Foo - Satellite Radio - Which service XM or Sirius?

Ok you satellite radio enthusiasts. I am thinking of installing satellite radio in my car. So, I need some help with a couple of questions.

Is satellite radio worth the hype?

Which service is better XM or Sirius?

Which receiver is recommended?

For Sirius I am thinking I would use the Jensen receiver:

http://i.walmart.com/i/p/00/04/32/58/30/0004325830064_215X215.jpg

For XM I would use the Delphi:

http://akamaipix.crutchfield.com/ca/reviews/20041012/skyfi2.jpg

Any comments on these receivers or other receivers?

Any comments on satellite radio in general?

Has anyone mounted a satellite receiver on their bicycle?

Thanks

I borrowed one for a drive to Florida.
Gave it a full test.
Was very un-enthused.

The music and programming is second rate.
For example: the 60s channel seemed like it played the B-sides to every thing.
The Classical channel played obscure composers.
The Comedy Channels were too short-attention-spannified.
The talk channels were drivvel.
The sports channels? What do I care about Cal State Fullerton vs. Colorado School of Mines?
And then there are the commercials.

For this, we have to pay them $9.99 a month?

If you're a long haul trucker, go for it. You can write it off.
Otherwise, support your local broadcasters.

Nine nintey five a month AND commercials! :eek: OUTRAGEOUS!

My roommate has Sirius, and likes it a lot (so do i). there are a couple of hundred channels, it's *commercial free* and he gets reception wherever he goes. He mostly got it because he's on the road a lot (his band travels up and down the east coast every couple of months for 3-4weeks at a stretch). Most big cities have radio repeaters so even if you don't have line of sight to a sat. you don't lose reception (he gets reception in the Lincoln tunnel for instance). They play a lot of music that we like and would never hear on FM, and i've even gotten him to accept some of the harder rocking country as being 'good' (i can't believe the man didn't even know who Kris Kristopherson was before he got this thing...). As an added bonus he can listen to the webcast of all of their channels on our home computer (or any other computer with a net connection).

i have no experience with XM so i can't compare them, but for how much he travels Sirius was a good choice

Is satellite radio worth the hype?

You bet it is! My new car came with Sirrus. All i had to do was activate it. Me and my wife love it. Its like cable TV for car radio, but without the commercials.

I have been considering satellite radio since it came out.

But wait a minute...

Do you get commercials or not?

Forget it. I remember when cable TV had no commercials because you PAYED for it. Now look...

I would love to be able to pick up a German language station just to keep in practice. Can you get Bayern 3?

Nine nintey five a month AND commercials! :eek: OUTRAGEOUS!


Huh? Thought it was no commercials?

I have been considering satellite radio since it came out.

But wait a minute...

Do you get commercials or not?

Forget it. I remember when cable TV had no commercials because you PAYED for it. Now look...

I would love to be able to pick up a German language station just to keep in practice. Can you get Bayern 3?

the only commercials i've heard on Sirius are for things like the next show coming up after the one you're listening to. no car commercials, or ads for clorox or anything, just a station ID type thing every once in awhile.

I borrowed one for a drive to Florida.
And then there are the commercials.

For this, we have to pay them $9.99 a month?

Otherwise, support your local broadcasters.

What commercials? I only hear show promos on Sirius.

Support them for what? Do they play what i want to hear? Its all ratings driven so all i hear is the latest teenager driven crap. So until the Balto/DC area gets an all Blues 24/7 station, Sirius 29 is where its at.

Huh? Thought it was no commercials?

Ref: Post #2, Line 10

Sirius if you like football...XM if you like baseball.

Ref: Post #2, Line 10


See post #8 :)

See post #8 :)


Let's count together.

My post 3... 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (your reference) Gee, that's five posts later. Get it, or should we count slower and use our fingers? Sometimes John, I wonder. :)

Let's count together.

My post 3... 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (your reference) Gee, that's five posts later. Get it, or should we count slower and use our fingers? Sometimes John, I wonder. :)


Geez, cheer up, it's Friday.
I was just jokin (and glad to hear there's no commercials because i am considering getting it)

Geez, cheer up, it's Friday.
I was just jokin (and glad to hear there's no commercials because i am considering getting it)


I wasn't dour. :p

Sometimes it's dificult to discern jocularity from obtuseness. While the two can at times be inter-twined, I find it a low humor

<Now for a big Miss Cindy smile!>

:D :D :D :D :D

Otherwise, support your local broadcasters.

There are no local broadcasters anymore except for college and public stations. Pretty much every commercial station is controlled by one of the big programming outlets, Clear Channel or Infinity, and programs the same limited, commercial crap across every market.

I've been looking into the Sirius/XM question for a while, getting ready to take the plunge. Some of the major differences I see:

- XM has some cool hardware with the XM2go series of players. Sirius doesn't have these yet, but is likely to catch up soon. Most of the Sirius hardware is cheaper right now.
- XM has MLB, NHL, and Nascar. Sirius has the NFL.
- Sirius will have Howard Stern in December.
- Most of the music and talk selections look pretty much the same to me. Both services cover the major musical genres, and both cover the conservative/liberal talk arenas. I've heard from Sirius people that theirs offers more diverse and obscure music, while XM is seen as more mainstream. But this really depends on what your interests are.
- Both services have deals where you can pre-pay a number of months or years and get a discount. Sirius offers a "lifetime subscription" for around $500.

I think I'm leaning toward getting the XM2go player right now to listen to baseball.

Both services offer a free trial of streaming audio through their websites. Sign up, listen to each for a few days, and pick the one you like.

I've had both and currently have Sirius. I definitely think it's worth it. You can listen to anything, just about, including live sporting events-listened to the NCAA Finals on Sirius, BBC-listened to coverage of the bombings in London, and on and on. Now if they'd just get a cycling channel...:>)

Some stations, like ESPN, have commercials, and some, like BBC and NPR, don't. So it depends on what you listen to. Most every station has programing commercials about other stations.

The other thing to consider is the quality of the equipment. I'm just a little disappointed with the quality of the Sirius products. I think they should be made more durable, especially the transportable units.

The other thing to consider is the quality of the equipment. I'm just a little disappointed with the quality of the Sirius products. I think they should be made more durable, especially the transportable units.

I got around this. My new Jetta has the sat tuner built into the 6-disc indash CD player. The Sirius antenna was factory installed. All i had to do after i drove off with the car was call Sirius on my cell and activate it. 15 min after hanging up i was good to go.

Thanks, for all the replies. Seems like if I signed up for Satellite Radio it would be Sirius.

Still checking... :rolleyes:

MP3. My brother and I collected acres of CDs in high school and college. I had one of the first CD-mp3 players (imported from Korea from lik-sang) and I was hooked. All my old albums, a couple new ones I've picked up, books on CD from my local library, now random podcasts. I wore out three CD mp3 players before the quality started improving, and I now have a CD-MP3 and a HD-MP3 player that are in regular use.

If you want to check out Sirius, you can go to their website and sign up for a 3 day free trail. You can listen to their channels (via streaming audio) on your laptop and check out their channels ("over 120", according to their site).

I just did this yesterday and was impressed. Not quite impressed enough to sign up, but only because I just don't listen to enough radio.

my new truck had a free trial of xm radio

i am really suprised how much i enjoy it. i renewed it for three years after the trial period ended

my listening tastes lean more towards talk radio/sports/news vs. music

i think both services have a wide range of music channels (commercial free) ... classical is weak on both. plenty of pop/urban/rock on both. xm has a nice bluegrass channel which i love

xm has streaming of the major news channels from cable (cnn/fox etc) and some talk stations. the comedy channels are ok

plenty of sports. xm is in the lead with mlb/nhl/nascar/golf/college. sirius has the nfl which is great...but that is only 2 days/week

xm has bob edwards...sirius has npr (a wash)

sirius will have howard stern (blech)...if you like him go with sirius



for me xm has the best range of programming

XM has commericals. Sirius only has commericals on the talk channels and those commericals are from the source of the programming not added by Sirius. I'm not counting the station ID stuff, I think everyone has to do that due to FCC regulations.

Sirius has news channes too.

I have Sirius and programming is good. WAY better than radio and IMHO better than XM.

Sirius also has satillites that orbit above the US while XM's satillites are along the equator in geosync orbit. So XM has to rely on more repeaters. Might make a difference if you travel between cities and there are mountains or valleys. Also makes a difference the farther north you are.