I've ignored satellite radio up until this point, but it is finally getting my attention. I don't know much about it, but I would really like to try a service that offers quality broadcast, a wide range of music and talk channels (I could care less about sports) and hardware that will work in my car or on the go.
I am beginning to research the two leaders in satellite radio, XM and Sirius.
XM claims to have more subscribers AND more channels. In the other corner is Sirius. I am tempted to choose XM just because Sirius has signed on Howard Stern.
Anyone out there have input to share on satellite radio? Which should I select?
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
March 31, 2005 03:58 PM
I have been with XM for about 2 years now - nothing but good things to say. I mostly listen to talk radio - America Right is great. The music selection is good as well. The new XM MyFi might be worth looking at.
April 4, 2005 08:44 AM
Joel,
I have both XM and Sirius in my truck and have had both for about 2.5 years now.
For me, the clear winner for better programming is Sirius, but my decision is personal and tainted for many reasons including:
1) I like dance music and Sirius offers more channels or varieties than XM.
2) My Clarion head unit has Sirius built in and thus it delivers Sirius to my sound system in digital quality. For XM, I have an Alpine XM modulator that shoves it into FM. Sounds like complete crap. Anyone who tries to convince you that sat radio sounds good via FM modulator is obviously half deaf.
My next purchase is one of those MyFi's so that I can take my sat radio into the gym.
About a year ago, Sirius did something to boost their signals to the point where I can receive all of the channels in my truck while parked in my garage with the garage door shut. I lose the signal while going through the car wash or under a bridge for long durations, but your sat radio antenna has a lot to do with your reception quality because I'm on my 3rd sat radio antenna.
Biggest downer to Sirius is that someone needs to crack the whip at doing something about the 2-3 minute lag where they play stupid filler music between CNN broadcasts. Instead of commercials, they fill the gaps sometimes with filler music that wastes my time. At least with a commercial, I can turn the channel to Fox or CNBC or something else.
Also, Sirius's billing department is a lost cause. They couldn't keep their records straight to save themselves. XM has them beat.
April 13, 2005 09:58 AM
Hi Joel!
I just got an XM radio via Ebay and got a really good deal. I got the XM Roadie2 (2 has the FM modulator built--in so you don't need the extra $25 gizmo to hook up to a car or home stereo), plus the regular home kit and a car kit for $80.00!
Even the lady at XM when I activated my radio was impressed with my good deal :)
I have found the antenna is pretty touchy for signal VS placement. Of course I live in the Seattle area and we have a lot of trees and rain - the downfall of satellite.
XM just added a bunch more content like Major Leage Baseball and more talk channels and news channeels. I have been happy with the programming choices so far.
To compare w/Sirius, well I have never had that service so I can't say which is better, just that I will be enjoying my Cubbies games from very far away this summer!
"Techie" Teri Mramer
April 18, 2005 04:11 PM
"I am tempted to choose XM just because Sirius has signed on Howard Stern."
That is reason enough to chose XM in my book.
Howard Stern is a low-life sleaze and Sirius is willing to spew cultural garbage across America just to make money.
RadarCat
April 19, 2005 04:44 PM
I had XM for a while and then I sold it to get a 12 disc MP3 changer. Bad idea. I just bought a Sirius this time, and am waiting for the system. I have been listening to sirius for 2 days online now. I think XM has the edge in rock music. My choice to get sirius was because of the Elvis channel which is broadcast from Graceland.
I guess both companies are pretty even, and it would be a close call based on your likes.
June 27, 2005 03:40 AM
Howard Stern is funny. Just because you think he is sleeze, doesn't mean we all do.
July 6, 2005 11:57 PM
All the ultra-conservative right wing nuts choose XM....best reason I know to go with Sirius.
July 7, 2005 01:10 AM
Why, look! It's another shining example of liberal tolerance! Hypocrisy in motion.. don't stand too close, kids. ;-)
July 29, 2005 03:50 PM
You should choose Sirius over XM because of the following reasons...
1. They give you free online streaming over your pc, I am sure that XM does not, or charges extra for this service.
2. HOWARD STERN!!! King of all Media
3. NFL (all games.....)
4. JIM BREUER (BREUER UNLEASHED on Sirius)
5. Commerical Free Music (you get this on XM as well....)
I could go on....
I think that is so funny that you'd pick XM just because they have Howard on Sirius....There are to many stations to list that I have never listened to on Sirius, and yet I am very happy with the product. Who cares if Howard is on one of the stations?
Get a grip dude...
July 29, 2005 05:39 PM
Grip gotten, dude.
I choose XM for more reasons than the absence of Stern. King of all Media? Nonsense. King of the Gutter perhaps.
Anyhow, XM gives free streaming online as well. No extra charge.
I don't care about NFL or any sports online.
Who is Jim Breuer? Obviously, this has no impact on my decision.
I love XM's variety of music channels. And I love my Delphi MyFi XM2Go player.
Nuff said.
July 29, 2005 06:47 PM
"King of the gutter"
"don't care about NFL"
and....
"Who is Jim Breuer"
All I can say is, "have you been living in a box?"
But at least you love music......
July 29, 2005 09:49 PM
Nope, I just march to my own drummer, instead of the one that the masses march to :-)
July 30, 2005 11:12 AM
Sirius billing department and customer service under the direction of Michael Moore is a lost cause! They still owe me money from a year ago...still waiting for that call back I was supposed to get 3 times regarding a 180.00 plus over charge!!!!!
February 27, 2006 05:17 PM
Reason why XM is 100% better:
1. Howard stinks and is washed up. Opie and Anthony are original and 100% better then that washed up 100 million a yr bum.
March 21, 2006 06:37 PM
Sirius Satellite radio has positioned itself as the premier Satellite radio provider. If you compare the content on Sirius you will find that Sirius comes out ahead.
Sirius has exclusive deals with the NFL, NBA, NCAA Division I basketball tournament, they carry most NHL games and now NASCAR is comming over to SIrius starting next year. When you compare the two satellite radio providers, you will also find that if you like rock, alternative, or classic rock music, Sirius comes out far ahead as well. I tried out XM but was surprised to see that they didn't really seem compete very much in that department. The Sirius "Disorder" channel is really very good (and so is the underground garage channel), and if you like pop/hits, I noticed that the Sirius "Hits 1" channel is superior to the similar channels that XM provides (some of the XM music channels have commercials). Also, as far as pop music goes, Sirius also exclusively has BBC One, which has turned out to be a really cool channel.
In addition to all its other great content, Sirius carries 3 Public radio channels including 2 seperate NPR channels and 1 Public radio international Channel. Sirius also has exlusively carries the Cosmo radio channel, the Marha Stewart Channel, and 2 Channels of different Howard Stern programming.
May 2, 2006 05:44 PM
I LOVE XM! I could not be happier with the system in the car or in the house. I do not know what people are talking about. My friend has a Sirius account and it sounds like clear FM channels, xm is so clear and you would never hear it clank out like Sirius. That system would go in and out in a few bushes outside our store and it goes out 95% of the time. He had to go out and cut doen trees in the bushes to make it come in and even then it was like 75% going out b/c our store. XM barely goes out and I live with a crap load of trees. STICK WITH THE BETTER OF CHANNELS XM ALL THE WAY! Better choices, more channels to choose from xm has like over 200, Sirius has like maybe 150 I think I dunno all I know is I counted the new total from both and XM has more channels to choose from. Choose smart Choose XM! Thanks!
May 7, 2006 04:55 PM
I think XM is WAY better than Sirius, i had Sirius, for about 6 months, and the channels play the same songs over, and over again. Sirius offers a very shallow playlist.
XM music channels have the best playlist in every genre of music. Ive been an XM subscriber for about a year, and its a MUCH better service then Sirius. , also XM radios are better, there already coming out with the second generation poratable unit (pioneer inno, samsung helix) Sirius, doesnt even have a portable unit yet, they have this piece of crap S50 unit, thats not a true "live content" portable. As far as howard Stern, only about 10% of his FM listening audiance followed him to Sirius, he is old, and washed up. He talks alot of sh*t to make him, and the company he works for look great.
I say, choose XM for satallite radio
May 7, 2006 04:58 PM
XM is the best, Sirius sucks
ive tried both
June 7, 2006 07:46 PM
I got Sirius for Christmas '04 and liked it a lot. Then when I was off at school I got to hear XM for a couple weeks because a guy in my class. After hearing XM I loved my Sirius even more. Why? The Rock music. XM can't even touch Sirius when it comes down to that. I get to hear all my favorite hard rock, new rock, metal, and grunge. There's a reason I didn't hear most of the music on XM before, they're mostly crap. Say what you will about Howard, I don't even listen to him, but you can always turn the channel or turn the radio off completely.
August 22, 2006 05:52 PM
I think it is funny how defensive the XM users are.
So quick to jump on Sirius's realistic playlists. It isn't like I never ever want to hear a good song again. So what, XM plays a cool song I like once a month? Lmao... Yeah thats cool. You need to play songs more than once.
Go ahead XM fans... throw some excuses that your radio is better because it doesn't offer Stern... Think about how lame that sounds. "Our station is better than yours because we don't have a dude with a huge following!" So Sirius gives people what they want and that is your defense. hahahaha. Puuuuhhhllleeeeeeeaaaassseee!
January 9, 2007 10:19 AM
I honestly don't even see how this is even a CLOSE comparison?
I recently bought a new truck that came with XM and a free trial, but I then bought Sirius and installed it as well..because I actually wanted it.
I use both systems because of the amount of traveling I do and because I enjoy both Howard Stern and sometimes O&A.
Sirius BLOWS XM away, and its not even close. The music on both systems are nearly the exact same....so I don't think that is even an issue, but how could you compare the content and think that they are anywhere near equal.
Sirius now has:
1- Howard Stern's two channels (enough said)
2- Martha Stewart channel
3- Complete NFL Coverage
4- Extensive College Football coverage
5- NHL Hockey
6- NBA
7- Complete NASCAR coverage
8- 3 great comedy / stand-up channels
9 - All of the same entertainment channels..(ie: E!, Discovery and all of those)
10- All the news and other basic traffic/ weather channels
11- a channel just for truckers
XM on the other hand has:
1- Opie and Anthony's channel (which is ok, but you can just hear them for free on regular radio.. plus, when you have Stern, why would you really even need them?)
2 - Oprah & Friends - (OK if you are an Oprah fan, but really should be called "Oprah's Friends" because she is NEVER on the channel)
3- Everything else is the EXACT SAME stuff that Sirius has.
Coming from someone that has listened to both for a while, it really seems to me that XM doesn't put the effort it should into its content. Sirius just seems like it tries harder to please fans and XM just seems to be trying to appease investors.
Not saying that XM is bad, because I do enjoy it here and there, but when my free trial ends I'm not going to renew. Besides, its just a matter of time before they merge and just become one big Sirius....which will just be Sirius with Oprah and O&A added.
January 9, 2007 10:38 AM
Oh yeah...XM has MLB which I think is the only good thing that they alone offer, but Baseball is so regional, you can just listen to your team on your home AM or FM station. Plus, when I listen to the Red Sox games, I want to hear it called by the home announcers. I think a lot of people feel that way.
ps. On that note, when you hear NFL on Sirius, you can choose to hear the home or away broadcast...which is a really cool feature.
Also..another thing....I just read through the posts from others after I posted my post above and I am surprised at the people that insist on bashing Howard Stern. You really have to either live under a rock or you are completely in denial if you can't see how influential (sp?) he is in this Sirius vs. XM war. I personally know a lot of people that have purchased radios in the past year, and EVERY SINGLE ONE that I know choose to buy a Sirius radio based on the fact that Sirius was "the one with Howard Stern", even if they weren't really fans of his. He has single-handedly brought about brand awareness that Sirius (or XM for that matter) could of ever dreamed of getting. Could you really say that people flocked to XM for Opie and Anthony when they started at there? Did anyone even notice? I'm sure the "pests" are going to post about how Stern is washed up or whatever but c'mon? You could buy 47 Opie and Anthonys for the amount of money that Howard earns in a month...and I don't think he was able to get that kind of money because he is irevelant. Not to mention if Howard never gave up his show on terrestrial radio, O&A would still be two guys that a hand full of people remember or even care about.
O&A fans should pray that things work out for Stern over at Sirius because if he ever decided to come back to FM, they would quickly be out of a job, yet again.
January 9, 2007 11:24 AM
Oh yeah...one more thing (wow, I'm really on a tear)
Another thing that seems to be a common theme that keeps coming up in these discusions is the fact that people have the misconception that Sirius "went into the red" when they signed Howard Stern to such a large money contract. Every Stern / Sirius basher always seems to point this out as a way to knock Sirius...for some reason?
First off, Sirius and XM has ALWAYS been in the red since the start, but the Stern deal has done nothing but PAY OFF for Sirius and has actually turned out to be a great deal...and its just really simple math.
When Stern signed on with Sirius, they had approx. 600,000 subs. In the year that Stern has been there, Sirius subs increased to a little over 6 million (a figure that Sirius just announced to stock holders yesterday). So, to make it easy, if Stern had only brought over 2 million listeners to Sirius at 13 bucks a month, that is 312 million per year. Now times that by 5 years in his contract, that equals a little over 1.5 billion dollars. So how was that such a bad deal.
Another thing that Sirius announced yesterday was that they have awarded Stern another 86 million dollars of stock bonuses because he BEAT their expectations by OVER 2 million subs in the first year.
If you do the same math with the actual numbers $12.95 per month x 6 million, then you will get Sirius's real numbers. I'm not saying that Stern brought over all 6 million subs that came in, but if they started with 600,000, then signed Stern and jumped to 6 MILLION in the span of one year, its pretty hard to say that it was just a coincidence.
Another thing about the Sirius is "spending their money foolish" argument as it pertains to XM vs. Sirius battle doesn't make sense anyway because if you are looking at it from a listener point of view (vs. a investor point of view) I would much rather pay for a service that is going to spend the money to get good programming, rather than a service that is afraid to spend money to get the good content.
Thats enough rambling for me. Thanks for reading.
August 1, 2007 02:27 PM
It is interesting that nobody has focused on price....
If you have more than one radio, Sirius is the best choice. Also, XM does not offer the lifetime plan. Seems like a better deal to me.
September 4, 2007 11:01 AM
My fiance has had Sirius internet since Feb, and we got it for the car a month ago. Hugest mistake we've ever made. His internet acct was cancelled in error, and when he called to have it corrected, they told him he couldn't have his username back because it was already in use. Yes...by him. THEN it was changed FOUR times in two separate phone calls totalling two hours and forty five minutes. On the last call a CSR named Sara refused to get a manager on the line, then said she was the manager, then tried to tell him that she doesn't HAVE a manager. We then asked if she was the owner as that was the only way we could see someone not having a supervisor. By the end we told her to cancel the acct and asked for a refund of our installation fee (remember we'd only had the in car service for a month or less), and were then informed that it was nonrefundable. We again asked for contact info for a district manager or someone above her level. She hung up.
I work for a bank and had warned him that I get a minimum of five disputes a day about Sirius charging people incorrectly.
We searched and found corporate info for them in New York, and have contacted that office to file complaints, and also the BBB. The BBB let us know that their file on Sirius is now up to 1100 complaints in Arizona, with 700 so far resolved in the consumers' favor.
At this point I don't care who has better music. If Sirius was the only thing available....no regular radio, CD players, nothing but silence or Sirius....I'd sing out loud instead.
October 2, 2007 09:39 PM
I think Sirius is a waste of money. I have had Sirius for five months now and it is just not as good as I thought it would be. First off I have the Stiletto 100 I got it with a car and home adapter for $300. I wanted the Stiletto for its portability. Sirius claims you can use this thing as a walkman; and walk around without any wires. They were wrong you can’t get signal at all it has to be on the car or home adapter. If I had know it got such bad signal I would have got a cheaper none portable model. Now for the actual service I will tell you that they have a good list of channels you can always find something on. The crappy part is that Sirius says they are “100% commercial free music”. That was a bunch of false advertisement. The true thing is that after about every song give or take a few you get a DJ talking about some other channel or some big event that is happening or they just plain like to talk. For example I like to listen to channel 60 which is country music and the DJs like to talk about the NASCAR channel. If I wanted to listen to NASCAR I would have gone to that channel. Another state the quality is not very good either. I use this thing in my car most of the time and I have an expensive after market stereo in my car it is connected directly to the stereo. It is not using the built in FM transmitter. It is not CD quality sound for sure. The local FM radio stations that come in really clear have better sound quality then this crap. The quality is kind of like the low quality internet radio stations. You would think that since you are paying a monthly fee for the service they could give you better sound quality with no commercials. If I had known all this I would not have gotten this radio I would have just stuck with my book of CDs. After my subscription it up I will not renew it.
October 7, 2007 12:48 PM
You all seem to be forgetting one very simple thing! For one I have Sirius and I Love it! Just buy what ever radio you want XM or Sirius! If you people would pay attention at all, you would know that SIRIUS AND XM agreed on a MERGER! Soon it will all be SIRIUS! Sirius is the company in charge of the merger, there for they got the naming rights. This deal was brought up by both XM and SIRIUS and the BOTH WANT TO DO IT! So what ever radio you buy, soon it will be all one radio!
December 9, 2007 10:54 AM
Which model of either XM or Sirius, in general, gets the best reception when used as a walkman? I want to get to use when I run. Thanks.
January 1, 2008 11:26 AM
SIRIUS radio sucks!! How Sirius radio stole my family’s Christmas. My wife and I have Sirius radio's in our cars. Her radio subscription was due in Dec 17th, 2007 for renewal. So she called and paid with our check card. We then decided to cancel it when I got home from work that day, so I called and cancelled it and asked for a refund the customer service guy said no problem. Well it was!! I received a call on Christmas EVE from Sirius and they said they accidentally charged my check card $600.00 and it would be refunded into my bank account within three business days. Well three days went by and I checked my bank account and they had accidentally charged me $928.20 So I called and they said no we didn’t charge you $928.20 so I faxed them a copy of my bank statement then they said O.K. we charged it and your going to have to wait 4 weeks to get that back. So me and my family had to sleep in our car on the way back home from Michigan from our holiday trip because a Sirius billing dept person got impatient and charged us three times on accident. So if anyone wants a satellite radio GET XM RADIO its cheaper and they have educated people working for them.
February 12, 2008 10:00 AM
I've had Sirius for the past 3 years...and I now have XM installed in my second vehicle. Here's the key difference between the 2 services.
XM- gets high praises from me in regards to their variety of music selected on the playlists. They don't feed you the same songs as much as Sirius. I like the fact that XM plays the obscure tracks from artists, that weren't necessiarily a top hit on the album,,, but appreciated by many listeners.
However, XM comes up short in the talk radio programming and sports. XM would only make sense if you're a baseball nut. How one can listen to 24 hours of baseball coverage per day still baffles me. Ultimately, the music range is amazing, but everything else sucks.
Sirius-
The Sirius music channels are tolerable and enjoyable to most music fans, but after 3 years of listening to the old-school and classic rock stations, it seems like they've been playing the same handful of songs every year,,,with not much shift. Some b-sides and non-hit single tracks would be nice from time to time. That has to be my biggest complaint.
Everything else is 2nd to none
They've got the upper hand in talk radio...not only with Howard, but with a wide range of other shows...that cater to a wide range of demographics.
Great political coverage from left to right.
And since I'm a guy who loves sports, sirius wins by a mile with exclusive NFL, NBA, NHL, Nascar and College Hoops coverage. All complete with daily talk shows catered to each sport.
Sirius wins by a nose.
but man, XM's musical variety is really good.
February 29, 2008 07:08 AM
I'm going with Sirius...XM has Air America and I still am boycotting them for their firing of Mike Malloy.
April 15, 2009 02:38 PM
I purchased a lifetime subscription to Serius when I bought my car back in 2007. I was sent mail requesting that I extend my service before it ran out. Now this year when I trade in the car I tried to get my service switched to XM, because they are now ONE company. I couldn't do it and after several calls I was told I could purchase a converter ($140.00) and use my Serius service on my XM radio. Of course I would have to go to a car stero shop to have it hooked up, maybe another $100.00. Serius said they could not do anything for me yet but didn't know if or when it would be possible in the future. As far as I am concerned they are not ONE company yet.
July 23, 2009 03:50 PM
Just had an awful experience with Sirius radio - so much so that they've turned a customer who tried to cancel for financial reasons into a Sirius-hater. They scam you when you try to cancel by saying they will let you continue to receive free service till the quarter runs out - and FAIL to tell you that charges start up once again. I encourage anyone who wants to cancel service to CANCEL immediately. Customer service and billing say their hands are tied. In such a large corporation you'd think they'd realize good customer relations would be paramount. Instead, they're in it to scam as many people as possible to get every dime they can. Shame on Sirius. They're prefer to turn people off on them at a time in our nation's history when they should be finding ways to keep customers happy.