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XM or Sirius?

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:51 am
by tom
anyone got satellite radio? I am gonna put it in my car and was wondering if anyone has any input on which service is better. I've been reading about them, but would love anyone's opinion. Thanks -tom

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 5:58 am
by Pstehley
Personally I would say go with Sirius (that's what I have...) Now a lot of people will complain about the Jam station (which is an awesome station none the less) plays too many repeats (actually, too much widespread for my taste) but the nightly phish show (as opposed to XM's once a week "phish fry" on fridays) is awesome and they actually play a fairly wide variety of stuff. Also, I like a lot of their jazz stations... so I can always find something.

For Pam and I, we do a lot of traveling. After a while, you get really tired of lugging huge books of cd's and you can't keep a good normal radio station. So for us, it's perfect. If there is anything else you'd like to know about sirius, I'd be more than glad to tell you. I'm afraid I don't know too much about xm, just what I've heard. I've been involved in discussion like this over at phishhook a couple times. XM may currently be the "big dog", but I really think soon, sirius will breathing down it's neck. Especially when Howard makes the switch...

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:07 am
by JV
Pstehley wrote:XM may currently be the "big dog", but I really think soon, sirius will breathing down it's neck.
hate to break it to ya bud, but sirius is either going under, or will be taken over by XM.

XM is the obvious choice. if only for one reason: Opie & Anthony. but besides that, it is the obvious better choice. you'll see lots of people hyping sirius because of stern / because they own stock. xm's the way to go. their hardware and software is leaps and bounds ahead of sirius. ive heard tons of horror stories about sirius car radio units. people needing to personally weave a wire outside of their car simply to mount their antenna on the outside of their car just so they can get a decent reception. its really a no brainer. if you need more explaning id be glad to do so, its just real early and im off to school.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:36 am
by Pstehley
Ahhh JV as always.. very one sided and opinionated... to each their own

Ya know, many people can speculate about what a company is gonna do, but unless you have inside information, you'll never really know. So you might think Sirius might loose out, but until it happens you'll never know. What I suggest, since Martha Stewart just signed a deal with Sirius, is that you get in good with her. Possibly start by helping her find ways to elaborately decorate her ankle bracelet. Then once your in, start buying lots of stock and see if you can plug her for details. You'll cash in! Course, if the wrong people find out, you might also want to start buying some soap on the rope. :lol:

Sure Stern is a big push, but you also have to realize that a lot of people are waiting till january to make the move with stern, and when they do I really think it's gonna be a big push. Will it have an impact against XM. I think it's hard to say, but it should be interesting to see.

Personally though, I still prefer sirius. Another reason that Pam and I decided to go the sirius route was the fact that they carry all the NFL games. So from any where in the states, I can listen to my buddy Myron Cope do the color commentary for the Steeler radio network. This was a huge seller for Pam and I. Also, they carry NHL (when they finally play), Nascar (*insert dueling banjos*), NBA Basketball and all College Basketball (especially the playoffs). They don't however, carry MLB. So that is one thing that XM has going for it. Doesn't really bother me that much, cause I don't like baseball, but if that's your thing, that's something to keep in mind.

Personally, I believe that sirius has better programming and no commercials (although on the 2 comedy stations and the news stations {Fox news, CNN, Air America, etc.} and some other talk stations they play one or two commercials an hour (maybe +/- 1-2 extra, never really payed that much attention)) while (at least it's my understanding) XM has commercials on every station (although limited).

Best bet is to do you're homework... I know if you go to sirius.com you can sign up for a free 3 day trial to stream online (also once you have a subscription you can stream anytime you want), I'm not sure if XM has this option or not, but it will really give you an opportunity to listen what the music stations have to offer.

Oh another possible downside to sirius. You can spend the $500 and some odd dollar to get the life-time membership, but, it's only on that radio. It's my understanding that if you wanted to get a new reciever or had to replace it, you would have to pay it again if you wanted the life time membership again. Just trying to provide all the information that I found out as I researched it. Me personally, I'm happy with my decision.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:04 am
by JV
pat - inside information? no. just intelligence and knowledge when it comes to the stock market. ive been saying it for half a year. you can put down my opinion all you want, but you'll eventually see.

xmradio.com also has the 3day trial

xm's "commercials" are for other stations on xm. i listen to opie & anthony every day for 4 hours a day. they maybe have 20 minutes of commercials max. the whole show.

as for sports...think about it from a business aspect. 162 baseball games x 30+ teams + playoffs....or...16 games x 30+ teams + playoffs...not to mention the fact that baseball translates much better to radio then any other sport.

xm's hardware development center is leaps and bounds ahead of sirius. while sirius is trying to keep their head about water having any ho-dink company make a radio and take a cut of their profits, xm's hardware development is all in-house. take a look at when the myfi (1st portable satellite radio) came out. right before christmas time. sirius has yet to come out with a decent competition for that product. not to mention the reception problems a large portion of people with sirius in their cars experience. go on any satellite radio message board and search that if you dont believe me.

i have class now so i will continue this later, but its really fucking obvious.

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 9:51 am
by Pstehley
whatever problems others have experienced... I have not... so I'll just have to say we'll have to agree to disagree...

Incidently.. I've been listening to football games since I was a kid.. I think they translate fine (just all depends on who you're commentators are)

Anyway.. back to the point.. I'd say try a trial at XM then try one at sirius... whichever fits you best go with it... I'm not going to keep firing back saying that Sirius is better than XM or vice versa.. I did my research.. I chose the company that best suited my needs, and I chose sirius. Thats not to say after checking it out that you'll choose the same one.

It's kinda like buying a car.. you wouldn't just be all frivilous (at least I hope not) and just go out and buy one.. you'd do some research... look at all the options it carries... check the gas mileage.. and take it for a test drive. It's my suggestion to check out both and see which one better suits your needs. If you're really worried about it dying out, then base your decision on that. I just remember when small companies like google started out. It's still a really young market and there is still plenty of room to grow. I haven't heard about them going belly up yet... but with the economy as it is, you can never tell....

check out this link
http://www.myrateplan.com/satellite/radio.php