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Satellite Radio...XM or Sirius??

aircooled

aircooled

Lifer
I'm sure everyone has heard of satellite radio by now... If you were going to get it, what would you choose? XM or Sirius??

I like Sirius' programming (OK I like NPR and talk stuff on long trips). But XM seems like it might have a marketing edge (hmmm, Beta vs. VHS??)


Is there room for both?? or is one going to die out...?

 
satellite radio? why would you do that if you can get a mp3 deck at the same price of a satellite reiceiver, and listen to whatever you want with no monthly charges.
if you listen to alotta talk stuff, then quality doesnt matter, tune to your am stations.
 
AM is not an option here, no selection and I drive about 4 hours away and back every other weekend (not to mention the daily drive to work and back, 45min each way) plus I do listen to music, I just like talk and news and other shows during long trips, passes the time better for me. With this much time in the car, paying a small fee for uninterrupted radio is not much different than getting cable or satellite TV.

More opinions please...... XM or Sirius???
 
XM by far. I have a friend who is one of the VP's there and at his families X-Mas and New Years Eve party the quality of the music was outstanding! The DJ's are good too, and of course you can listen to Anand interviews on C|Net radio! 😛
 
Sirius isn't even officially launching USA wide till August i believe

Go with XM

Sirius lost the battle to get satellites into GEO orbit, and i foresee them losing the subscriber battle (if satellite radio really takes off)

XM claims 30,000 subscribers already...though that's debatable
 
OK, I just bought the Sony "Plug in Play" XM receiver and took took a 3 hour drive.

This is so much better than I imagined. The quality was superb throughout the entire drive.

Having the comedy stations is great!
 


<< OK, I just bought the Sony "Plug in Play" XM receiver and took took a 3 hour drive.

This is so much better than I imagined. The quality was superb throughout the entire drive.

Having the comedy stations is great! >>



what kind of antenna does that use? is it integrated or do you have to mount it?
 
Here's a single vote for Sirius.

why?

1) they have more commercial free music stations than xm for a little more/mo. i already hate FM as it is for all the ads on the radio and since i'm already paying for satellite radio i might as well get a completely commercial free solution.

2) equipment. not to get into a which brand is better debate, but personally i like Kenwood's (eXcelon line) more than Sony's or Pioneer's, both of which only sells XM tuners. additionally, at this point in time the sirius tuners are a bit more affordable.

3) availability. Sirius may be slow to the market but at least they (imho based on what i've read and researched) have better technology. and i like the fact that their satellites are lower in orbit. if anyone mentions this, the reason they also have a dozen or so less repeaters in the US is because they don't need as much. The way their satellite works is that two of them are always locked in your position and always overlap each other so the chances of getting a lost signal (dead space) is less.

4) sound quality. no debate here, they both sound good and as far as my ears can tell there's no difference in terms of sq. i've listened to both and it's all and the same. if you want to know how Sirius sounds, log on to their site. They've been broadcasting all their channels live for quite some time now - free.

I'd like to add, chances are if you're getting satellite radio to complement your non-satellite radio capable tuner you're going to be getting either a cassette adapter or an FM tuneable receiver. At this rate you'll definitely not notice the sq differences (if any) anymore. Satellite radio doesn't come close to CD SQ just yet but it is definitely better than regular FM or Cassette. And if you're playing it using those means then SQ is already negligible to start with.

5) marketability. they'll both survive IMHO. their ties with the audio and car manufacturing industry should help them survive. (GMC, Honda, Isuzu, Suzuki for XM ... Ford, Daimler Chrysler, BMW, Lincoln, Mazda, Jaguar, Volvo, Jeep, Dodge and Mercedez-Benz for Sirius)

At this point, the real deciding factors are:

Less (XM-30) vs. More (Sirius-60) advertisement free music channels
Cheaper (XM- less than $10) vs. More expensive (Sirius- less than $13)

Hope this helps a little bit.






 
Ok, looks like Sirius does and XM doesn't.
I already have the head unit, where doI get the tunner and antenna?
 
Your local stereo shop should have it. Crutchfield has the Jensen handheld unit which i think it pretty cool (only for those w/o the headunit).

I know for a fact Cartoys has it, but i don't know if you have one local to you. Check out Sirius' website, they have a locator.
 
Sirius is not yet available in my area and XM is available USA-wide. Sirius does carry NPR and XM does not (he only Sirius advantage as far as I see right now).

It does require a new antennea, included with the 'sony plug 'n play' kit (only several inches tall bay many inches long).

This is my first weekend with it, and I'm sold!!!! Any kind of music I want when I want, CNN headline, or any other news channel (FOX, BBC etc...). Comedy (unedited and raunchy like it should be ;-)). Plus CNet Radio (tech radio). And when the kids are in the car, they get all the 'POP' radio they want!



 
XM's channel line-ups

BTW, I like the two names of the XM satellites... I was going to go down to Venezuela for one of them but had to cancel. They are XM Rock, and its sister is XM Roll. Which are the two most powerful commercial satellites ever built.
 
If it was me (and it's not) I would go for XM

THe Sports talk line up IS MUCH BETTER!

But then again I chose DirecTV over Dish due to NFLTICKET!😀
 
I have not even thought of this XM stuff untill now, and now I am actually considering either getting XM, or getting XM and ditching my MP3 CDplayer. This would be because of all the talk and news, I like to listen to stuff like that in the car. If I do get it, though, I will definatly be getting the portable unit, untill I upgrade my car's stereo. I'm satisfied with the Bose in my Maxima for now, but when I get some extra money, probably at the end of the summer, I will upgrade....
 
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