XM radio, Sirius radio etc.

[RAJP53]

Can anyone refer me to a site where I can get some serious data on sat radio?
Is it worth it?

 

[Fuzzy Logic]

(e-mail address removed) (RAJP53) wrote in

Can anyone refer me to a site where I can get some serious data on sat
radio? Is it worth it?

www.sirius.com has a fair bit of info

Worth is highly subjective. You obviously need a radio that can get the
signal and then there are subscription fees. It's certainly not worth it to
me as I rarely listen to radio and have 6 disc in dash cd player.

 

[D Ray]

Can anyone refer me to a site where I can get some serious data on sat radio?
Is it worth it?

xmradio.com.

But I warn you, there is no turning back. Have a CD collection
numbering in the thousands that hasn't been touched in two years. XM
makes you quickly realize you can never collect enough music to
compare with their selection.

I have Sirius, too -- but the playlists are not that much better than
FM. If you like music, check XM out.

 

[John O]

I have Sirius, too -- but the playlists are not that much better than

FM. If you like music, check XM out.

FWIW, Sirius broadcasts many of their channels on Dish Network. If you have
Dish, you have Sirius in your system. Some friends have the Sirius system,
and it works pretty well, the auto antenna works great but the portable
antenna (for the boom box) needs to be pointed slightly west, I think. And,
it uses a lot of power, the supply is rated for 2.5A, so forget about using
batteries. And, the classic rock they listen to is just as monotonous as FM,
without the commercials.

-John O

 

[stefan]

Something that sold me on the XM versus the Sirius was the monthly fee. To
be honest, the other thing was having personal experience with my parents
and their SkiFi. Unless you make a 1 or 2 year committment, paying monthly
$9.99 US is the XM deal. Just this summer XM signed up it's 1-millionth
customer. I don't know about Sirius. I really like XM's variety but as the
post below states, if you have Dish, you're getting a similar line-up
through Sirius anyway. One plus for Sirius from a guy I know with Circuit
City is that Sirius does online audio streaming so you don't need your deck
in the office, particularly if you are in the middle of a steel and concrete
building where even FM/AM radio is hard to pick up. He is a big football
fan and Sirius covers the NFL in an exclusive deal. XM does not have this.
www.xmradio.com www.sirius.com

Last I looked, several deals offered through Circuit City, Best Buy, and
Crutchfield.com as retailers offers a complete system of the "Roady2" for
around $130 and allowed for a mail in offer of a home or car kit for free.
www.crutchfield.com is a great resource. The deal offers a FM transmitter
which I have yet to hear it's audio quality, but I think it broadcasts over
about 5 different frequencies in the 88.x FM range. This option eliminates
the need for an adaptor such as the cassette tape plugging into your factory
deck. You will still need to get it some power in your car and most
commonly that will go to an available power plug.

I bought the SkiFi reciever and got two home adaptors (one for work and
home) and the car kit. The home antenna needs to be positioned with a
south-facing clear view. If you get the SkiFi, save your money on the
boom-box that XM offers. If you love music quality, you will be
dissappointed with the speaker quality of their boom-box. Very little
low-end response. The plus side to it is it's immediate portability since
the antenna and speakers are all included. I would still suggest getting
the home kit and either hooking it via RCA to mini-jack chord to your home
stereo or even your favorite computer speakers.

 

[MikeL]

It was posted a while ago that the in-line FM modulator of the XM stereo
unit won't fit the new model year Subaru antennas. Can anyone confirm this?
Sounds a bit hard weird to me.

 

[BRH]

I just had Sirius installed this week on my 2001 Forester. I like it so much
that I'm testing out the home unit and boombox now, as I write this. By testing,
I mean that I'm playing the Sirius preview channel and trying to determine the
best location in the house for the antenna. Not too much success with that yet,
as the signal seems to fade at times.

No such problem with the car unit though. Instead of buying one of those Sirius
add-on modules (which connect to your car's in-dash radio either thru FM
modulation or cassette deck), I replaced the entire in-dash stock radio with a
Clarion unit that can pick up Serius. Nice clean install that way, but a bit
more expensive in upfront costs. There just wasn't a neat way to physically
install the add-on module in the Forester.

Bottom line is that I went with Serius because of the NFL package, because you
can receive streaming music over the internet and because you can try it out for
3 days online -- see www.sirius.com. I don't believe that XM offers a free trial
like this.

I'm happy with it so far.

 

[D Ray]

Just this summer XM signed up it's 1-millionth

customer.

They're now at about 2.5 million.

I don't know about Sirius.

Between 500K and 600K.

I really like XM's variety but as the
post below states, if you have Dish, you're getting a similar line-up
through Sirius anyway. One plus for Sirius from a guy I know with Circuit
City is that Sirius does online audio streaming so you don't need your deck
in the office, particularly if you are in the middle of a steel and concrete
building where even FM/AM radio is hard to pick up. He is a big football
fan and Sirius covers the NFL in an exclusive deal. XM does not have this.
www.xmradio.com www.sirius.com

XM doesn't offer NFL but has more college (NCAA) coverage.

This is a common complaint with Sirius. XM doesn't suffer from that
problem. XM40 (Deeptracks) has caused me to totally abandon my CD
collection (numbering in the thousands).

 

[Alan Pollard]

I have Sirius, too -- but the playlists are not that much better than

FM. If you like music, check XM out.

Have Sirius only and agree completely with the playlist issue - unless
they fix it they'll have issues holding on to subscribers. I listen
mainly to some of their alt and elecronic streams and find some days
its fine, but other days that I hear the same set of tracks on my
morning commute as my evening commute, which makes them no better than
FM (although I can hear genres you just don't get on FM, like
chillout).

However, my main reason for getting Sirius was to escape AM talk
radio, and Sirius certainly delivers, especially NPR, the World Radio
Network and the BBC. However, XM are introducing their own version of
NPR, and since the Sirius streams can't broadcast All Things
Considered and Morning Edition, it may well be a better option.