Sirius really is working hard to piss their customers off.... I'm about to give up

[Deeko]

I've had Sirius for years, since they came out basically. Considering I now have a Zune with Zunepass, and they dumped my 2 favorite channels in the merger last year, I've been trying to cancel for months now - but every time I call, they give me another 3 free months. I haven't actually paid for Sirius since last year sometime.

 

[SP33Demon]

Soon most major metro areas will have wifi anyway, internet radio ftw. Or you can just use a cellphone modem.

 

[TangoJuliet]

I've had Sirius since before Stern signed on. I had actually enjoyed their music selection and liked the long segments without commercials during Stern. When he was on terrestrial it would be 15 minute segment then 20 minutes of commercials. He now goes on for about a hour before they play something like 8 minutes of commercials - which I then switch to #24 lithium.

I was also excited about getting the best of XM package and listening to MLB and O&A. I had seen a advertisement on their website for 3 free months when signing up for a year and when I called over the sales rep had no idea what I was talking about. I had just bought a new car that came with 6 months free and I already had paid in full for a full year so I asked them if I could add the best of and get the free 3 months on top of the 6 that came with the car and the 12 that I had just paid for.

The sales rep was retarded and said they couldn't do that. So I told them to refund my 12 month service and I'll just take the free 6 months that came with the car. Then they pulled the plug on the free internet radio and with the announcement of the app w/o Stern I am probably not going to renew. Sad because I really do like satellite radio I just don't like being nickel and dimed for every single thing.


Edit: I had sync on my focus so I just plug my iphone in there and I can listen to whatever playlist I feel like listening to. I generally just switch back and forth from terrestrial radio to my iphone when the commercials come on.

 

[MetalMat]

Opie & Anthony + Ron & Fez > Stern

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Soon most major metro areas will have wifi anyway, internet radio ftw. Or you can just use a cellphone modem.

People always use internet radio as a potential replacement for satellite/HD radio....the quality is nowhere NEAR the same.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: Quasmo
Just buy the lifetime subscription.

"Lifetime" only applies to 3 radios.

and that's a problem?

For me it is. I'm on my 4th now. Would cost me another $400.

 

[Quasmo]

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: BrunoPuntzJones

Originally posted by: Quasmo
Just buy the lifetime subscription.

"Lifetime" only applies to 3 radios.

and that's a problem?

For me it is. I'm on my 4th now. Would cost me another $400.

EDIT:

OH, I get it, you've upgraded your radio 3 times.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Soon most major metro areas will have wifi anyway, internet radio ftw. Or you can just use a cellphone modem.

People always use internet radio as a potential replacement for satellite/HD radio....the quality is nowhere NEAR the same.

That's true, but it may improve in the future because sites like Youtube are streaming the actual mp3 now. Mp3 quality is fine with me.

 

[Train]

if Sirius/XM were smart, they would just go 100% free, with commercials. Maybe sell a premium subscription for the uncensored stuff like stern

 

[SSSnail]

NOoooOOOooo.... a whole $2? NNOOOoooooOOoo...

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh...

 

[Gunbuster]

How much does it cost them to keep their birds in orbit? They should have used high altitude blimps.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Train
if Sirius/XM were smart, they would just go 100% free, with commercials. Maybe sell a premium subscription for the uncensored stuff like stern

....one of the biggest draws to Sirius is there are no commercials. Making it free with commercials takes away a large part of the draw.

HBO should just go free with commercials too?

 

[OCGuy]

Im sticking around for Stern. As soon as he leaves, im gone.

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Train
if Sirius/XM were smart, they would just go 100% free, with commercials. Maybe sell a premium subscription for the uncensored stuff like stern

....one of the biggest draws to Sirius is there are no commercials. Making it free with commercials takes away a large part of the draw.

HBO should just go free with commercials too?

No, HBO is premium. And some channels should stay commercial free. but the majority of them should just be low commercial, freebies. Listenership would go up 1000x

The alternative is unsustainable, which is why Sirius/Xm have been flirting with bankruptcy for so long.

 

[guyver01]

If it were'nt for the drastic price reductions every time i call them to cancel, i'd have left a while ago too...

Every 6 months, when my paid term is up, i call them to cancel because its too expensive, the give me 6 more months for $30 ... can't pass that up

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Train

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Train
if Sirius/XM were smart, they would just go 100% free, with commercials. Maybe sell a premium subscription for the uncensored stuff like stern

....one of the biggest draws to Sirius is there are no commercials. Making it free with commercials takes away a large part of the draw.

HBO should just go free with commercials too?

No, HBO is premium. And some channels should stay commercial free. but the majority of them should just be low commercial, freebies. Listenership would go up 1000x

The alternative is unsustainable, which is why Sirius/Xm have been flirting with bankruptcy for so long.

HBO is premium, as is Sirius. You get a wider selection of more specific channels, higher quality, and no commercials. Hence the justification for charging.

What makes you think offering free channels with commercials would make them sustainable? They'd get more listeners, but they'd also lose some, and who says that would provide more money than what they're doing now?

 

[Train]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Train

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Train
if Sirius/XM were smart, they would just go 100% free, with commercials. Maybe sell a premium subscription for the uncensored stuff like stern

....one of the biggest draws to Sirius is there are no commercials. Making it free with commercials takes away a large part of the draw.

HBO should just go free with commercials too?

No, HBO is premium. And some channels should stay commercial free. but the majority of them should just be low commercial, freebies. Listenership would go up 1000x

The alternative is unsustainable, which is why Sirius/Xm have been flirting with bankruptcy for so long.

HBO is premium, as is Sirius. You get a wider selection of more specific channels, higher quality, and no commercials. Hence the justification for charging.

What makes you think offering free channels with commercials would make them sustainable? They'd get more listeners, but they'd also lose some, and who says that would provide more money than what they're doing now?

In case you missed it, I wasnt suggesting an all or nothing approach... mostly free.. but some "premium". Get it?

How would it be sustainable? Because listnership going up a thousand fold + even limited advertising means way more revenue than jacking up the rates on the barely there listernship they have now. Get it?

In case you still need more explanation... Sirius can broadcast to basically an entire hemispere vs one city like most stations.. allowing them to still offer a wide selection and specialty channels, with lower overhead. I mean c'mon I thought most of this shit is obvious.

 

[Deeko]

If it were obvious they would have done it.

Since you seem to be the expert on the matter, lets see a breakdown of financials - how much they would make on the advertisements, true market research on how listenership would increase if it were free & how that affects the aforementioned advertising deals, of course accounting for the lost revenue in standard subscriptions.

You act like you're so sure of this and you know everything about it, when it is painfully obvious that you do not.

by the way - Sirius currently has 20 million subscribers. You seem very convinced that they will go up to 20 billion if they were free. That's a very interesting theory. As is your theory of "low overhead" - when is the last time you launched a satellite? I guess there's a pretty low capital investment there. And I suppose they wouldn't need to launch more "low overhead" satellites to support the increase?

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: Soccer55

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: LS21
why dont you guys just pirate 100gb of mp3s and hook it to your car player? for the first time ever , ever , ever listening to satellite radio (on rentals), i enjoyed channel #pop2k... but still vastly prefer using personal player

Good idea but sadly my car has no f-ing provision for hooking anything into it, no aux jack, no ipod port no USB port, nutting..Only option is to pay $185 for an adapter that will let you install aftermarket and even then you lose some of the DIC functions, stupid GM..

What about FM transmitters? I have this one for my Zune and IMO, it works well. I'm sure that there is a number of companies that make them for iPods.

How is the audio quality vs line in??.

 

[murphy55d]

I just signed up for Sirius last weekend. Compared to terrestrial radio its 1000x better. Maybe I haven't had it long enough to complain?

I don't live in a large metro area though so maybe its because my options to this point have been limited. Either way, seems like its worth it so far.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: murphy55d
I just signed up for Sirius last weekend. Compared to terrestrial radio its 1000x better. Maybe I haven't had it long enough to complain?

I don't live in a large metro area though so maybe its because my options to this point have been limited. Either way, seems like its worth it so far.

If you're happy with their channel lineup, its great & well worth the money. I've had them for a long time, I'm only canceling because A) they canceled my two favorite channels in the merger and B) I moved to a new city last year that has a commercial-free FM station similar to one of the ones they canceled.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: murphy55d
I just signed up for Sirius last weekend. Compared to terrestrial radio its 1000x better. Maybe I haven't had it long enough to complain?

I don't live in a large metro area though so maybe its because my options to this point have been limited. Either way, seems like its worth it so far.

If you're happy with their channel lineup, its great & well worth the money. I've had them for a long time, I'm only canceling because A) they canceled my two favorite channels in the merger and B) I moved to a new city last year that has a commercial-free FM station similar to one of the ones they canceled.

perhaps sharing the channels would help.

 

[Freshgeardude]

im sure the reason some channels are not on the iphone app are not because of sirius but because of apple not approving some of it and for sirius to throw out the app they had to agree to take off the ones apple didnt like

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Satellite radio is stupid. For most people, the radio is nothing more than background music for their commute. Terrestrial radio is free. It's a simple 1, 2 punch.

 

[ric1287]

Originally posted by: freshgeardude
im sure the reason some channels are not on the iphone app are not because of sirius but because of apple not approving some of it and for sirius to throw out the app they had to agree to take off the ones apple didnt like

or because they have contracts with people like MLB who refuse to have the product compete with their own app