SiriusXM: What am I missing? (Pricing)

[John Connor]

Ill admit im biased since i have had Sirius for 10 years. there are many channels i like on Sirusthat you cant stream plus commercial free. also i learned the hard way that using google maps on your phone chews up a lot of data. Garmin For the WIn!

There are Apps that will allow you to download a whole state. The Here Maps App for example.

 

[ultimatebob]

Already went through the trial phase. Are you saying they will just continue to give 3 month trials?

You'll likely get a few more trial invites in the future. They also have have free demo weeks throughout the year where all the radios work without a subscription.

 

[purbeast0]

i get the $20/5 month offer like every month in the mail. all i've done is had it for free when i bought my car for like 3 months, then i used a 2 month trial last summer.

 

[gorcorps]

Yeah, the signal is very reliable. My Bro and I went to North Dakota in a rented mini van that had Sirius/XM and I was listening to FoxNews all the way there without interruption. No cut outs under overpasses either. I assume that's due to buffering.

Would love to see what happens through the Eisenhower tunnel.
I had a Sirius Stiletto, but sold it last year on ebay. It had what seemed to be free lifetime Internet radio and that's all I used it for. If I allowed the unit to get a Sat link the radio would tell me it wasn't activated and I had to reflash the firmware to get Internet streaming back.

I was thinking about getting a subscription just for streaming on my phone, but I don't know if I want to spend the $20/month or not.

I didn't have the same experience with reliability. It worked fine on the open road, but would start cutting out in old neighborhoods with dense trees near the street. It would be gone completely when on a certain side of a drive through (not that I needed it then, but it shows how directional it is). In heavy traffic where you're traveling slow, it most certainly can cut out under a large overpass too.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Satellite radio is for fools.

 

[sourceninja]

...

 

[cbrunny]

Sirius XM is overrated IMO. had it for two years and I'd rather spend the money on extra data for my cell phone. Stream music/anything via bluetooth to my car instead.

 

[vi edit]

I want to like the concept of Satellite radio, but the execution is just terrible. They have far too many stations with way too much overlap and the audio compression just murders any quality to the streams.

If all you do is news/talk radio that will do. But anything musical just sounds like digitally compressed poo.

 

[Eug]

I hear all about people getting 5 or 6 months for $20-$30 but as a new customer all I can see is that it's going to cost me almost $40 to sign up for a single month. This is for XM Select + Traffic. I tried calling yesterday and got the same sales pitch (if you want to call it that) from the rep.

So what's the secret here? Pay the ridiculous cost up front and then play the cancel/renew game to get good deals going forward?

To be honest I'm shocked by their business model. The pricing is outrageous considering there are so many streaming options for radio stations, Spotify, Pandora, etc.

We'll cancel after the 3 month free period, unless they can give it to us for that US$20 amount.

This is on my wife's car. On my car I have never paid for it because...

Careful, you're considered an idiot on this forum apparently if you listen to AM.

I listen to AM the most, since AM is where the all-news channel is.

Get a FM transmitter for your smartphone and listen to IheartRadio.

In Toronto, those small FM transmitters are pretty much useless. I've tried three different ones and there just is way too much interference.

Mind you now it's pretty much moot since most modern cars have Bluetooth or a USB input or at least an aux input these days.

 

[Anubis]

Because if you're on one of the coasts you likely have tons of regular radio and 4g LTE data networks literally everywhere for streaming music if you want.

You likely already have a smartphone with a data plan, add $10 a month for streaming music and you're $10 cheaper than Sirius and have just as much music, if not more, at your disposal. Sirius makes sense if you dont have constant LTE access, but I haven't been without data in over 2 years, I just don't leave the 4G coverage ever.

depending on your plan and how much you stream it wont actually be cheaper.

I use 10+ GB a month on streaming music alone, if I wasn't on unlimited that would cost me more then having Sirius

 

[dr150]

I have the $500 for life plan that's no longer offered. Sirius is great for long commutes.

But in this day and age where everyone has a data plan, you can bluetooth stream music through something like Spotify and Google Music (no data on these guys if you downloaded your music to your phone) and use Stitcher/Last.fm etc for podcasts/news (podcasts are also downloadable at home).

 

[Genx87]

I hear all about people getting 5 or 6 months for $20-$30 but as a new customer all I can see is that it's going to cost me almost $40 to sign up for a single month. This is for XM Select + Traffic. I tried calling yesterday and got the same sales pitch (if you want to call it that) from the rep.

So what's the secret here? Pay the ridiculous cost up front and then play the cancel/renew game to get good deals going forward?

To be honest I'm shocked by their business model. The pricing is outrageous considering there are so many streaming options for radio stations, Spotify, Pandora, etc.

The secret is cancelling and waiting 6 months. I got promotion after promotion for 12 months for 36 bucks or something like that. I still didnt sign up because what does sirius offer I cant get on my phone?

 

[vi edit]

I subscribe to Google Music and I tend to build 2-6 gig playlists using radio stations and albums available through the subscription. You can download that to your phone. If there's a song I don't like I hit the skip button on my steering wheel. Don't need to fiddle with my phone at all. Hell most of the time I just hop in my car and go. Blue Tooth autoconnects when I turn on the car and starts playing.

 

[Eug]

I subscribe to Google Music and I tend to build 2-6 gig playlists using radio stations and albums available through the subscription. You can download that to your phone. If there's a song I don't like I hit the skip button on my steering wheel. Don't need to fiddle with my phone at all. Hell most of the time I just hop in my car and go. Blue Tooth autoconnects when I turn on the car and starts playing.

Indeed. Same here... although for several weeks all I was listening to was lullabys, because that's all that would work to make my kid sleep. Ugh.

 

[TheVrolok]

I would never subscribe to SiriusXM for music, the stations are meh at best. However, I absolutely love it primarily for POTUS and then NFL/MLB games with the occasional listen to other talk channels or music.

 

[Art&Science]

I find the sound quality of Sirius to be rather poor (I drive a 2013 BMW 550i so it's no my radio)... I was able to get it for around $8/month. Just call and talk to them. "I'm willing to pay $8/month."

 

[SP33Demon]

Just ask yourself, do I really need this? Nope, I got rid of it a long time ago. My phone can do most of what it did for free. If you live in an area where coverage can be sketch, then I can understand going to sirius. Or it has content that you can't get anywhere else (Howard Stern or sports broadcasts). Other than those 2 reasons I don't see a need for it.

 

[ControlD]

I've done the Google Music download thing myself, but I have to admit I am enjoying Sirius was well. The thing with downloaded music is that I already know everything that is on my phone. With a radio service, you get all sorts of music that you wouldn't normally have thought to download. I guess that's the nature of radio vs. a library. I see a place for both services and I honestly don't think there is that much overlap between the two. Live streaming with a phone is a non-starter for the majority of people out there as 2-3GB data plans are pretty standard these days.

 

[Eug]

Just ask yourself, do I really need this? Nope, I got rid of it a long time ago. My phone can do most of what it did for free. If you live in an area where coverage can be sketch, then I can understand going to sirius. Or it has content that you can't get anywhere else (Howard Stern or sports broadcasts). Other than those 2 reasons I don't see a need for it.

Howard Stern is pretty good reason not to get Sirius IMO.

 

[slayer202]

you can keep canceling and coming back at the promo rates

compared to netflix it does feel overpriced, but the alternative of terrestrial...no thanks. and gotta have howard stern

 

[dr150]

I've done the Google Music download thing myself, but I have to admit I am enjoying Sirius was well. The thing with downloaded music is that I already know everything that is on my phone. With a radio service, you get all sorts of music that you wouldn't normally have thought to download. I guess that's the nature of radio vs. a library. I see a place for both services and I honestly don't think there is that much overlap between the two. Live streaming with a phone is a non-starter for the majority of people out there as 2-3GB data plans are pretty standard these days.

Google Music has very good modern radio themes for download. The themes auto download refresh periodically when the lists change.

But yes, to your point, the DJs Sirius has are pretty damn good. Amazingly enough, they've played some great modern stuff that hasn't overlapped with my current playlist folders. Plus, you get Stern, NFL, MSNBC, etc.

If you have the $$$ then it's worth having both. I use both nearly equally. But I could easily work it with just the phone, at the cost of being more of a chore dealing with more than one app. Most people (like my family) aren't like me and lack the patience to fuck around with apps/downloads, which in that case, a Sirius subscription becomes much more compelling.

 

[ControlD]

Google Music has very good modern radio themes for download. The themes auto download refresh periodically when the lists change.

I need to check that out. I had no idea such a thing existed. I have tried the radio stations when streaming but never thought about downloading them.

 

[chimaxi83]

Sirius is nice, ton of stuff I'd otherwise never listen to, but I can't bring myself to pay for it. My new car has Android Auto, pretty much everything is voice controlled, unlimited data, so Sirius is unnecessary for me.

My wife is a different story. Minivan only has AM/FM/Sirius, and she loves her Sirius. She's on her third extension of $5 per month for 6 months.

 

[OutHouse]

Google Music has very good modern radio themes for download. The themes auto download refresh periodically when the lists change.

But yes, to your point, the DJs Sirius has are pretty damn good. Amazingly enough, they've played some great modern stuff that hasn't overlapped with my current playlist folders. Plus, you get Stern, NFL, MSNBC, etc.

If you have the $$$ then it's worth having both. I use both nearly equally. But I could easily work it with just the phone, at the cost of being more of a chore dealing with more than one app. Most people (like my family) aren't like me and lack the patience to fuck around with apps/downloads, which in that case, a Sirius subscription becomes much more compelling.

I do enjoy listening to MoJo Dixon on channel 60 Outlaw country. and there is one DJ on the weekends that broadcast out of his barn someplace in Kentucky he is pretty decent too. oh and Johnny Knoxville has a night time show that is amusing.

 

[OutHouse]

There are Apps that will allow you to download a whole state. The Here Maps App for example.

no thanks. Garmins are far superior.