanii says, the family plan thing exists with Sirius as well. I don't care about portable players at all so that didn't matter to me. What did matter is that Sirius has the NFL contract which made the decision easy for me.

Go read xmfan.com and siriusbackstage.com for in depth info. There are people on both boards that have subscribed or still subscribe to both services.

We pay $19/mth I think for two receivers

robdamanii · Nov 21, 2005

partsbara said:
sirius has NPR and stern (well soon anyway), and XM has BBC world... fricken tough decision

XM has Bob Edwards as well. And Stern isn't going to be any different than he was on Infinity....especially since he has NONE of his old shows going with him.

I will say I enjoy BBC on XM, and I hate listening to news. XM also carries the Artist Confidential series, which is really pretty cool at times.

As for the Siruis family plan....I was unaware that it was in operation, so I apologize.

I believe I'm paying 15 a month for 2 units.

BuddhaRoadkill · Nov 21, 2005

partsbara said:
sirius has NPR and stern (well soon anyway), and XM has BBC world... fricken tough decision

Heh, NPR is why I went with Sirius [Both have BBC world].

Do yourself a favor and take advantage of their respective online free trials before jumping in. It may not live up to your expectations. Also search around for promo codes. Last year, a fellow monkey posted a code that gave away the hardware [$150 value] with the purchase of a one year subscription. Good luck.

dfinn · Nov 21, 2005

and a Playboy channel if you are so inclined

uh, what kind of stuff do they play on that channel?

narlus · Nov 21, 2005

ads....ha! get used to AMERICAN living, pal.

Brian HCM#1 · Nov 21, 2005

I have sirius and love it, prefer it over XM.

BikeGeek · Nov 21, 2005

partsbara said:
i downloaded XM online for a free trial and there are ads.. WTF ???

XM and Sirius are essentially the same...go with the content you want.

Don't believe the "commercial free" thing either. The stations I typically enjoy are free from "commercials" but do have an annoying amount of XM promo stuff. The channels my wife frequents (E!, VH1, etc.) actually has commercials.

BurlyShirley · Nov 21, 2005

My sirius unit got stolen.

...but before that it was great. NFL radio owns. And you get EVERY game live on sirius.

XM blows in that respect.

BUCKET · Nov 21, 2005

XM - That's the only way to go!!!

Brian HCM#1 · Nov 21, 2005

BUCKET said:
XM - That's the only way to go!!!

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!!!!! Especially if you like things that SUCK!!!!!

BuddhaRoadkill · Nov 22, 2005

partsbara said:
i downloaded XM online for a free trial and there are ads.. WTF ???

Do the same with Sirius. Listening preferences are so personal that anything we say is irrelevant.

Acadian · Nov 22, 2005

Brian HCM#1 said:
I have sirius and love it, prefer it over XM.

you only love it cause you have invested in Sirius (e.g. stocks). I asked you when I bought my XM if you had use XM extensively - you said no. you said there weren't no good rock station, yet there is SquiZZ xl which plays pretty good stuff.

With that said, I just recently bought a Delphi XM2GO and I enjoy it very much. Use it mostly at work (on my desk plugged to some speakers) and in my car.

I went with a used player didnt want to spent too much $$ for a receiver just to realize I dont like. I went on craigslist and there was a guy near my house selling a Delphi for super cheap so I went for it. The think was pretty much new, still in the box and for only $110 delivered to my house, I think of it as a bargain.

That + my iPod Nano = no more use for the radio or CD player. I like it although I wish the reception was better in the mountains (e.g. dense forest or near big rock formations) but thats something I knew about and its pretty much the same with any Satellite receiver devices (GPS, XM, Sirius, cell phones, etc..)so no biggie. Im not a big fan or sports but if youre into that kind of thing they have tons of baseball and hockey.

I also like the MyXM option where I can record 5 hours of stufflike today on SquiZZ XL they are going to play the new System of a Down album one song every hour. I can just listed to it and record every song!!

AnywayIm pretty stoked on my purchase does exactly what I expected it to do, which is entertain me with cool tunes! :thumb:

PS: I can't comment on Sirius since i've never owned that service.

robdamanii · Nov 22, 2005

Brian HCM#1 said:
DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!!!!! Especially if you like things that SUCK!!!!!

You like H2s, it would follow you'd like something else that sucks (I.E. little doggy company).

dan-o · Nov 22, 2005

partsbara said:
thats it... if brian has shares i m over it

seriously... i m leaning towards sirius cause of the content, but looks like XM has better customer service and their units look better...

farrkkkkk

What kind of customer service do you need? I send Sirius money and get music - end of transaction.

XM has better portable hardware. I chose Sirius b/c I like the content better and have it hardwired into my truck.

Atomic Dog · Nov 22, 2005

Definitely check them out online first if you can.

XM has much more variety in what they play, or so I've heard. Now that DirecTV is carrying XM music channels I'm looking forward to comparing them. Sirius tends to be more like FM radio in that they will play the same songs more frequently, and in general it's the more famous songs from bands. (although not nearly as bad as clearchannel, etc.) This was a huge complaint by a lot of people as of last year when I signed up. They have worked to improve it, but they are still behind XM in the depth of their playlists, I think.

There are a few "mixed" format channels that I really liked on Sirius that I don't think XM had at the time. Faction is punk/rock/hip hop, and Boombox is Breakbeat and oldschool hip hop. I listen to those two channels a lot.

NPR was a big part of my decision, too. Be aware that they don't play all NPR shows, though. I know they don't air All Things Considered. Mostly I listen to Fresh Air, Car Talk, Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, and The Motley Fool, so there's plenty enough for me. I also listen to several talk radio shows on there when I get the chance. Jay Thomas (The guy who played Eddie Lebeck on Cheers) is friggin hilarious. I'd be interested to see what Talk shows are on XM, never looked into it.

As far as sound quality, it really depends on how you connect the receiver. I have a portable unit and am just using the FM transmitter. Sound quality is obviously not going to be any better than listening to an FM station. If you go this route, I highly suggest getting an antenna switch box similar to this one. It bypasses your car antenna when you're running the fm modulator. Otherwise you can get static and interference from local channels. If your head unit has the capability, the best option is to directly connect the satellite receiver to it, or to get a sirius/xm capable head unit. I've heard sound quality is not quite CD level, but still way better than FM. The talk channels are compressed way more than the music channels. They tend to sound pretty tinny, much like listening to AM radio. It's talk radio, though. Who cares if it's high fidelity.

One last comment about the whole issue with Sirius and repeating songs: It really depends on how diverse your listening tastes are. Much of the time I listen to the stations that play current rock and hip hop. Yes, there is a fair amount of repetition, but I also spend a lot of time listening to the decades stations (70s, 80s, etc) and the soul music channel. There is so much music to choose from that you can avoid listening to the same thing all the time if as long as you don't limit yourself in what you listen to. In fact, since I got satellite radio I've become a chronic channel flipper, because I always feel like I'm missing out on something good somewhere else on the dial.

Brian HCM#1 · Nov 22, 2005

partsbara said:
thats it... if brian has shares i m over it

seriously... i m leaning towards sirius cause of the content, but looks like XM has better customer service and their units look better...

farrkkkkk

I can't comment on my sirius customer service because I've never needed it.

Brian HCM#1 · Nov 22, 2005

Acadian said:
you only love it cause you have invested in Sirius (e.g. stocks). I asked you when I bought my XM if you had use XM extensively - you said no. you said there weren't no good rock station, yet there is SquiZZ xl which plays pretty good stuff.

With that said, I just recently bought a Delphi XM2GO and I enjoy it very much. Use it mostly at work (on my desk plugged to some speakers) and in my car.

I went with a used player didnt want to spent too much $$ for a receiver just to realize I dont like. I went on craigslist and there was a guy near my house selling a Delphi for super cheap so I went for it. The think was pretty much new, still in the box and for only $110 delivered to my house, I think of it as a bargain.

That + my iPod Nano = no more use for the radio or CD player. I like it although I wish the reception was better in the mountains (e.g. dense forest or near big rock formations) but thats something I knew about and its pretty much the same with any Satellite receiver devices (GPS, XM, Sirius, cell phones, etc..)so no biggie. Im not a big fan or sports but if youre into that kind of thing they have tons of baseball and hockey.

I also like the MyXM option where I can record 5 hours of stufflike today on SquiZZ XL they are going to play the new System of a Down album one song every hour. I can just listed to it and record every song!!

AnywayIm pretty stoked on my purchase does exactly what I expected it to do, which is entertain me with cool tunes!

PS: I can't comment on Sirius since i've never owned that service.

Come on Luc, I told you I spent a few days driving around with a car that had XM, listening to the stations. Just didn't care for them. As far as sound quality, sirius has more base.

luken8r · Nov 22, 2005

BurlyShirley said:
...but before that it was great. MLB radio owns. And you get EVERY game live on XM.

Sirius blows in that respect.

Fixed

pigboy · Nov 22, 2005

and neither one works in Hawaii......... i believe that there aren't enough people here to justify putting up sats just so we can have less annoying radio. oh well, we'll just suffer through the winter i guess.....

also at least one, but perhaps both, technologies suffer from some amount of fadeout when you don't have clear sky above your receiver. not typically a problem, but another thing to be aware of.

bluebug32 · Nov 22, 2005

BuddhaRoadkill said:
Heh, NPR is why I went with Sirius [Both have BBC world].

XM also has NPR.

tell me about satellite radio...

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